Drugs

Your Rights

Your Rights

If the police want to search your home or your place of work you have the right to:

• Ask to see proof of identity
• Ask to see a search warrant
• Ask them to explain their powers of search
• Make sure they keep a record of the search if you are taken to a police station
• The police have the power of arrest on reasonable suspicion of crime

• Have someone you know informed of your arrest
• Consult a solicitor
• You have the right to remain silent, but because of recent changes in the law, exercising this right can be used against you in court
• You do not have the right to make a telephone call yourself

• You ask if you have been arrested, and if so, why?
• The time you arrived is properly noted in the police custody record
• The police know if you want a solicitor or relative informed
• You know why you are being held
• You ask the custody officer to phone a solicitor
• If anything you ask for is refused, ask why and remember the reason
• Make notes on what has happened as soon as you can and give them to your solicitor
• Whatever the police say, NEVER sign the custody sheet saying you don't want to see a solicitor