What To Do If a Police Officer Wants to Question You

Hi,

I have rec'vd several cards and phone messages from an officer with the special investigations unit wanting to set an appointment with me to Interview me at my house. He last left me a message stating if i did not respond to him he would come to my place of employement, then he left me a message stating that this has dragged on enough and if I don't meet with him this week he will have no choice but to review the information with the commonwealth's attorney. He then said that he is sure that I know what this is about, when really I don't. I don't know what my rights are, but I am rather intimidating by his messages and coming by my home for questioning? What do I do? I don't have any money to get a lawyer? And why is he not bringing me to the police station? Why won't he tell me what it is about? Special Invesitgations Unit???

The police are investingating something. It appears that you are a suspect, but they don't have probable cause to make an arrest so they are trying to get you to voluntarily make a statement. (The threat of submitting the report without your side of the story is a pretty common interrogation trick the police use when interrogating suspects.) Given that you appear to be a suspect, they may well hope that you incriminate yourself in the statement.

So I'm darned if I do, darned if I don't. If I don't talk to him then I appear guilty or have something to hide. If I do talk to him I might incriminate myself without even knowing it. I don't like the threat of coming to my job, and certainly I don't want to just be sent to the commonwealth's attorney.... What to do?

Your best approach is the one you ruled out - hiring a lawyer, and using your lawyer as an intermediary.

Ok, so the investigator came to my house, and told me that it was good of me to meet with him because he will work with me... then goes on to tell me the reason he is there is beacause has reason to believe that I tried to pass a forged RX. I told him that I wanted to speak with an attorney before proceeding and he responded with well sounds like your guilty and your only making it harder on yourself. If you've never been convicted of a crime I will work with the commonwealth attorney's office and let them know you have not committed any other crimes, but I need you to tell me now or I'm going to submit the information that I have, and this will be a felony and go on your permanent record. I of course was very upset. And the more I said nothing the more he said your making it harder on yourself, if you don't answer me now with what happened I have no choice but to assume your guilty and I will state that in my file to the commonwealth attorney. I said well I just want to talk to an attorney, and he said I see your not going to cooperate, look out for your indictment because it will be coming and you will face charges as a felon. So of course I explained that I was not trying to pass a forged RX, gave my details, all of which he of course didn't believe, said he still had to report this and get it to the commonwealth's atorney, but would note that I did eventually "cooperate". I know that I will have to hire an attorney, what are the chances of getting the felony reduced to misdemeanor and is it possible after a certain time I can get it expunged from my record. I am up for a job that is going to require and extensive background check and possible secret military clearance... I don't want my future ruined because of this.

Did you confess in the interview to passing a forged prescription? If so, you gave them the evidence they need to charge you. Prior to that time they probably didn't have enough evidence.

He told me that he already had the evidence and that I had been described and identified by the pharmacist and that it was up to me to cooperate for my sake. I explained that I didn't try to pass a forged prescription that I went to the doctor a few months ago and rec'vd a rx at that time. I didn't fill it then because I had 2 refills. I had to rx in my purse since that time and ran out of the meds. I went to the pharmacy and asked how long did I have from the time a rx was written to get it filled and they said it depends. well the orginal was pretty worn and tattered from being in my purse, so I called the doctor and asked if I could get a new rx and he said I had to come in for all refills and I said but I was in your office and you wrote me a rx that I never got filled and I don't think I can get it filled now plus it's a bit faded and had stains on it, he said you have to come in. So I explained that I no longer had insurance and I didn't have the money to pay for an office visit just to spend 5 minutes for a refill, but I still have the original to show you that I never filled it. He insisted I come in to get the refill. I was frustrated and made a copy of the rx, didn't change anything on it, just made a copy so it was cleaner. my mistake. that's what the pharmacist called me on, said she needed to call to dr to verify the rx, which he did verify that he wrote it, but she said it appears to be a photocopy, so he in turn cancelled the rx, and thus is the reason for the police questioning. The investator told me and also showed me the rx and said he had all he needed to pursue with commonewealth attorney so since it was right there in front of me and him, how could I possibly deny it. I either was to tell him the events or he would pursue and state that I was uncooperative. So yes I was intimidated, never been in any kind of trouble, just stressed since I changed jobs and don't yet have health insurance and also a single mom with 24/7 responsibility for my child. I was scared to death of all the things he told me would happen to me, and I felt I couldn't keep my mouth shut with him waving the rx in my face saying we know you did this and I did, I didn't look at it as forging and rx because I never got it filled when it was written and I didn't change anything on it and my dr confirmed that he did write the rx for me. what got me in trouble was the fact that I made a photocopy of it. It was never filled and I didn't make any more attempts to get it filled. Even went to my dr and asked if he would re write the rx for me after paying the full office fee and he refused since the kind investigator went and questioned my dr about it and his card was in my medical file. My dr said now there were legal ramifications and although he had been told he should not see me as a patient he wanted to help me, but he would not re-write the rx because I made a copy of the rx after he told me I needed to come in. I made an error in judgement, now my question is aside from the obvious of getting an attorney, what now?

Without hiring a lawyer, there's not much to do but wait and see what happens.

anytime a cop/detective calls me and wants me to come in for a "formal interview" I simply ask him/her if they have a warant? they always say No, not yet, I tell them to call me when they get one. You are not obligated to talk to them or take any kind of polygraph test. you can tell them NO! I will not talk to you, I will not take a polygraph test. You can also tell them NOT to come to your work.

Most cases are made during the interview of the "suspect" during this interview if you are not extremely careful with your words you will almost always sink yourself. here is the #1 tactic used to try and intimidate you during a interview.

1.) detectives that say "what if I told you we have 2-3 of you r friends or neighbors that seen you do it" he/she is really telling you that they have Nothing. they hope by telling you they have witnesses you will feel caught and just confess. don't do it, in fact if you do hear those words rest assured they are feeding you a line of crap. If they did have 2 witnesses, that would be more than enough to convict you and they would have arrested you on site.

2.) detectives are not your friends, they dont invite you to dinner, they dont care about you and they most certainly are not trying to help you in any way. you are not the "victim" and you are nothing more than a career boost for them. even if you feel like you are caught, you arent until the warant is signed by the judge, never fall fo the "if you come clean we can help you, but the only way we can do that is for you to help us" crap, EVER. your name is not on their paychecks so why should you make their job any easier? are they going to split their wages with you? hell no! they are the detectives, let them do 100% of the work in making a case that will stick, any help you give them is working totally against you.

Remember, you are only as smart as the dumbest person you hang around with!

I'm not saying its ok to break the law, I'm just saying be smarter than them.

DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE, answer any questions for a police officer without a lawyer present. If they arrest you, then an attorney will be appointed to you by the court system. Have this attorney present with you at all questioning. THERE IS NOTHING that you can say to an officer in an interview that will HELP you. Right in the right's they read you, it states : anything you say or do may be used AGAINST you in a court of law. AGAINST you, not for you. An officer can testify on behalf of the prosecutor, but he cannot testify on your behalf.

EXERCISE your 5th amendment rights. Anything that you might say to him in this interview, whether you know it or not, may be used to incriminate you. HAVE A LAWYER WITH YOU