{"id":50619,"date":"2022-08-25T19:42:42","date_gmt":"2022-08-25T23:42:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orders.cleo.on.ca\/?post_type=publications-page&#038;p=50619"},"modified":"2025-06-16T16:23:26","modified_gmt":"2025-06-16T20:23:26","slug":"what-if-the-police-arrest-or-charge-me","status":"publish","type":"publications-page","link":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/what-if-the-police-arrest-or-charge-me","title":{"rendered":"What if the police arrest or charge me?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The police can only charge you if they think you committed a crime. Sometimes this happens in family violence situations because both partners use physical force against each other.<\/p>\n<p>If the police arrest you, they must:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>tell you why<\/li>\n<li>only search you in a reasonable way<\/li>\n<li>let you speak to a lawyer<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>You must give your correct name and date of birth. This is the <strong>only<\/strong> information you must give the police if you are arrested.<\/p>\n<p>You <strong>should not<\/strong> answer <strong>any<\/strong> other questions from the police without talking to a lawyer. Anything you say can be used against you in court. This includes things you think may help you.<\/p>\n<p>Tell the police that you <strong>want a lawyer<\/strong>, and that you will <strong>not answer questions without speaking to a lawyer<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>You should speak to a criminal lawyer as soon as possible.<\/p>\n<p>The police must give you a private phone line and a private place to speak to the lawyer. Usually, this is a room at the police station.<\/p>\n<p>If you have a lawyer you would like to speak to, the police must help you find the phone number for that lawyer. If you do not have a lawyer, the police must help you call a free lawyer. There is a duty counsel hotline at <strong>1-800-265-0451<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h2>If you cannot afford a lawyer<\/h2>\n<p>If you cannot afford a lawyer, you can apply to Legal Aid Ontario (LAO) for a legal aid certificate.<\/p>\n<p>To get a certificate for a criminal issue, you must show that you have a low income and that you could go to jail if you are found guilty.<\/p>\n<p>Call LAO at <strong>1-800-668-8258<\/strong> to apply. Some people, like those living in a shelter or getting Ontario Works, can apply online at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legalaid.on.ca\/services\/how-do-i-apply-for-legal-aid\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">legalaid.on.ca\/services\/how-do-i-apply-forlegal-aid<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>If LAO rejects your application, you can:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Appeal the decision. This means that you disagree with the decision and want someone with more authority to review it.<\/li>\n<li>Go to court and ask for an order that the government pay for your lawyer. The court might make this type of order if you cannot afford a lawyer and you need one to have a fair trial. But this order is hard to get.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>You might also want to talk to someone at a shelter or a community legal clinic. They can try to get you a certificate that gives you 2 hours of free legal advice. See <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications\/handbook\/general-legal-services#LegalAid\">Legal Aid certificates<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>If you cannot hire a lawyer, you might be able to get help from duty counsel at court. Duty counsel are free lawyers for people with a low income and who do not have their own lawyer. They will only help you on the day you are in court.<\/p>\n<p>Duty counsel cannot represent you at a trial, but they may help you to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>get bail<\/li>\n<li>understand your case<\/li>\n<li>talk to the Crown<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications\/handbook\/part-10-legal-and-community-resources-in-ontario\">Part 10<\/a> lists legal and community resources for women who have been abused.<\/p>\n<h2>Immigration status<\/h2>\n<p>If you are not a Canadian citizen, it is very important for you to speak to an immigration lawyer, if you have been arrested or charged.<\/p>\n<p>A criminal charge or conviction could affect your right to stay in Canada. For example, if you are convicted of a serious crime, you could lose your permanent resident status and be forced to leave Canada.<\/p>\n<p>If you only have temporary status in Canada, you can also lose your status and be forced to leave Canada for a less serious crime. See <a href=\"https:\/\/cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications\/handbook\/part-8-immigration-issues\/\">Immigration issues<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-50619","publications-page","type-publications-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What if the police arrest or charge me? - CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/what-if-the-police-arrest-or-charge-me\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What if the police arrest or charge me? - CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The police can only charge you if they think you committed a crime. Sometimes this happens in family violence situations because both partners use physical force against each other. If the police arrest you, they must: tell you why only search you in a reasonable way let you speak to a lawyer You must give your correct name and date of birth.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/what-if-the-police-arrest-or-charge-me\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-16T20:23:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/what-if-the-police-arrest-or-charge-me\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/what-if-the-police-arrest-or-charge-me\",\"name\":\"What if the police arrest or charge me? - CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-25T23:42:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-16T20:23:26+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/what-if-the-police-arrest-or-charge-me#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/what-if-the-police-arrest-or-charge-me\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/what-if-the-police-arrest-or-charge-me#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Publication pages\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"What if the police arrest or charge me?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/\",\"name\":\"CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What if the police arrest or charge me? - CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/what-if-the-police-arrest-or-charge-me","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What if the police arrest or charge me? - CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)","og_description":"The police can only charge you if they think you committed a crime. Sometimes this happens in family violence situations because both partners use physical force against each other. If the police arrest you, they must: tell you why only search you in a reasonable way let you speak to a lawyer You must give your correct name and date of birth.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/what-if-the-police-arrest-or-charge-me","og_site_name":"CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)","article_modified_time":"2025-06-16T20:23:26+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/what-if-the-police-arrest-or-charge-me","url":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/what-if-the-police-arrest-or-charge-me","name":"What if the police arrest or charge me? - CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-08-25T23:42:42+00:00","dateModified":"2025-06-16T20:23:26+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/what-if-the-police-arrest-or-charge-me#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/what-if-the-police-arrest-or-charge-me"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/what-if-the-police-arrest-or-charge-me#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Publication pages","item":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"What if the police arrest or charge me?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/","name":"CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"meta_box":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publications-page\/50619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publications-page"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/publications-page"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publications-page\/50619\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62368,"href":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publications-page\/50619\/revisions\/62368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}