Your Life, Your Rights: Being Stopped by Police
Every person living in America has rights. This is true no matter if the person is a citizen or not. Some of these rights protect people when they work with law enforcement, including police. Your rights when you are stopped by police include:
- Get info in ways you understand and can use.
- Be given accommodations if you need them.
- Stay quiet even if you are asked questions.
- Say no to having yourself or your things searched.
- Get a lawyer even if you can not afford one.
- Not sign anything without your lawyer there.
- Record the meeting you have with the officer.
- Make a phone call if you are arrested.
- File a complaint for broken rights and bad treatment.
Resources
To help people learn about their rights when stopped by the police, BHDDH created two resources. One is a one-page flyer, and the other is a guidebook.
Being Stopped by Police Flyer
The being stopped by police flyer is a one-page document. It can be used as a fact sheet about your rights.
Being Stopped by Police Easy Read Guidebook
The being stopped by police easy read guidebook is a longer document. This document explains information on the one-page flyer in more detail.