I’ve had many clients over the years ask me this very loaded question, do you have to roll down your window for the police in Canada? Wow, that’s an interesting topic. Well, first of all, you have to know this, the police are allowed to stop a vehicle really for any reason, in the sense that they if they want to, check your license, check your ownership, your mechanical fitness in the car. Those are valid reasons, unfortunately, for a stop in Canada. Unlike in many States where the police  have to have a reason for the stop. In Canada, they don’t. They can just articulate those are the reasons. 

So what do you do in this situation? Well, you need to smoothly bring your car to a stop. The police are going to approach your car. They are  going to ask you to produce your license, ownership, insurance, and you have to provide that to them. 

So how else are you going to provide it? Then, at least if you roll your window at least down partially enough to speak to them. So, a lot of people will take that approach, just to roll it down partially. But you know that might set certain officers off. 

You don’t have to roll it down further. But what if they ask you roll your window down further so we can talk. Well, you could escalate the situation saying no, but what if the police are unethical or unscrupulous and they escalate the situation? 

So, you have to be very careful, be very polite with the police officers. You only have to provide your insurance.  You don’t have to answer any questions, you don’t have to say where you’re coming from, but if you got nothing to hide, why not just tell them where you’re coming from? It might be different considerations for someone who’s been drinking. 

You could exercise your right to silence and just not respond to their questions, but that’s going to get their suspicions going as well. So, from a practical perspective, personally, what I do is I roll down my window completely. I don’t want to escalate the situation. I want to be very polite if I’ve done nothing wrong, I don’t mind telling the police where I’m coming from. You know, I don’t drink a drive, but if I was previously at a bar,  I certainly wouldn’t say where I was coming from in that situation, because that’s just going to get you charged potentially. So, you have to be very careful in this situation if you choose to roll it down just partially well, fine. Just hand the documents over if they ask you to roll it down further,  I suppose you could refuse to do that and see how they respond. 

But again, it could escalate a situation with an unethical police officer who’s now mad at you. And you know, a  real bad situation might arise  where you refuse to roll down your window and  police might get furious because  they can’t do their job because you have to provide your  license to them. 

So, roll it down at least partial way, if you got nothing to hide, what’s the problem with rolling it down the full way? Maybe an impaired driver might decide to roll it just partially and see if they get away with that, and see if the police react. But it’s a difficult situation. The bottom line is you’ve got to at least roll it down enough for them to do their job, to hand your licence through the window. Most people in this situation, obviously, they don’t want problems with the police. They will roll their window down all the way.  They’ll provide everything, and it’s up to you, what questions you want to answer, but frankly, you don’t have to answer any question other than identifying yourself, providing your license, registration and insurance, so that’s the kind of complicated answer on a difficult question. 

My advice is, why would you want to escalate a situation by being difficult with the police, and especially, you know, if you keep your window completely closed and refuse to roll it down, the police are going to go ballistic. I mean, they could potentially break into the other side if they want to be real idiots in that situation. 

So that’s a kind of complicated answer to a loaded situation. Use your head. Don’t escalate it. And it might be best just to cooperate with the police as much as you have to, but bear in mind you have a right to remain silent for questions, and as soon as you’re arrested or detained, you should ask the police, “ Am I under arrest?”  If they say yes, exercise your right to counsel and just completely shut up. And so in other words, ask to speak to a lawyer for legal advice, who will tell you not to say anything from this point forward. 

Thank you for watching our video. We are absolutely committed to bringing the best possible criminal and DUI, educational hearings. If you found this video helpful, please like it and subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you’ve been charged with the criminal offense of Ontario and require our services, please click on the link in the description below

By Published On: October 22, 2024Last Updated: October 22, 2024Categories: Impaired Driving/DUI, Video

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