Showbams.com featured an article by The Festival Lawyer titled “What To Do If The Police Stop You At A Music Festival.” The main point of the article is to give you legal and practical advice if a situation ever arises with the law at a concert or festival, in turn making you a more responsible attendee. It is a new column that will cover topics such as how to protect your rights, how to recognize the symptoms of a drug or alcohol overdose, California’s Medical Marijuana laws, and what to do if stopped for a DUI. Basically a “The More You Know” type column that will only help to create a more positive, responsible and intelligent concert-going community.

This particular column concentrates on what to do if police stop you at a show or festival, and ask to search your person and/or backpack. Here are the 5 things you should do:

1. Like the Clash said, “Know Your Rights.” – In any encounter with the police, a Judge will be looking after the fact at whether the police had a right to stop you in the first place. This is because the 4th Amendment of the Constitution says that you have a right as a citizen to freely go about your business unless the police can show they had a belief you were engaged in criminal activity.
What the police have to show to a Judge later depends completely on whether the Judge finds that you were being “arrested”, “detained” or were “free to leave”.

2. Remember the Festival Lawyer’s Key Phrases – The first question out of your mouth should be, “Am I being detained?” Then, “Why? What am being stopped for? Am I free to go, or am I under arrest?”
Memorize this. Repeat it out loud: “Am I being detained? Why? Am I free to go, or am I under arrest?”
So your job in this situation is to keep calm and cool. Be respectful but clear and firm in what you are saying.

3. Miranda Rights Myths vs. Reality – Not true. The police don’t have to read you these rights. In fact, the police have the right to completely lie to you in any interview. The only time they have to read Miranda rights is if:
A) You are under arrest
B) They want to use a statement you made after being arrested in court against you.
The Right against Self Incrimination is in the Bill of Rights for a reason. USE IT. You should NEVER give a statement to the police without a lawyer. Period. No exceptions.
In the above scenario, questions like “whose backpack is this?” should be answered with a firm, “Officer, I am choosing to remain silent. I want a lawyer.”

4. Do not give the authorities consent to search you – One other major Constitutional right you have is the right to be free from an unlawful search of your person and property.
So lets say you are already in a Festival when the police approach you. They won’t let you leave and ask for permission to search your backpack. (Obviously, security has a right to search you as you enter a festival and go through their initial security screening.)
Know this…If the police are asking you permission to search you or your property, it usually means they know they are making an illegal search.
Respectfully tell the police officer, “I’m not giving you consent to search my property.” If they ask what you have to hide, don’t argue with them. Simply say again, “Officer, I’m sorry I’m not giving you consent to search my person or my property. If I’m free to leave I’d like to leave. If not, I’d like a lawyer please…”
At this point, they can still search you if they have probable cause, but what you’ve done with your statements is make them declare their reason for doing so and force them to show they are legally entitled to search you.

5. Document the Encounter – In this scenario, the Festival Buddy’s job isn’t to yell “Hey man leave him alone” or drunkenly argue with the cops. Festival Buddy’s job is to whip out his or cell phone and document the entire encounter.
This is an area where your own comfort level has to dictate how far you push it. Legally, since you are in a public place you are completely entitled to film and record what is happening. But cops will sometimes argue that you are “interfering with an investigation” and threaten to arrest you. Or if you have had anything to drink they will suddenly decide that you are “publicly intoxicated” and try to arrest you. As a Festival Buddy you have to decide if you can safely film what is happening. That’s because your other job as FB is to stay out of custody and post bail and let your buddy’s family know he just got arrested.

These are some pretty good general tips, whether you are guilty of anything or not. Will they work in every situation? No, but then again nothing is fool-proof. It is important to know your rights, and to act as respectfully and civilly as possible when dealing with police or authorities in what is typically a rather uncomfortable situation. Remember, cops are just doing their jobs. Do they go on power trips sometimes? Yes. But, either way, it is in your best interest to act like an adult and show respect, but NOT be a pushover. Be firm, diplomatic, and reasonable. If you start yelling, screaming, and acting out, you have now put yourself in the wrong automatically, and this will only work against you. Everybody is out to have a good time at concerts and festivals, but people need to be safe and responsible, first and foremost.

To read The Festival Lawyers complete column, click here.