If you, or your child, are arrested or charged, for anything, be polite but careful.
If you have been charged with a crime, do not panic. Remain as calm as possible, and be very polite to the police. The police have a difficult job – don’t make it harder for them by behaving rudely. Please give them your identifying information, such as name, address, telephone number, date of birth, and other personal identifying information. If they need to take you into custody, do not resist or run.
Ask the police for what you are being charged and if you are taken into custody if you need to post bail to be released. It’s okay to ask these questions, Don’t volunteer any information about the allegations, charges, or possible complainant against you.
If there is a bail amount set on the warrant, or if you need to post bail to be released, contact a family member, lawyer, or a bondsman to assist you in posting bond. If the bail is too high, and you cannot afford to post it (even through a bail bond agent), you will be held and presented to a judge on the next business day for your bail to be reviewed. Once again, don’t volunteer any information about anything, even if you are told that providing information, or a statement, will lower your bail amount. This is a ploy that often causes those arrested to give a statement, or information, that later results in irreparable problems when defending their case in court.
If you are being charged, the police already have enough for probable cause to charge you or take you into custody. What this means is that anything you tell the police does not require them to just let you go with a warning, particularly if you are being charged with a felony or by warrant.
In most cases, the statements people give police when they are immediately arrested are never helpful to them; instead, they are generally most helpful to a prosecutor or police. If you have something that you believe will exonerate you, or explain your actions.