Understanding an Arrest

For many people that have to come to our lawyers at Polson and Polson, they are coming in a state of shock. They are individuals that end up having been arrested. They come to us and they have a lot of anxiety and fear the unknown.

That is a very harsh reality, and sometimes people could be dehumanized by the process. When they are taken into jail, handcuffed behind their back, and stuffed into a police car, they can be extremely intimidated. It is helpful to understand the process of an arrest to know what to expect.

Arrested individuals are brought into a large room once they are taken in. They could be stripped of their clothes and put into an orange jumpsuit. They are photographed. In some places, they put ink on their fingers to take fingerprints, and then they are put into a cell with people, some of which can be really dangerous. They can be traumatized by that whole experience. They are cut off from their loved ones. Sometimes, they are deprived of the ability to make a phone call to find out about what the charges are and what they can do to get released.

They come to us and ask what is going to happen to them. First, we try to help them get back on some level ground where they can try to see the big picture and know that there is somebody there to help them. If a person asks us what we do, we first and foremost will help people. We help people through what can be one of the worst things that has ever happened to them. Knowing that there is somebody there that cares about them getting the best possible result can be liberating and important just to be able to turn it over to another person.

Given the choice, a private law firm would always be the first choice compared to a public defender. Although public defenders try really hard, the reality is that they carry big caseloads and, sometimes can be inexperienced. There certainly have been many fine public defenders over the years that we have known that have done their best to help the accused citizen, but a private law firm like Polson and Polson can be all the difference in someone’s case outcome.

Now, of course, it depends on the individual lawyer’s abilities, and but it is an incredibly important decision and, sometimes, the lawyer an individual chooses can make a difference in the outcome. People owe it to themselves not to necessarily hire the first lawyer that they hear and that sometimes talking to three other lawyers might be helpful to them. We have certainly had clients that have wanted to do that and they would come back to us in almost every instance because they can tell from talking with us that we are motivated and we know what we are doing.

We are very careful in our firm to hire people that are caring individuals. We get so many compliments at our staff about how friendly they are and how helpful they are. We sometimes hire outside investigators and outside expert witnesses, so having the contacts and knowing the right people to get to look at a particular case is important.