MUST YOU EVER OBEY COMMANDS OR REQUESTS WHEN CONFRONTED BY THE POLICE IN TAMPA BAY, FLORIDA?

Your favorite Clearwater criminal defense attorney is often asked whether one must obey on officer's commands. In fact the first few minutes of any initial encounter you have with an officer may be the most important factor in determining whether you're arrested. If you are not going to co-operate nor obey an officer's commands, then it's especially important that you remain calm, reasonable and courteous.

Here is a summary of how to deal with an officer's requests or commands for information and the various factors that may come into play in determining how you should handle the situation.

Florida Highway Patrol 

The first consideration is how and where the confrontation with the police originates. 
An officer knocking at your home door who has no reasonable suspicion that a crime has been committed has much less leeway to compel you to act than one who has reason to believe you are armed, dangerous and just left the scene of a murder. 

While at home every American has a high expectation to privacy rights. This means if an officer attempts to compel a home owner to allow a search for evidence, he must have a search warrant or an arrest warrant or have an appropriate legal exception to not have the proper warrant. 

One need never give consent to search if the officer does not have a search warrant. Yet in Florida courts may allow officers who claim to have suspicion that a crime has or is being committed by for example, smelling marijuana at the door of a home, to search without a warrant and to make arrests of the occupants without an arrest warrant.

If an officer initiates an arrest without an arrest warrant, must one obey the officer and allow the arrest? In Florida one can resist an illegal arrest only if no force or violence is used. In practice what this means is that one may tell the officer why one should not be arrested, but if force is used the officer may file a felony charge of resisting arrest with violence or battery on a law enforcement officer.

Many citizen and officer confrontations occur while a citizen is away from home. For example, when an officer stops a driver for an infraction such as speeding or improper lane change, then the officer has a right to demand a drivers license and proof of insurance. If there's an indication of drugs, drinking, impairment or DUI, then the officer will investigate, but the driver need not obey the officer's commands to take field sobriety test, HGN tests nor to give a breath sample. 

If there was a car accident or a suspected DUI manslaughter then the officer has the further right under Florida law to conduct an accident investigation. Every Florida driver under the law has an obligation to provide sufficient information for the completion of that investigation. At the end of the accident investigation then the officer will conduct a criminal investigation, if necessary, at which time the driver need not co-operate. 

If you are confronting an officer's request or command, remember that your primary goal is not to be arrested. Treat the officer how you'd want to be treated. By being calm, courteous and reasonable your expectation will be that a good officer will be courteous, reasonable and fair to you in return; if he's not immediately ask for a Tampa Bay criminal lawyer who will ensure that your rights are protected.