Usually a police officer, after having received a complaint, will contact you and ask you to come down to the police station to discuss the matter. If the police are inviting you down to the station, you can be certain that you are a suspect, and more than likely will be charged with an offence. This is important because once you enter the police station you may find yourself under arrest, and unable to leave as you wish.

Generally, every person has a fundamental legal right to remain silent if questioned by the police. In other words, the police cannot make you undergo an interview, provide a written statement or give them information.

Of course, the law does provide some exceptions to this right, for example, the law says that if you are asked by the police who was driving your car at a particular time, you must answer them. But you will know if the law says you must answer a policeman’s questions because the policeman must tell you before he asks you that you may be committing an offence if you do not answer.

But generally, you have the right to silence. You will know you have this right because, at law, a policeman, if he considers you to be a suspect, must caution you before he asks you questions. He will tell you that what you say may be used as evidence against you. This is a sure sign to you that you should exercise this fundamental right to silence.

On a lot of occasions, the police do not have enough evidence to charge you, and by talking to them and providing information, you can “fill in the gaps” for them.

If the police wish to speak to you about an alleged offence committed by you, it is better to get legal advice BEFORE you go down to the police station. If you cannot get advice before, then when you attend the police station, tell the policeman that you do not wish to be interviewed or make a statement. At least then your options remain open to you once you have received legal advice.

As I often say to clients: “gaols are full of people with big mouths”.

So exercise your right to silence, it may be a winner for you.