Interogation?

[seth]

What is the name of your state? Maine,

i know that anything you say before you are arrested can be used against you in court, and i've read advice saying that you should just not comment on the questions an officer asks except to say that you are in a hurry and would like to leave and ask whether the officer would prevent you from leaving or not. if you didn't talk then you wouldn't risk incriminating yourself, but could you be arrested for not cooperating with a police officer in this way?

[BelizeBreeze]

Originally Posted by seth

What is the name of your state? Maine,

i know that anything you say before you are arrested can be used against you in court, and i've read advice saying that you should just not comment on the questions an officer asks except to say that you are in a hurry and would like to leave and ask whether the officer would prevent you from leaving or not. if you didn't talk then you wouldn't risk incriminating yourself, but could you be arrested for not cooperating with a police officer in this way?

and why would you like to know?

[CdwJava]

Originally Posted by seth

i know that anything you say before you are arrested can be used against you in court, and i've read advice saying that you should just not comment on the questions an officer asks except to say that you are in a hurry and would like to leave and ask whether the officer would prevent you from leaving or not. if you didn't talk then you wouldn't risk incriminating yourself, but could you be arrested for not cooperating with a police officer in this way?

COULD you be arrested? Under the right circumstances, yes.

For a better answer, to quote BB: "and why would you like to know?"

- Carl

[tranquility]

Without the facts there is no issue. General queries are impossible to answer without substantial work in organizing information and possibilities. Give the facts and let us help you determine the issue. What happened?

[Xfuzz]

What happened before you got arrested? Why did they suspect or have probable cause for the arrest?

[gawm]

In my opinion it is better to say nothing and get arrested than it is to incriminate yourself and then get arrested. You can't really get arrested for not cooperating with an officer. There has to be some probable cause that you committed a crime. The police will often make it seem like you can get into trouble for not cooperating, but if you don't know anything and don't have time for questions, they can't arrest you for that unless they have probable cause that you committed a crime. Remember, it is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.

[tranquility]

You can't really get arrested for not cooperating with an officer.

This is no longer true for many reasons--which is why I did not answer the question in the first place. To describe the many reasons would take more space than the forum is for (and more time than I am willing to spend).

It is entirely possible to have negative legal ramifications from not talking with an officer--including it being a crime in and of itself.

[Bretagne]

There are very, very few situations where refusing to speak with an officer is criminal. There would need to be a duty to provide information. For example, in this jurisdiction you have a duty to provide identification and to answer questions with respect to identification.

Of course, there can be negative legal consequences for refusing to speak with an officer. One defendant I know of was told "you can either be a witness or a suspect", and after refusing to speak, was arrested and held in jail for 4 days over the long weekend. This was, of course, a bummer, but he didn't incriminate himself and the charges were then dismissed after omnibus hearing for lack of probable cause. So, in the long run he saved himself a longer criminal proceeding and the cost of the trial.

Personally, rather than answer questions, I would ask the police officer if I was free to leave, and then provide him/her with my contact information and invite the officer to schedule an appointment to speak with me when I had more time. If I wasn't free to leave, then I'd be either (1) briefly detained for the purpose of conducting an initial, Terry-like investigation, or (2) under arrest.

Of course, in some circumstances my lack of compliance could have quasi-criminal ramifications. For example, if I were drunk (but not driving or disorderly) I could possibly be detoxed. If information I could provide would substantiate the officer's probable cause against a different person, yet I choose not to provide that information, I might be charged with some form of aiding and abetting whatever crime the other party is suspected of. Also, if there is a warrant out for me, my cooperation (or lack thereof) could affect whether the police chose to apprehend me on the warrant or not, and if I was apprehended, could effect my bail evaluation and conditions of release.

So there is no complete answer to the OP's question, but I think that the most correct answer is:

say that you are in a hurry and would like to leave and ask whether the officer would prevent you from leaving or not. if you didn't talk then you wouldn't risk incriminating yourself, but could you be arrested for not cooperating with a police officer in this way?

Answer: no

[tranquility]

To Bretagne's great analysis, to the point:

Of course, in some circumstances my lack of compliance could have quasi-criminal ramifications.

One of those ramifications is that silence before Miranda attaches can sometimes be used against you.

[seth]

thank you all. i was asking the question just to get an idea of what to do if it happened to me. i am just trying to find out where my rights are if an officer approaches me to ask me questions, whether i'm involved in the problem or not, and what my best course of action should be at that time. in general, i prefer not to talk to police officers if it can be avoided. for many reasons, they have lost a Lot of my trust over the years. all of you together have answered my question very well, and i thank you for taking the time to do so.