Police checks and detention

• The police have the right to check your identity. Although you are not obliged to have an ID with you, to avoid trouble or lengthy checking, it is always better to take it with you.
• Always ask for the reason for the identity check. The police must be able to give you a reason when you ask.
• Police officers must give you their name upon request. Police officers in plain clothes must identify themselves with a badge.
• In the case of police assault (such as violence or verbal abuse) or discriminatory controls (e.g., police checks due to your skin color), note names of the police officers, location, date, time, and addresses of people who have observed the incident. This is important for a complaint or criminal charge against the police. At the end of this brochure, you will find addresses you can contact.
• As soon as possible, write down the incident as you remember it so you do not forget important things.
• If you have observed an assault, also write the information down immediately and send it to the person concerned

Searches by the police

• The police are allowed to search your baggage if they deem you suspicious of a criminal offense. Always ask what crime you are being searched for. Ask why you are suspected of this offense.
• Extended personal searches (strip-search, for example) are not permitted in public. Emptying pockets or palpation, however, is allowed.
• In case of extended searches, insist the police search you in their car or at the police station.
• Only doctors or physicians are allowed to examine body openings.
• Insist that, as a woman, you be searched by women, or, as a man, by men.
• If you consider refusing a search, you should know that this may result in a criminal charge.
• The police are allowed to take a DNA sample from you (oral smear). In general, law enforcement and courts are entitled to order this. However, the prosecution or the court of justice are responsible for arranging the analysis and creating a DNA profile.
• If you get a summons from the police for DNA collection, it does not mean that you are obligated to do so.
• After a DNA extraction, or upon receiving a summons to a DNA extraction, please always report to one of the counseling centers in section Human rights & repression!
• Recognition measures can be ordered by the police, the prosecution, or the courts. This usually includes determination of the body characteristics of a person and taking prints of body parts. If you refuse such police orders, the prosecution decides.

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Train station & railway police

• Many things are forbidden at Bern central station. (Note the prohibition signs) The railway police enforce these rules. The SBB railway police can check your ID, arrest you temporarily, or hand you over to the police. In addition, the railway police are allowed to confiscate items. Private security services, such as Securitas, are not permitted to do so. According to the law, however, the railway police must hand over confiscated items and temporarily arrested persons “as quickly as possible to the police.”
• The authority of the railway police is limited to railway stations and trains.
• Pay attention to the kind of uniform people wear.

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Private security guards

• In addition to the police, more and more uniformed personnel are also involved who are not police officers. They are employees of private security companies (e.g. “Protectas” or “Securitas”). They have no more rights than you have.
• If private security guards catch you while committing a criminal offense, they are allowed to arrest you. However, they must hand you over to the police immediately. They are not authorized to request an identity card, ask and search you, scan you, search your pockets, ask you for name and place of residence, or take things from you.

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The right to remain silent

• If you are taken to the police station and questioned, you have the right to remain silent. This is not a trick but your right as being accused. This is useful when you or an acquaintance of you are accused of a criminal offense.
• You only have to give the following information:
  • Surname
  • Given name
  • Address where you are registered
  • Date of birth
  • Profession (not the employer)
  • Name of parents
  • Nothing else!

• Answer to all other questions with “No statement” or “I refuse to answer the question,” even if they want to talk with you only “about the weather.” Every statement endangers you and others.
• Do not sign anything you do not understand or disagree with.

In certain situations, however, it may be useful to make a statement to defuse the situation. If you decide to make statements, then consider the following:

• Please make sure that your statements are recorded correctly. (Are the recorded statements your own or those of the police?)
• Read the protocol carefully before signing.
• You are not obligated to sign protocols.

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Confiscation

• If the police want to confiscate something – take your phone away, for example – always ask for a receipt. Confiscation is only allowed if an object can be used as evidence regarding a criminal offense or if it constitutes a threat to the public order. If confiscated objects are legal and are not being used as evidence, you can reclaim them later (with the receipt).
• If you are an asylum seeker in asylum proceedings, do not carry more cash on you than you absolutely need. Sometimes the police confiscate large amounts of cash. If they do so, do ask for a receipt.
• You can contact one of the legal counseling center in the address section under Human rights & repression or Foreigners.

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Translation

• It is your fundamental right to request a translator when with the police, immigration services (“Fremdenpolizei”), or other authorities. You are strongly advised to use this right. If you are requested to sign a protocol, insist on a transcript in a language you understand well.
• Do not sign anything you do not understand.

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Expulsion & restrictions

• The police can expulse you from a place or detain you, e.g. if “there is reason to suspect” that you endanger public security and order, or that you hinder or disrupt the police in their work.
• This allows the police to forbid you to enter a certain area (station, city center, etc.) or leave a specific area (e.g., a canton). A breach of such an arrangement may have criminal consequences or consequences in the asylum procedure.
• You have the right to due process against such measures.
• Contact a legal adviser listed in the address section under Human rights & repression or Foreigners.

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Arrests

Administrative Detention (“Administrativhaft”)

• Information about administrative detention (“Administrativhaft”), detention pending deportation (“Ausschaffungshaft”), etc. are found below in section “Mandatory measures and deportation.”

Rights during imprisonment because of a criminal offense

• The police can hold you for a maximum of 24 hours (or 48 hours on weekends), after which they have to send you to an investigator. The police must let you go after identification identity if there is no reason for a provisional arrest and no order to be send to the judge. If you are accused of a crime, you have the right to a lawyer.
• If you are held for more than 24 (or 48) hours, demand a lawyer immediately. If you cannot afford a lawyer, you have the right to free legal aid (“unentgeltliche Rechtsflege”). It will then be checked whether you are eligible for free legal aid. Demand information.
• Always ask for the reason for the arrest. Ask about the offense of which you are suspected. Ask which behavior made you a suspect.
• If you are a minor, demand that your parents or your legal representative is contacted.
• If you have received a definitive removal decision and the deadline for your departure is exceeded, mandatory measures may result. The enforcement authorities can keep you short-term, restrict or expulse, as well as order preparation detention, immigration detention, or enforcement detention.
• Vulnerable people, minors, and families can insist to be accommodated separately.

Always contact a legal counseling center! Check the address section of this brochure under Human rights & repression or Foreigners.

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Attacks and injuries

• If you were a victim of an attack or you have been injured during detention, always demand that this is recorded in the interrogation protocol.
• Take a picture of visible injuries.
• After your release, always visit a doctor and have a medical certificate issued.
• Addresses can be found under Human rights & repression.

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