ARE THE POLICE ALLOWED TO MONITOR PHONE CALLS?
Yes, in California and most other states, the police may monitor and tape record private telephone conversations. If you are ever concerned that you might be accused of a crime (especially a sex crime), do not discuss the incident over the telephone. When an alleged victim of a sex crime reports the incident to the police, they often set up a “pretext” phone call. For example, they may have the alleged victim call a suspect and want to discuss their having had sex in the past. She may tell him that she is in pain, or angry or disappointed with him for what he did, or say that she needs something, such as money for medical expenses. These calls are called pretext calls, set up, monitored and tape recorded by the police, who hope that an unsuspecting person will unwittingly admit to the commission of the crime. If you ever feel you may be the target of a pretext phone call, you should not accept the call. If you are already on the phone with an accuser, you should say that you need to ta
