When you’re being questioned by the police, your first step should always be to seek advice from a criminal lawyer.
If you are under investigation by the police, you may be asked to participate in a video record of interview (also known as an electronic record of interview). The police will often arrest you on suspicion of having committed an offence and then ask you to participate in an interview at the police station.
Exercising your right to silence
When questioned by police, you can exercise your right to silence. You must provide the police with your personal details, being your full name, date of birth and address, but you do not need to answer any other questions. If you choose not to answer any questions, you can answer by saying “no comment”.
You can also inform the officers prior to the interview that you intend on providing a “no comment interview”.
If you do participate in an interview, you will be placed in an interview room with two police officers, and the interview is recorded on video. There will ordinarily be a microphone recording audio in the middle of the table, and a camera recording video off to the side. The officers will also take handwritten notes.
Even if you tell police that you do not wish to participate in the interview, they can still ask you questions, and you will have to decide whether you answer them or not.
The police are required to caution you. As part of the caution, the police must tell you that:
- You do not have to answer their questions
- Any answers you give will be recorded and can be played in court if you are charged, and
- You may answer some questions and not others.
Seek advice from a criminal lawyer
The police must also tell you what your rights are, including that you have the right to communicate with a lawyer. You can exercise this right at any time during the interview, whether it be before the interview, during, or towards the end.
If you exercise your right to speak to a criminal lawyer, the police must stop the interview and recording, and allow you the opportunity to call your lawyer. If you do not have a lawyer, the police will often do an internet search and call one of the firms that come up in the search.
If you do not understand English, an interpreter can also be made available.
It is your decision whether or not to participate in the interview, and there are advantages and disadvantages to this.
Advantages and disadvantages to participating in police interviews
One advantage of participating in an interview is that you get the opportunity to provide your version of events. If you are pleading guilty, you can then submit at sentencing that you assisted police in their investigation by answering their questions. If you are pleading not guilty, your interview will likely be played in court, and this may mean that you can avoid giving evidence at a trial, if your evidence is contained within the interview.
On the other hand, one disadvantage of participating in the interview is that you may be assisting the police in their investigation by providing them with information that they previously did not have evidence of. Also, the police may ask the same question in several different ways, and confuse you, and you may inadvertently answer incorrectly or say something you later regret.
You may not realise that you are making an admission which can be turned around and used against you later. You also may not be aware of the extent of the evidence against you at the point in time.
It is a matter for the police to investigate the allegation, and to come up with enough evidence to support the charge. There is no need for you to assist police with this.
A ‘no comment interview’
Generally (but not all of the time), it will be best to exercise your right to silence, by refusing to participate in the interview or by providing a “no comment” interview.
If you are intending on providing a “no comment interview”, it is generally best to maintain your response of “no comment” throughout the entire interview, rather than picking or choosing which questions you want to answer. However, you do have the right to answer whichever questions and remain silent on whichever questions you want.
Criminal lawyers are vital to provide support
Lawyers often do not sit in on interviews, as we cannot assist you in answering questions, but can only provide you with advice when asked. Further, if the recording were to fail or any issues were to arise as to whether the interview is admissible as evidence, we may be called as a witness as to what occurred in the interview.
If you have been asked to participate in a police interview and you would like some advice before doing so, please contact our Perth criminal lawyers at Chambers Legal on (08) 9500 8915 or at [email protected].