Questioning suspects

[ondy1]

I have a question about questioning suspects. Do police officers need some sort of official documentation to bring a suspect in for questioning?

[Oldbillplod]

You need evidence in the form of statements, I cant think of any other documentation that you would need. However i'm normally completely wrong.

[ondy1]

Well here is the scoop. My mom was stabbed to death about three years ago and no one has been arrested. The police claim there was no physical evidence(pretty amazing huh?) Anyway they have a couple of suspects in mind but the police seem to be sitting around. They promised me they would "interview" the suspects but that was four months ago, while I am putting out reward fliers all over the city. I am just wondering if they have to have some sort of warrant or subpoena; or are they just being lazy?

[Drew27k9]

Do police officers need some sort of official documentation to bring a suspect in for questioning?

The police just can't bring someone in for questioning without the person they want to interview agrees to go in for questioning. If the police pick up a person they might be interested in, and they take the suspect to the police station, w/o the persons consent, they just arrested that person.

I am sorry for your loss, but sometimes believe it or not there might not be physical evidence left at a scene. Sometimes a major case like this takes time. The police need to build the case up from the ground. I know your in a hurry to have the person arrested, but if the police get the right person and a mistake was made, the person could walk.

[ondy1]

Let me ask this.... They have a choice, but if the police get an investigative supboena, then they have to come in, correct? I only know about this because they already used one to bring in the suspect's boyfriend. At this point we are pretty much relying on leaning on the suspects so they will crack because we have nothing else. By the way thanks for the info. This is why I signed up for the forum. I need to learn more about the processes involved in an investigation.

[greg6099]

Interesting to see the different requirement to arrest / detain persons.

We operate under the Police Powers and Responsibilities Act.

Section 198 Arrest without warrant (Heavily edited for this post)

[para] (2) Also, it is lawful for a police officer, without warrant, to arrest a person the police officer reasonably suspects has committed or is committing an indictable offence, for questioning the person about the offence, or investigating the offence, under chapter 7.55

We simply arrest people for questioning (time limits and lots of guidelines) if we 'reasonably suspect' they were involved in an offence.

[Hightower]

You also need to remember that even if we bring them in for questioning, they don't have to answer our questions.

Hightower

[HiTechCj]

You can always call them on the telephone!

Recall that Miranda is a two-part test - custody (or detention) and accusatory questions. The courts have held that calling a suspect on the telephone at his or her work or home is not a detention (pretty hard for the suspect to argue they weren't free to leave). So, if the police every call you to get your side of the story - ekk.

Raymond
www.hitechcj.com

[FPS207]

Questioning a suspect would be voluntary on the suspects part. If you have enough evidence (probable cause) or articuable suspicion then you could arrest them, read miranda, then question them further to gain more evidence.

Usually you would like to have some evidence before questioning a suspect, so that you have at least enough to arrest the suspect if he refuses.

[Lfpdlieu302]

Well here is the scoop. My mom was stabbed to death about three years ago and no one has been arrested. The police claim there was no physical evidence(pretty amazing huh?) Anyway they have a couple of suspects in mind but the police seem to be sitting around. They promised me they would "interview" the suspects but that was four months ago, while I am putting out reward fliers all over the city. I am just wondering if they have to have some sort of warrant or subpoena; or are they just being lazy?

first off, i'm very sorry for your loss. second, as police, we can ask anyone we want to come to the pd and answer questions. the kicker is they have to want to. as stated above, physical evidence can sometimes be harder to come by than you would think. they may be waiting to get better probable cause, if they use a prosecutors subpoena, and the guy lawyers up, well they have kinda shown their cards so to speak. now if they have enough pc for an arrest and then obtain a warrant (in arkansas we dont need a warrant for a felony, BUT this is an older case and it would not hurt) then even if dude says he wont go in voluntarily, they can arrest him anyway and bring him in. now if he lawyers up, he still goes to jail.