My suggestions on avoiding an arrest

[Misawahawk]

Everything you say can and will be used against you. Note this Miranda warning says absolutely nothing about helping you. Best bet is to be polite, be respectful, but decline answering any questions. The main problem with talking is you could admit a crime without even knowing it. Plus once you start talking you open Pandora's box. I good cop won't let you know they think you are full of shit.

[Lea Madisson]

First... I would have told the gentleman accusing me of stealing his phone that he better think twice about reporting me to the police. I don't have your phone and if the police track me down, I will get a lawyer and sue you! And it will cost you way more than a lost phone. By the way, here is my phone (show him) so why would I want yours? End of story, drive away casually!

I will admit, that I am not going to criticize anything that you did, because I wasn't there, and sometimes when we are called upon to think fast, well, our thinking just fails us!

Frankly, if I did stay or if I was there when the police showed up, I would identify myself, shown my license, said no I did not... and then ask, "may I go now?"

I had a freidn who had something similar done to him... although he was accused by a person that he stole something, called the police and didn't know he was even accused until they showed up. He identified himself, asked what all this was about and when told of the complaint, he said he did not do it and had know reason to do it. Then they started asking a lot of questions that did not pertain to the accusation (much like you went through). He said he was not going to answer, that he made his statement, and unless they had reason to detain him, he would like to leave. (he never demanded to leave, always asked). When they said he had to answer, he said he needed to call his lawyer then and he wanted the name and information of the person who was accusing him so he could take legal action.

The police, knowing they really couldn't hold on to him, told him it was not necessary and if they needed to ask him more questions they would contact him later. Guess what... they never did contact him.

You do not have to talk and should not talk to the police without representation!

Lea

[green_betta]

there's more ways than one to handle a situation like this. thanks to the op for sharing his close call

[malwoody]

I find their comment about "complaints" rather curious. The facility you were in sits by a couple of others, a Hospital and the great white elephant otherwise know as the great mall which these days could be called a ghost town...lol. There are no houses or foot traffic to speak of so who are these complaints comming from? A ruse to get you to talk is my guess. Now there are two strip clubs a few miles away out in the county, so I guess it is plausible about the complaints..but I ain't buying it.

I don't know about Olathe but these mini cams that can be worn on an officers person are spreading...one city has used them for a couple of years or so... I see two advantages, first since everything is on video it makes it much harder for either party to play games. In other words, if you were to ask if you were being charged with a crime and the answer was no...IMO you should be free to go..and it's all on camera..on the flip side if you were to accuse them of harrassment and it was not true...it's all on tape.