What can that law enforcement officer do? There are two things. One thing could be they can probably try to get a search warrant or if you can talk to us through that. The second thing is, what happens if that client, that person, says, “No, you cannot search my car”? I know that’s a fear for many people.
Well, this is where the rubber meets the road or where theory and practice diverge because people feel like they are frequently overawed by the presence of a police officer, or it makes them very angry. Many people are very angered by being stopped by a police officer and interrogated and subject to search by a police officer. In either of these cases, people are going to make the wrong decision. If the person is overawed by the police officer, the person’s going to answer any questions, consent to anything, when it’s not necessary.
Alternately, when people get upset, they quickly escalate the situation and before they know it, they get charged with a resisting a police officer. Now, it’s crazy to think this, but there are frequently resisting police officer charges with no other charges.
So, the question becomes, what were they resisting? Well, if you ever watched any of these videos, you can YouTube escalation with a police officer. Things can escalate very quickly. That’s why always be polite. There’s no reason to escalate the situation. Officers frequently escalate the situation themselves.
No matter how upset they get, you have to stay calm, which is a very difficult thing to do. Your fight or flight reaction is clearly kicking in. It’s a very fraught situation, but you have to take deep breaths, and you have to stay calm, even if the officer doesn’t. Call us at 813.421.3411 for more information.
(Transcript from the video, transcribed but not reviewed)
