What is the police duty of informing a detained person that they have a right to retain counsel?
British Columbia, Canada
The following excerpt is from R. v. Le, 2011 BCSC 1584 (CanLII):
Under section 10(b) of the Charter, police officers are required to inform detained persons that they have the right to retain counsel and, if the detainee should choose, the police officer is required to provide the detainee with a reasonable opportunity to retain and instruct counsel. The right to counsel protects against compelled self-incrimination and interference with liberty by providing the detainee with access to advice on the detainee’s legal rights. The police are also required to “refrain from eliciting incriminatory evidence from the detainee until he or she has had a reasonable opportunity to reach a lawyer, or the detainee has unequivocally waived the right to do so”: R v. Suberu, 2009 SCC 33, at para. 38. In Suberu, the majority held that these s. 10(b) obligations arose immediately upon detention: para. 41.
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