Can the police arrest me without evidence of my guilt?. The police can arrest someone as long as they have a probable cause that you committed a crime.
Video Transcription: Another question that we receive frequently is: Can the police arrest me without evidence of my guilt? The police can arrest you and all they need to have is probable cause that you committed a crime. That’s a standard and standards are what’s needed for someone to do something in the criminal process. Now, probable cause, it’s very low standard and the police all they need to have is some information about witnesses and someone who may say that you committed a crime. They also may have videos. They may have fingerprints and they may have other information regarding what you may have or may not have committed. This doesn’t mean that you will be found guilty because at that point the standard is a lot higher. It’s beyond reasonable doubt. So clearly, the police doesn’t know whether you committed a crime or not. All they need to have is probable cause that you committed a crime to get arrested. And felonies, all they need, they can arrest you at any time when there is probable cause that the felony was committed. For a misdemeanor is different. For a misdemeanor they need to be either in hot pursuit or they have to have witness of you committing the misdemeanor otherwise if they don’t have probable cause, you cannot be arrested.
