December 12, 2019 | Awake & Dreaming

There are some things that many of us completely fail to properly research, primarily for the fact that we don’t believe that we could ever find ourselves in that situation. But the truth is that you never quite know what is going to happen in your life, and you need to be prepared for everything that might happen. One example of this is being arrested. You might well think that, because you are not planning on doing anything illegal, you will never get arrested. But of course, you don’t know what’s going to happen, and the police have been known to arrest the wrong person. All it takes is being in the wrong place at the wrong time. With that in mind, let’s take a look at what you need to know about being arrested, so you can be as prepared for it as possible.

The Procedure

It is helpful to know what the procedure is for being arrested, as this way you can appreciate what it going to happen a lot more. It also means that you will be able to spot if the police officer does anything that is not quite right, or indeed doesn’t do something that they should have done. This is all going to be important information, so it’s good to be as aware of this as you can possibly be. When you are getting arrested, the officer must have probable cause for concern, otherwise they can’t just arrest you for no good reason. Similarly, they have to tell you what their suspicion is, and if they don’t do that then it is an unlawful arrest. They can then take you to the police station, where your belongings will be taken from you and you will be searched and placed in a cell or questioning room.

Your Rights

It’s hugely important to know what your rights are beforehand – that way, you will be in a much stronger position to be able to argue and fight for them. Of course we don’t mean literally fight in the physical sense, just make sure that you are arguing your case. You have the right to have your rights read to you at the time of arrest, above all, and without this it is an illegal arrest. You also have the right to a free phone call once you get to the station – this might be to a bail bonds service like https://www.caseclosedbailbonds.com/ so that you can get bailed out of jail as soon as possible, or it might be to your nearest loved one or next of kin. It’s up to you – just make sure to use it wisely, as you only get one.

Beyond that, you have the right to be treated with respect and to have your human dignity respected. You have the right to avoid coming to any harm, and to avoid abuse by the police officers, and you also have the right to water and basic comfort in the form of a chair when being questioned. If you feel that any of your rights are not being adhered to, then you should make a complaint after the fact. In some cases, people successfully take legal action against the police, and that is certainly something that you might want to consider if you are going to be able to get out of the other side of that situation with your dignity intact. See https://civilrights.findlaw.com/other-constitutional-rights/getting-arrested-checklist-have-my-rights-been-violated.html for more on rights.

Know these rights, and you will be in a much better position indeed – but that’s not all that matters.

Legal Help

You have the right to a lawyer too, and this is a right that you should be sure to exercise. With a lawyer by your side, you can be certain that you are going to be in a much better position on the whole, and you will find that it is much less concerning and worrying with their presence there. Don’t worry if you can’t afford one – by law, you have to be assigned one in this case, even if that is just the duty solicitor at the station. That solicitor is independent of the police, and will be there merely to offer you legal advice as they see fit. Making use of that advice is absolutely vital to ensuring that you have the best chance of retaining your freedom – which is of course all that you are going to be worried about here.

If you can know all of this, you should find that you are in a much better position overall, and you will be able to deal with what is going on much better.

In an uncertain economy and unpredictable market, more and more people all over the world are questioning the real value of the traditional career path. While the baby boomer generation may have enjoyed the ability to join a company at entry level and work their way up to power, wealth and prominence, many subsequent generations work hard for long hours only to find that the ladder of social mobility has been kicked out from under them. In an era of wage repression where corporate employers deliberately allow their employees’ wages to stagnate to further their profits, it makes sense that freelancing might seem like the only sane solution to the fundamental inequities of the conventional career path.

But freelancing isn’t a free pass to a land of milk and honey. You’ll be 100% accountable for your own productivity, your own output and ultimately how much you can earn. As such, here are some productivity hacks that will keep you profitable, productive and (perhaps more importantly) happy and sane as you navigate the path of the freelancer…

Ration your smartphone use throughout the day

When you’re a freelancer, you’re a small business like any other. And the humble smartphone can either be a useful tool that helps you streamline your business, or it can be your undoing. Ideally, you should keep it in your desk drawer in a separate room and consult it only when you’re not working. Otherwise it can go from being a tool to a productivity-sapping distraction.

Keep healthy snacks and water at your desk

Your body is a machine. And like any machine it can’t run without energy. Yet so many freelancers go through entire working days powered by nothing but coffee. News flash, folks… coffee is not a meal!

Keep your blood sugar stable and your body hydrated to ensure better focus and concentration throughout the day. Ensure that you always have a bottle of water at your desk and some healthy snacks like nuts, chopped veggies and fruits or even dark chocolate.

Give yourself a break… actually, give yourself 2 or 3

As tempting as it may be to fight through fatigue and frustration to get your project out early, an exhausted mind is literally never a productive mind. It’s just not physically possible to maintain peak productivity without breaks. And if you’re not taking breaks, you’re more likely to drift into your social feeds when you should be working.

So take a few short breaks throughout the day. Use them to scan through social media, use that online casino bonus you’ve been saving, play some Fortnite, read a book or do anything that’s not 100% work related. You’ll return to your desk much happier and more productive.

Establish set working hours and keep to them

Finally, it’s all too easy to put in hour after hour of overtime day after day. But an indeterminate working day is a productivity no-no. It’s much harder to get work done by the deadline if there’s no deadline in place. This is why all freelancers need to establish set working hours and stick to them.

Not just for the good of their productivity… but for their health and happiness!