An arrest basically has to do with the police taking you into custody and putting you through the booking process. You'll then either be released with a citation or they are going to try to send you into court. If they attempt to send you into court, then you are going to have to either post a bail or you will stay in custody, and then in 72 hours the police will be responsible for getting you in front of a judge or they are going to have to let you go. Depending on the holidays, that can create some extra time. But the bottom line related to an arrest is the police taking physical custody of you, putting you in their police car, telling you why you are arrested, taking you to the police station and formally booking you – not necessarily charging you – but booking you.

What's The Difference Between An Arrest And A Detention?

This is an important distinction in Los Angeles County because if you are arrested and you make some sort of a statement to the police because they are asking you direct questions and you incriminate yourself, your lawyer can later argue that that statement cannot be used against you, especially if the police did not read you your Miranda Rights. If you're only detained on the other hand, the police don't necessarily have to read you your Miranda Rights. They can take a statement from you and you can be found guilty based on that statement. So, there's a fine line when it comes to arresting and detention.

The police always, of course, try to call it a detention because they know they can ask questions and get answers that might be able to incriminate you. But, the bottom line is, one of the main things is did the person feel like they could leave. And that's based on that person. Did they think – based on the circumstances – that they could leave. If they didn't think they could leave then there's a good argument that they were under arrest, in which case their Miranda Rights apply, and a lot of other rights apply because it could be an illegal arrest, in which case they would have to drop the case against the person because they were unlawfully arrested.

So, when it comes to arresting versus detention in Los Angeles County, you're going to want to get a good attorney who can look at all the facts and circumstances surrounding your case and help you make the best moves in order to protect your rights, your freedom and your reputation, and if there are any motions that you can file, obviously you're going to want your attorney to file those motions for you and do everything they can to the best of their ability regarding your arrest or detention.

What Rights Are Triggered When You're Put Under Arrest In Los Angeles County?

Again remember, people cannot just be arrested, stopped or detained for any reason. So, if you're arrested unlawfully, there is an argument that any evidence that's found against you – be it a gun, a knife, drugs or any other evidence – that evidence can be suppressed. It cannot be used against you. If that's the only evidence that the police have in order to attempt to find you guilty of the subject charges and that evidence is thrown out, then the police are going to have to dismiss the case and you will be on your merry way. The best way though to ferret this out is to get the best criminal defense attorney you can find and make sure that they pull out all the stops to assert your rights and get you out of custody and keep your record clean and protected.

So, what I do is I have the client come in. We go over all the facts and circumstances related to the arrest or the detention. We find out what the reasonable suspicion was to stop you. Was there really any criminal activity afoot or did the police just decide on their own based on a hunch or conjecture that they were going to stop you and arrest you because if they did anything they find cannot be used against you. Any statements you made to them cannot be used against you and it's my job to flush all this out and to get the case taken care of as quickly and smoothly as possible, and if you've been unlawfully arrested in Los Angeles County to make sure that your case is dismissed and you're out of the criminal justice system as fast as possible.