<p>Heed bklyngal’s advice. #13
Just watch the recommended videos–they are real eye openers and good for EVERYBODY.</p>
<p>Quote:
I would not let him go to the station without an attorney.</p>
<p>That seems like an over-reaction and an expensive one to boot and one that could look pretty odd to the police. There’s not even any context to this right now. It’s best to get some context behind the request before going overboard on it. </p>
<p>GladGradDad, I’m an attorney but haven’t practiced criminal law in a very long time. That being said, my eyebrows went up when the OP said that they want him to come to the station. That’s odd to me if he’s only being questioned as some type of witness to something. As a previous poster who is a criminal attorney said: *The fact that they want him to come to the station is more troubling. If it was simply a situation where they were questioning many students they would do it in the dorm. They use the station to isolate people, and make them think they need to stay and answer questions, when they have no such obligation. * I agree with this.</p>
<p>In some areas, parents of children with autism have conducted in services with the local police. People with autism are likely to be extremely anxious when dealing with police. They are not going to make eye contact or follow the conversation well. If the police don’t get this, they will think the person is acting guilty or evasive. They could even get more aggressive with questioning, as the person with autism is likely to hesitate with responses and the police will think they are evasive. If the person with autism is anxious enough, he or she may admit to anything just to end the conversation.
Most people with autism are rule bound. They are mind blind, so it is difficult for them to be deceptive or plan a crime. If your son did anything wrong, it would likely be that he did not understand what was going on, was put up to it, or a scapegoat. Because of their odd mannerisms, poor communication skills, and mind blindness, people with autism are easy targets.
Please don’t allow them to question him alone if possible.</p>
<p>It might not be necessary to have an attorney go with him for questioning. It really depends on the situation. However, I would hire an attorney initially(it will not be expensive), to make the call to the police to determine what exactly they want to question your son about, and whether he is a suspect. The police respond significantly better to an attorney calling, as opposed to a mom calling. Once you have that information, you can make a more informed decision about what to do. </p>
<p>Once an attorney is involved, the police know someone at least is watching what they are doing. I have many friends who are police officers. Most Officers are great people, and do the right thing. You however have no idea, what the police have been told about your child and/or what type of information they want. At least find that out before you allow your child to be spoken with.</p>
<p>I recommend having him call back and cancel the interview at the station. I’d also not reschedule it or state I’d only interview with my lawyer. I wouldn’t bother about trying to find out why they want to interview him, mainly because they likely won’t tell you. </p>
<p>I’d guess one scenario is that someone made a accusation against your son or someone who might look like your son. There are just too many ways for your son to give an answer that might make him look guilty or make him look like a lier. Once they’ve done this, they won half the battle in getting your son convicted. Your son will be better off not giving them a head start. Again, this is just one possible scenario, but do you want to take the chance of ruining your son’s life? </p>
<p>Also, don’t depend on the school. They could be cooperating with the police and may not have his best interests in mind. Unfortunately, since you likely won’t know what this is all about beforehand, you won’t be certain if this is true or not.</p>
<p>I concur that under no circumstances should you allow your son to go to the police station for questioning without someone accompanying him. If you do not feel comfortable involving someone from the school’s administration, then given your son’s unique circumstances, it would be worth the overnight drive. The thought goes through my mind that perhaps someone who IS guilty of something, is attempting to shift the blame to someone else.</p>
<p>My husband is a lawyer and he says that nobody should ever talk to the police without a lawyer.</p>
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<p>WRONG!</p>
<p>Rather than hire an attorney, my advice would simply be to tell him not to go. (But I’d probably contact a local attorney anyway, just in case the situation escalates.) Your son is under no obligation to answer questions and, in this case, he shouldn’t.</p>
<p>If you decide he should go anyway, then he should absolutely be accompanied by counsel. Not a representative of the college, not even an attorney for the college . . . he should have his own, private attorney. The college’s interests may or may not align with your son’s . . . this is not a chance you want to take!</p>
<p>You all noticed OP said campus police, right? “…police at S’s college.” I took this as come to their office, not the local police station.</p>
<p>You can also call the disabilities office, if you or your son have a relationship with them, and ask one of them to support him.</p>
<p>It’s probably best to pay more attention to the lawyers on this thread than me since I’m not a lawyer - I’m just looking at it logically.</p>
<p>Atomom - Did your S indicate why they wanted to talk to him and what this is all about? Did they tell him or did he ask?</p>
<p>Good luck in all of this - sorry your S and you have to go through this.</p>
<p>I agree with the posters who suggested the video. Watch the video yourself and have your son watch it. And alwats remember - the police can and will lie to you.</p>
<p>The original post is unclear…do the CAMPUS POLICE want him to come to their office or is it the LOCAL POLICE who want him to come to the Police Station?</p>
<p>For the respondents above would your advice be different if this was a call from the campus police as opposed to the local police department?</p>
<p>" . . .I would either arrange for an attorney to accompany him, or retain an attorney to contact the authorities to find out what exactly they want. " - bklyngal</p>
<p>He should not say JACK without a lawyer who represnets HIM present.</p>
<p>The only thing he should say is that he is invoking his right to counsel.</p>
<p>Just a general question - what should a non-autistic or autistic college student do if they are called to the police to be questioned about something and don’t want to go? If they’re above 18, a student can’t really say “I’ll only speak to you in front of my parents”, can they?</p>
<p>I agree–I would and urge my kids and anyone I cared about to invoke their 5th amendment rights and right to counsel. Would decline to be questioned UNLESS counsel representing ME was present and I could confer with said counsel before and throughout the questioning. Would wait until a subpoena was issued REQUIRING me to be present.</p>
<p>The video link above is VERY revealing and VERY important viewing for EVERYONE. Detectives and attorneys are in the business of collecting evidence to convict, NOT to gather information about why your kid or loved one has nothing to do with the event and/or should not be questioned. NEVER TALK WITH OFFICERS–IT CANNOT HELP AND YOUR ATTORNEY WILL HAVE A LOT TO DO TO TRY TO REPAIR DAMAGE FROM ANY INTERVIEWS. As an attorney, I would NEVER speak to police without MY attorney present.</p>
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<p>Just say NO.</p>
<p>Age makes no difference - you cannot under any circumstances (at least not any circumstances that are relevant here) be compelled to answer questions or assist the police. The police can also not compel you to “come down to the station” for any reason . . . unless you are under arrest. So, when in doubt, just say no.</p>
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<p>No, the answer is, “I won’t speak to you without an attorney.” Asking for a parent does NOT protect your student’s rights - asking for an attorney does.</p>
<p>From what I understand, this is the campus police. But I’m not sure how they are separate from the city police there.
I called the dorm office and expressed my concerns–they said there were no incidents that they were aware of that the police were looking into (sort of bad news, because that means they are talking to S in particular–not just a bunch of kids from that dorm in general.) However, they will alert the director of the dorm and RA about it. They understood my concern about autism/communicating with police.
S was surprised by the phone call from the police (I was called first by accident since the dorm had my phone number), and just agreed to answer questions tomorrow WITHOUT EVEN ASKING what it was about. I had to point out that this lack of curiosity makes it look like he already knows what it might be about. . .I only had the officer’s repeated reassurance that S is “not in trouble” when I asked why they needed to contact S. (. . . I looked at the lists and videos --I was trained to think that “the policeman is your friend” or that you could HELP the police by providing information that might make your community safer. . .why I gave S’s number. I don’t want to be paranoid, but I can see how an innocent person can be made to look guilty.)
I also talked to my S again and asked him detailed questions about ANYTHING he might have been associated with (theft, drugs, alcohol, conflict with another student, witness to any of the above, etc.) that could raise suspicion or make police want to talk to him. There is nothing. I asked him to think hard and just imagine ANY possible thing. It is sort of amusing what he came up with: He filled out a survey that had his name on it. He thought that his answers to some of the multiple choice questions could possibly indicate depression (?? not sure why POLICE would care–maybe student health. . .) A couple days ago he walked around the campus police station building. He walked all the way around the building. Just looking at the building. Not close to the building but about 100 yards from the building. And he thought maybe the fact that he walked all the way around the building was seen on security cameras and they wondered why he did that (??) Oh yeah. There was a notice in the dorm about missing items. What kind of items? Clothes. (LOL–S would never steal anything–he is completely non-materialistic. And he would never wear someone else’s clothes. Like a lot of autistic people, S prefers to wear the same kind of clothes all the time: Black jeans. Black jacket. Dark t-shirt. (He does wash them)
Black shoes. (Always being seen ALONE and WEARING BLACK might be the most likely reason why police would want to talk to him.) I talked to S about how his poor communication skills might make him look suspicious.
Talked to H. H is not concerned. He thinks it is OK to just let him go and see what it’s about. S has a sister at a college nearby. H thought maybe she could go with S, but I think she has classes in the morning.</p>
<p>Has he spent time alone with a girl?</p>
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<p>It might be okay. And it might not.</p>
<p>And if it’s not, the ramifications could be HUGE . . . and by the time you find out, it could well be too late.</p>
<p>This isn’t about trusting your son - it’s about trusting total strangers. Is that a risk you want to take?</p>
<p>LOL–you don’t know this kid. Never. I actually called him to make sure that there was no girl who could potentially accuse him of anything.</p>
<p>He says he’ll just not go. But what if they call him back? Just ignore the call? (Unfortunately, ignoring things/people/issues has been one of his common communication strategies. Not because he has any problems or is guilty of anything–he just doesn’t like talking to strangers.) What should he say? If they could only reassure him by telling him what the heck this is about. It is probably some incredibly minor thing. Why can’t they just tell him on the phone?</p>