Can Police Take My Phone During a Sex Crime Investigation? Attorneys Christopher Combs and Joshua Boardman from Combs Waterkotte discuss everything you need to know about Illinois sex crime charges, including sexual assault, sexual abuse, rape, and more.
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Interview Transcript
Scott Michael Dunn: Can the police take my phone during a sex crime investigation in Illinois?
Joshua Boardman: They can. They would need to obtain a warrant for that. Or I’ve also had instances where once again law enforcement is not there to educate you on your constitutional rights. So, I’ve had cases where law enforcement will ask for a cellphone and individuals thinking that they have to obey law enforcement will just give their cellphone over not realizing that that law enforcement would then have to submit a request for a warrant. A warrant would have to be signed off based on the existence of probable cause to search that cellphone just as you would a vehicle or residence or something along those lines. And yes, law enforcement’s not there to educate you on the right and wrong answer. So, I’ve had cases right now where cellphones were willing given to law enforcement.
Christopher Combs: And I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been on the phone with a potential client just even on like a DWI let alone a sex crime, and I just asked him the question did you blow or not? You know, I didn’t know I had a choice. You always have a choice, always. And again, like Josh said, law enforcement is not there to educate you on your constitutional rights. So, they may say, “Well, I need to see your cellphone.” Okay, sure. Here you go. They may still have to go get a warrant to search that phone but now they have it. It makes their job much easier. So, again a lot of people just think they don’t have a choice. They have to cooperate. And again they make poor decisions.
Dunn: You just don’t know the answers, right?
Combs: Sure. And that’s kind of why we’re here to try to educate people.
Dunn: Yes, absolutely. Because that’s the scary part. You get in the situation and you think they demand you to do something, tell you you have to do this thing because they’re obviously making up the rules and lying and as someone would think, “Well, if he tells me I’m supposed to do that, they’re the police.” So, that’s what I do. That’s terrifying. I mean, it’s just great to have you guys here so we can have this conversation because it’s so hard to imagine being in that situation in the first place, but then to succumb because you just feel like this badge means I do what they say.
Combs: Yes, and it happens. Way more often than you’d ever imagine.
