Risk avoidance is critical with police, says Fairfax criminal defense lawyer

Risk avoidance (RA) is essential with police. As a Fairfax criminal defense lawyer, I say that asserting your right to remain silent with police and to object to searches is essential, while I also say to avoid actions that may lead to an arrest, prosecution, and conviction for assaulting, obstructing, threatening, or bribing law enforcement officers (LEOs), and for not giving police physical space and reduced speed when they are stopped on the roadway. Even though police are supposed to serve the public rather than the other way around, the Virginia criminal law provides police with protections that call for such RA, and a vast percentage of the public supports the police role and most police, which means Virginia criminal defendants should seek little sympathy from judges, jurors and prosecutors when defendants failure to engage in such RA is not perceived as a justified response to any inadvertent police actions, let alone whether any inadvertent police action is perceived in the first place.

How should I treat police in crowded courthouse hallways?

Fairfax courthouse hallways and other county courthouse hallways and courtroom can get very crowded at times. Among those present will be police in uniform and in plain clothes. An assault conviction on LEO is a felony bringing a mandatory minimum six months in jail and allowing up to five years of imprisonment. Consequently, in the courthouse it is best to give wide physical berth to everyone you pass, so as to not enable you nor others to accidentally bump into each other only to find out that a police officer (whether in uniform or plain clothes) alleges you intentionally touched them. To further minimize such a risk, you can limit your movements in the courthouse to those that are directed by your lawyer. You can endeavor only to move around the courthouse when accompanied by your lawyer, or else by upstanding friend(s) or relative(s) to be witnesses to your ideally proper behavior in the courthouse. Also, be careful about carrying any objects (for instance a briefcase or backpack) that might accidentally hit into anyone. One good way to perceive of this situation is to look at others in the courthouse as possibly carrying a debilitating disease that you can catch if you or your belongings touch them. Do I say to even avoid shaking hands with a police officer if they greet you in the courthouse? I’d prefer my own clients to avoid shaking a police officer’s hand and being perceived as not gracious, than to accept the handshake and lose balance or be accused of squeezing the LEO’s hand too hard, for instance.

How should I exercise risk avoidance during a tense-feeling encounter with a police officer?

The Virgina Court of Appeals has okayed assault on police convictions even when no physical contact takes place with police, starting with balled up fists, a fighting stance, am[d moving towards police. Blankenship v. Commonwealth of Virginia,  71 Va.App. 608 (2020). See also White v. Commonwealth of Virginia, Record No. 1834-25-3 (Va. App. 2026) (unpublished). Even if you think a police officer’s arresting efforts are unlawful, what happens if your judge or jury disagree when your defense to an assault on LEO charge only leaves you to argue resisting an unlawful arrest?

How silent should I be with police?

You have the right to remain silent with police and for your silence not to be used against you. Some people, thought, think they can outsmart LEO. That playing field is beyond uneven. Moreover, watch out saying anything that might be misconstrued as an offer of a bribe to police. Anything you say to police may be misconstrued and used against it. Why risk it?

Fairfax criminal lawyer Jonathan Katz knows that your Virginia DUI, felony or misdemeanor prosecution can tremendously unsettle and uproot your life. Jon Katz relentlessly pursues your best defense every step of the way in criminal court. For your free in-person confidential consultation with Jon about your court-pending prosecution, contact us at 703-383-1100, Info@KatzJustice.com, or (text) 571-406-7268.