Police are meant to protect citizens regardless of personal characteristics. When interacting with police, remain calm, stay put, and cooperate by answering questions briefly and truthfully without arguing or lying. Know your rights - you can refuse consent for searches without a warrant and remain silent, and have a right to a lawyer if arrested. Overall, speak up about injustices through reporting but stay safe during interactions.

1. Knowing Your Rights
Police are meant to protect and serve, regardless of race, ethnicity, national
origin, gender, sexuality, or religion. Here, we have provided a space for you to
know your rights when interacting with police. Even if they are in the wrong, do
not give them an excuse to make you the next hashtag.

2. When Interacting with Police, always:
As difficult as it can be, remain calm
Stay Put
Cooperate. Legally, you do not have to answer any question that
police ask you. If you do decide to talk though, do not argue or lie. This
will only lead to more trouble.

3. How to Interact with Police
When:In a car?
At home?
In public?
Arrested?

4. In a Car:

5. When You See a Police
Car:find a safe place to pull over
slow down, put you right turn signal on and pull over to the right. Try to find a
parking lot or wide shoulder of the road to turn on to.
you are not legally obligated to immediately pull over, especially if it’s dark and
you are alone. Simply alert the police by dialing 911 and letting the operator know of the
situation until you find a well-lit area like a gas station or fast food restaurant. The 911 operator
will communicate this to the police officer.

6. Right After You Stop
roll down your driver’s side window as well as any tinted windows. you want there
to be enough space for you to hand over your license, insurance, and registration but only roll
the window down as far as you feel comfortable.
when asked, show your license, registration, and proof of insurance
move slowly and keep your hands visible at all times
for all the officer knows, you could be reaching for a gun. You want to avoid giving the officer
reasonable suspicion to frisk you or worse

7. Talking to an Officer
do not speak first. though you may naturally want to demand why you have been
stopped, don’t, this will only make the situation worse. when asked a question or
prompted to speak, be polite, refer to the officer as “officer”.
Follow any orders given by the officer.
Do not:
• engage the officer in unnecessary conversation
• exit the vehicle unless asked to do so
If the officer asks if he can search your car, you can say no. However, if the officer
has probable cause, such as seeing any illegal object in plain view, he or she can
search that part of the vehicle.

8. Keep your answers to the officer’s questions short and non-committal. By the
time the officer gets to you, they have already decided whether or not they are
going to give you a ticket. When they ask you questions such as “do you know
why I stopped you?”, they are trying to get you to admit either that you
committed a violation or were careless. Your answer should be either “no”, a
confident “yes, I do.”, or silence. Keeping silent is not an admission to guilt and
cannot be used against you in court.

9. Speak Out
Use websites like KYR and social media to make the world aware of any
injustices. The more we report issues like these, the closer we will be to fixing
them.

10. Know that you are allowed to refuse to consent searches of your home if you
have not been arrested and also if there is no warrant present.
In the event that an officer tries to enter your home, calmly inform them that
without a warrant present they will not be permitted inside.
If the police have a warrant, you may ask to see it. Ensure that the correct
address is listed on the warrant.

11. Speak Out
Use websites like KYR and social media to make the world aware of any
injustices. The more we report issues like these, the closer we will be to fixing
them.

12. In public:

13. Talking to an Officer
if an officer stops you and asks questions:
Calmly communicate.
Remember that you have the right to a
lawyer.
Be conscious of your surroundings.

14. Speak Out
Use websites like KYR and social media to make the world aware of any
injustices. The more we report issues like these, the closer we will be to fixing
them.

15. Arrested:

16. Process
the police will search you for weapons, handcuff you, transport you to jail, and
photograph and fingerprint you for identification.
do not argue with the police. You cannot talk you way out of being investigated,
arrested or prosecuted. Remember that anything you say in the presence of an
officer “can and will be used against you”, so the best thing to do is...
pay close attention to what happens while you interact with the police. Try to
memorize who was there to see and hear what happened. The court needs to
know this information to see what happened to you while you were in custody.
remain silent until you can get into contact with a lawyer.

17. though you may be tempted to, do not tell your family and friends about it. It is
possible that they may be ordered to appear at trial and asked to repeat anything
you said.
rely on your lawyer to advise and defend you no matter if you did or did not do
what you are accused of. Legal ethics make it impossible for your attorney to
disclose any of the information you tell them without your consent. Unless the
information can be used to prevent another crime, your information is safe with
them.

18. Rights in Court
within 72 hours after your arrest, the judge must:
tell you the crime you have been arrested for and explain it to you if you do not
understand it.
give you a copy of the written complaint against you if you do not already have
one.
give you more time to get an attorney if you do not have one already or appoint
one to you if there is a possibility of you going to jail and you cannot afford to
pay your own attorney.

19. tell you the nature and effect of the please you may enter. You may enter a plea
of not guilty, no contest or guilty.
not guilty means you do not give up any of your rights, including the right to a
trial.
no contest means you admit the facts in the complaint are true, but you deny
guilt. The judge may find you guilty or not guilty.
guilty means that you admit to the crime(s) of which you were accused and give
up your right to a trial and your right to remain silent. The judge may sentence
you immediately or at a later hearing.

20. Speak Out
Use websites like KYR and social media to make the world aware of any
injustices. The more we report issues like these, the closer we will be to fixing
them.