“Police. You’re under arrest.”
You’ve likely heard those words coming from the mouths of fictional police officers on the screen. But what if a police officer is saying it to you in real life? Are you really under arrest, or could you be experiencing a false arrest? There may not be an obvious answer, because it all depends on the circumstances of the situation.
What is a false arrest?
Being arrested means having your freedom of movement legally restricted. Under California law, anything that constitutes an unlawful violation of your personal liberty might constitute a false arrest. If the police restrict your freedom of movement for legitimate reasons, that would typically be a legal arrest — even if charges are later dropped or dismissed or you are acquitted at trial. A false arrest, by comparison, is generally one that is done in violation of the law and your rights — such as an arrest made simply because an officer doesn’t like your looks or your attitude, not because you’re actually in violation of the law.
What if the police just made a mistake?
Note that the police often arrest the wrong people. Those arrests are not necessarily false arrests. An officer needs probable cause to think you have committed a crime to arrest you. If they can justify your arrest via probable cause, then it’s unlikely that your arrest will be considered a false arrest. That is just a situation that has to play out through the legal system.
Filing a complaint against the police for false arrest is more likely to succeed if you can show the police knew they had no right to detain you. For example, they stormed into your house without a warrant or your permission, found some drugs then arrested you on the spot. Or they have a “hunch” that you have been involved in some crimes, but have no grounds to prove this is true, so they bundle you into a van and leave you there to sweat for a while to let you know they are watching you.
Unfortunately, not all police officers abide by the laws they’ve sworn to uphold. You’ve likely seen plenty of cases of officers engaging in misconduct on the news. Fortunately, no officer is above the law, and there are legal options to explore if you believe you have been subjected to a false arrest.