Can the Police Search Your Cell Phone Know Your Rights in the Military
Know Your Rights if you are accused of a military crime
Do The Police Have A Right To Search My Phone? | Know Your Rights in the Military
The short and simple answer is NO.
Criminal defense attorney, Michael Waddington, discusses whether you should let the police search your phone if you are innocent? Call 1-800-921-8607 to speak with a criminal defense assault defense attorney today.
You should never let the police or law enforcement search your phone, especially if you are innocent or falsely accused. Watch the video to learn more.
Falsely accused of military sexual assault?
Definitely don’t consent to a search of your phone.
Should you turn your phone over to law enforcement in the military if you’re accused of a military sex crime, including a military sexual assault, and you have been falsely accused?
The answer is absolutely not. Law enforcement, if they are trying to take your phone, or doing search warrants on your property including your phone, then they think already believe that you committed a crime. Now, you do have to comply with lawful search warrants, and you should get a lawyer to discuss that and to discuss your rights. But if CID, OSI, NCIS, and CGIS investigators don’t have a warrant, you should not be giving them your phone. CID, OSI, NCIS, and CGIS are going to go through the phone, and find whatever they can, in order to corroborate the victim’s side of the story and use it against you.
Accused of Military Sexual Assault?
Giving CID, OSI, NCIS, and CGIS access to your phone will also give them access to all of your contacts.
Then CID, OSI, NCIS, and CGIS will likely start calling your contacts and try to get information about you. They will basically say that you are a rapist, or that you’ve committed a sexual assault, and find out if any of the women in your contacts, other women that you may have dated, think that you’re aggressive or pushy. They will ask them how you act when you drink, and things like that. They’re looking for evidence to convict you of something and they’re also going to ruin your reputation in the process.
Questions? Call our court-martial defense lawyers!
The other thing they’ll do is look at your search history.
Let’s say your search history has nothing to do with the crime you’re being accused of, like a military sexual assault. However, CID, OSI, NCIS, and CGIS found that you did happen to visit a website like Pornhub, and you were looking up videos on choking, for example, they will use that against you. They do it all the time. They will use that to show that you’re a violent person, that you get off on violent sex crimes, even though that is not a crime and people can do that consensually. They will use that evidence, your search history against you. CID, OSI, NCIS, and CGIS will often reveal that to other witnesses and try to ruin your reputation. Even if you don’t get charged.
In a military sexual assault case, you are guilty until proven innocent
People will believe that it’s highly likely you did something, if there’s several women saying that something happened
If investigators didn’t have evidence to get you on the crime they think you committed, by voluntarily handing over your phone, now they will be able to comb through it and corroborate other things. They will be getting in touch with your contacts to get other information about you. In fact, that’s how we end up often defending cases where there are now three or four victims.
People might say, well its highly likely he did something if there are four women saying that something happened, and how that happens is that once investigators get access to a person’s phone, they will contact every Tinder date they’ve ever had, it could be 50 or 60 women, and they’ll tell those women “this guy’s a rapist.” Then CID, OSI, NCIS, and CGIS will take those women and add them as victims in the case to show your propensity to commit sex crimes.
Military investigators are usually biased
Giving CID, OSI, NCIS, and CGIS your phone is never a good idea.
If you have evidence that shows you’re not guilty, get it to a good criminal military defense lawyer so that they can extract that data, and it doesn’t get “accidentally” deleted. A good criminal defense attorney can help you preserve that evidence and start working on your case. Do not consent to any searches. Do not make any statements. Remember that anything you say can and will be used against you. That’s usually what convinces people. It’s what comes out of a suspect’s mouth, and what comes off of their phone, particularly in military sexual assault cases, and sex crimes.
Even if you’re arrested, police can only search your phone under limited circumstances. After a person has been arrested, the police generally may search the items on her person and in her pockets, as well as anything within her immediate control, automatically and without a warrant.
Call a military sexual assault defense lawyer to discuss your options.