Can you be charged with a criminal offense, even if the officer didn't see it? The police can arrest you for a myriad of reasons. One reason is they see a criminal offense committed in their presence, which if it's a misdemeanor offense, it has to be committed in the presence of the police officer for him to arrest you without a warrant. But, if the officer doesn't see the misdemeanor committed in his presence, what he needs in lieu of that is a warrant, or he needs a citizen who's going to make a citizen-style arrest, or another officer could have seen the criminal offense occur to make his case. It's not the same thing with a felony. If he doesn't see the felony committed, all he needs is probable cause to arrest you for that offense.