What are my rights as far as not complying with any sort of arrest attempt until/unless the following conditions are met...
1- I am given a clear list of the charges against me.
2- The officer shows me ALL relevant identification that establishes he is an officer of the law with the statutory power of arrest in the jurisdiction I am presently located in.
3- I am allowed to contact the police station/dispatcher to assure that the police officer is actually legitimate and they have an actual unit there.
4- They send a marked squad car with a uniformed officer (this is only applicable in the cases where the initial stop is made by a plain clothes officer).
The street is not a court room. For better or worse, right or wrong, the law gives one absolutely zero power to resist a LEO even if the arrest / contact is improper (in Michigan). That's what courts are for. And yes, you can file a civil suit for an unlawful arrest. And yes, officers can be seriously punished for it (and potentially even criminally charged
). It's certainly not a free-for-all for us out there, despite what some here believe.
I see where you are coming from, though. During an arrest, however, there are no "charges". Charges come from the prosecutor later. If I'm arresting somebody and they ask "What for!?" I'll gladly tell them. This is not cause to stop and read off a list, however. They can go ahead and ask
while they are complying, as there will be no "pause" to the arrest.
As for #2, He'll be the guy in a blue uniform (or brown, if it's a Deputy) with a badge and duty belt. For a plain-clothes officer (who will in my experience usually call for a uniformed officer to make contact), they'll have a badge and ID card with them.
#3 = No! Stay off the phone.
For #4, see response to #2 above.
I won't allow a man in plain clothes (or even a uniform- as they are too commonly stolen these days) to put handcuffs on me, let alone put me in a car, when I know I haven't done anything, just because they claim to be a police officer.
Well then welcome to felony-land. Just make sure you yell "Don't taze me, bro!", 'cause it looks good on camera.
1. There is rarely if ever any effective penalty for LE when they violate the rules on what constitutes a legitimate stop.
2. In most cases, LE's verson of what happened is accepted without question by the courts unless there is some compelling evidence to the contrary (such as video).
1) As far as punishment for the officer, probably not. Unless it becomes a pattern of improper stops, searches, and seizures. Then yes.
2) Generally true. Depends on the officer and the testimony, though. Believe it or not, judges doubt officers on a regular basis. Some officers more than others, some not at all. Judges get to know who the officers are. If an officer establishes a reputation for "bending" the truth, the judge will be inclined to disregard his testimony. No, really.
