Being Arrested
Idaho Code § 19-608 and Idaho Code § 19-615 — told the intention, the cause and the authority, and before a magistrate without unnecessary delay
An arrest is taking a person into custody as the law allows, by a peace officer or a private person. An officer may arrest on a warrant, or without one for an offense committed or attempted in the officer's presence, or for a felony the officer has reasonable cause to believe the person committed.
Assault, battery and domestic violence. Responding immediately to a report, an officer may also arrest without a warrant on probable cause of assault, battery, domestic violence, stalking, or violating a protection or no contact order, though the offense was not in the officer's presence.
- The person making an arrest tells the person of the intention to arrest, the cause and the authority, except when the person is caught in the act, pursued right after it, or escaping.
- A person arrested without a warrant is taken without unnecessary delay before the nearest or most accessible magistrate in the county, with a complaint stating the charge.
Those are the duties of whoever makes an arrest, and of the officer afterward.
Several rules about an arrest come from the Supreme Court of the United States rather than from this state's code. It has held that before questioning a person in custody, officers must warn that the person may remain silent, that anything said can be used against them, and that they have a right to a lawyer, appointed if they cannot afford one; that a person arrested without a warrant is entitled to a prompt decision by a judge on whether there was probable cause; and that officers generally need a warrant to search the data on a phone taken from a person they arrested. Those holdings are a floor: a state's own constitution and statutes can give more protection than they do, never less.
Whether a particular arrest was lawful is a question for a licensed Idaho attorney.
Sources for this section (7)
- Idaho Code § 19-601 — Arrest defined
- Idaho Code § 19-603 — When peace officer may arrest
- Idaho Code § 19-608 — Information to person arrested
- Idaho Code § 19-615 — Procedure upon arrest without warrant
- Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966) — Right to remain silent and to counsel during custodial interrogation
- County of Riverside v. McLaughlin, 500 U.S. 44 (1991) — Probable cause review generally within 48 hours of a warrantless arrest
- Riley v. California, 573 U.S. 373 (2014) — Police need a warrant to search a phone seized during an arrest
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of October 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Idaho attorney.