Which statement about Garrity Warning is true?

• A. The Garrity Warning protects officers from being questioned during department investigations.
• B. The Garrity Warning requires officers to answer questions and protects their statements from being used in criminal prosecutions.
• C. Garrity warnings apply only to non-sworn staff.
• D. Garrity Warning is a tool to keep investigators out of court.

Answer: (B)

The Garrity warning focuses on how public employees are treated in internal investigations. When an agency tells an employee they must answer questions under threat of discipline, those answers are compelled for the purposes of the internal investigation. To protect the employee’s Fifth Amendment rights, the compelled statements cannot be used against the employee in a criminal prosecution arising from the same investigation. So the warning both requires answering and immunizes the statements from use in criminal prosecutions, which is why that statement is the best description. It’s not about blocking questioning, it doesn’t apply only to non-sworn staff, and it isn’t a tool to keep investigators out of court.