If you’re under investigation for financial crimes, fraud, embezzlement or other white-collar crimes, the police are going to gather evidence. In many cases, they may believe that you have digital evidence on your phone. This could include pictures, call logs, text messages, social media messages, internet search histories and much more.
During the investigation or even at the time of arrest, it’s certainly true that a police officer may ask you if you will unlock your phone so that they can examine it. This is similar to how an officer may want to search your car during a traffic stop or search your home for evidence during the same investigation. But if you don’t give them your consent, it’s important to remember that they need to get a search warrant.
Consent is not mandatory
The key thing to keep in mind is that you are certainly not obligated to unlock your phone for the authorities. No matter how convincing they seem or how serious the charges are, you do have a right to privacy. That’s why the officer needs to get a search warrant if you don’t provide consent—because only a judge can determine that your right to privacy should be overridden in this specific case.
That said, it’s also worth noting that some of the information they’re looking for could be stored in other places. If you’ve made public social media posts, anyone can see them. If you use certain backup services, the information may be stored on a server owned by a tech company. Your phone may not be the only place the police search to find the evidence they’re looking for.
The handling of digital evidence can be very complex, so be sure you understand all of your defense options at this time.