法律英語導讀(26)

25. If an Officer Arrests Me and Asks Me About the Whereabouts of Any Weapons I Might Have——Before Giving Me the Miranda Warning——Can My Response Be Admitted as Evidence?

　　Probably. The "public safety exception" to the Miranda rule allows police officers to ask arrestees about weapons and other potential threats to public safety without giving the Miranda warning. （New York v. Quarles, U.S. Sup. Ct. 1984.） The purpose of the rule is to make it more likely that police officers will find out about weapons or other dangerous objects before those objects are used against the officers or fall into the hands of co-conspirators or other members of the public.

　　26. If My Boss Questions Me About Drug Use or My Landlord Asks Me About Illegal Activities in My Apartment, Can My Responses Be Used as Evidence Against Me If They Didn’t First Give Me a Miranda Warning?

　　Yes. Miranda only applies to questioning by the police or other governmental officials.

　　Private Individuals May Sometimes Be Police Agents for Purposes of Miranda

　　For example, assume that the police arrest Rose Ettastone for embezzlement from the bank that employs her. Hoping to find out how Rose carried out the scheme, the police ask the bank manager to come down to the jail and interview Rose. Rose tells the bank manager details of the scheme which the prosecutor wants to offer into evidence. Because the manager was acting as a police agent, he would have had to advise Rose of her Miranda rights before interviewing her if the statements were to be admitted as evidence.

　　Recent years have seen an explosion of private security guards in places like shops, office buildings and housing projects. According to one estimate, the United States now has three times as many private security guards as police officers. Because private security guards are not governmental employees, rules such as Miranda have not been applied to them. However, courts may soon be called upon to impose some of the same restrictions on private security guards as they do on police officers.