As part of an ongoing campaign to educate University students about their legal rights, the Illinois Student Senate sponsored a presentation titled “Know Your Rights” at Allen Hall, 1005 W. Gregory Dr., Monday night.

The presentation was given by a group of third-year law students called “Street Law,” who also give similar presentations at local high schools.

“Most students on campus will have some encounter with law enforcement in some way,” said Hassen Al-Shawaf, junior in Business and co-chair of the Student Senate’s Committee on Student Rights. He explained the presentation intends to teach students what to do and what not to do when dealing with the police.

“You have to educate yourself,” said Garrett Ard, graduate student and member of “Street Law.”

“The law presumes that you know it,” Ard said. “We try to give people guidelines and general rules that we’ve learned.”

The evening began with a scripted example of a traffic stop in which two volunteers from the audience read the parts of a driver and a police officer. The presenters asked audience members to point out places in the skit where they thought the driver’s rights were being violated.

The presenters then went through different legal aspects of a typical encounter with the police and further explained the rights provided to everyone by the Constitution.

“There is a law that even police have to follow,” said Joshua Rosenblatt, graduate student and president of “Street Law.” “And that law is part of our system and the reason for it is that people have rights. All too few people exercise those rights because they don’t know what they are.”

The presentation emphasized that individuals have the right to refuse to answer police questions in most situations. It is never acceptable to lie, but one can politely decline to answer.

In order to stop and frisk a person, the police must be able to articulate suspicion that person is involved in some type of criminal activity. When patting down suspects, police are only allowed to search outer clothing to look for weapons for the officer’s own safety.

When searching a person, their vehicle, or their home, the police must have probable cause. The presenters explained that probable cause means a reasonable person would believe a search would uncover evidence of a specific crime. Searching a pocket book while looking for a rifle would not constitute probable cause, they explained.

One of the major exceptions to this rule is if the suspect consents to a search.

“The most common mistake generally is the whole consent issue,” Ard said. “A large majority of searches are going to be consent searches, and that takes it out of the realm of any attorney helping you. You’ve got to really understand your rights and be ready when confronted with the situation to assert them.”

The presentation also briefly covered topics including underage drinking and fake IDs.

Ard said he hopes students left the presentation with a better understanding of the law.

“People don’t really know,” he said. “They watch ‘Law & Order’ but that doesn’t always really accurately represent what should be happening. If people know what should be happening, hopefully it will happen more.”