False Arrest
False Arrest
It is generally accepted that if the police are arresting a person, it must be for a good reason. However, this is not always the case. There are instances when a false arrest occurs and if it happens to you, you need to know your civil rights.
The most important constitutional right that you must be aware of is the Fourth Amendment. As one of the provisions of the Bill of Rights, the Fourth Amendment protects against unreasonable searches and seizures.
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
The Fourth Amendment basically authorizes arrests only if the police have a “probably cause” that a crime has been committed and that the suspect did it.
Probable cause restrains the power of the authorities to deprive people of their liberty. According to Findlaw.com, the following are the main principles of probable cause:
- To establish probable cause, police officers must be able to point to objective factual circumstances that lead them to believe that a suspect committed a crime. A police officer can’t establish probable cause by saying something like, “I just had a hunch that the defendant was a burglar.
- Judges, not police officers, have the last word on whether probable cause exists. A police officer may be sincere in believing that enough factual information to constitute probable cause exists. But if a judge examines that same information and disagrees, then probable cause does not exist — or did not exist, if the question is being decided after the arrest occurred.
- Probable cause to arrest may have existed at the time of the arrest, even if the police later turn out to be wrong. Put differently, an arrest is valid if it is based on probable cause, even if the arrested person is innocent. In this situation, probable cause protects the police against a civil suit for false arrest if the charges are later dismissed or the defendant is acquitted at trial.
While we normally associate false arrest with the police and other law enforcement authorities, most cases of false arrest are brought against security guards in cases were a suspected shop lifter has been detained. In most jurisdictions, there must be some proof that a crime has actually been committed.
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