Privacy at Police Stations
After being arrested and taken into custody, there is always a question of privacy: whether your conversations during interviews or in the back seat of the police car are going to remain private. Most police officer’s cars are equipped with recording devices specifically for the purpose of recording a suspect’s statements. In fact, officers generally put suspects together in the back seat of their cars in the hopes that suspects will talk so that their conversations can be recorded. When a third party overhears or records a conversation in a police station, there is no privilege or protection to keep that third party from testifying about the conversations.
A conversation which is tape recorded or overheard by a third party is generally not privileged because there is no reasonable expectation of privacy; however, the mere fact that a conversation is recorded or overheard does not compromise a couple’s privilege if the only person who can testify regarding the content of the communication is a spouse. As a general rule, when third party eavesdroppers hear otherwise privileged communications, the communications are not privileged unless the communicating parties had a reasonable expectation of privacy. Boyd v. State, 17 So. 3d 812 (4th DCA 2009).
Be aware of what you are saying and where you are saying it. With no protection of your privacy, you may be recorded without your knowledge in hopes of using what you say against you.
