Police came to my house. They said, Answer questions.
I said, No. They said, Well detectives may show up
at your place of work or your wife’s place of work
and it will be embarrassing for you.
I said, Yes that would be bad, but so would your
not responding to any 911 call of mine, or even
your taking out your service pistol and shooting
me now, since you brought up the issue of possible
negative outcomes of my not answering your questions!
Then they lied to me and said that I was required to
produce ID. I said, Am I being detained? They said that
I’m required to produce ID. I said do I have any other
options? After pressing the issue (and their pretending
to start to get angry), the finally relented and said
that I need only provide my name. (It’s true; look this
up.)
So I didn’t even need to produce ID. The courts have
adjudicated that unless you’re under arrest, ID is not
required — a fact I wasn’t sure about until after this
incident. I later also found out that the police are
not required to tell the subjects of their investigations
what their rights are or even tell the truth when
questioned about what I called “my options.”
Then they asked to search my home. I declined. They
said, You’re not hiding anything, are you? I said nothing
good can come from your looking around my house.
I know I’m probably on some S7|t list with my local
police department, but as I shared with those officers,
I can’t live in fear of police. I have enough to worry
about with criminals.
If everyone insisted that the police just slowed down
and insisted that they know what their options are,
I think there would be a lot less shenanigans with the
police and their investigations.
Police are known to slant things toward conviction during
any trial. Remember: Anything can and will be *used against* you, before or after the reading of “Miranda
rights.” Saying, for instance, “I didn’t like the murder
victim, but that doesn’t mean I killed him” will be used
against you: “we have a motive, members of the jury; the
accused admitted to our honest, self-sacrificing police
officers that he didn’t like the victim.” Context *will*
be lost in such a hypothetical situation.
I had to tell them that I wanted to end the interview
and go back into my house. I had to insist on it before they
would leave, which they finally did.
1) Only talk to your lawyer, never to police. 2) Insist
on asking questions about whether you are required to
follow their instructions. 3) Insist very early on that
you want to leave unless you are being detained.
It gets worse when they say they are only talking to you and
you are free to leave at any time. If you stay, then they
have established that you are there voluntarily. This lets
them off the hook in terms of having to ask questions the
right way. When you are officially detained, their ability
to ask questions, and what can fallaciously be used in court
against you, becomes restricted under the law.
When they say, You are free to leave at any time, get up and
walk away. That’s why it’s imperative that you continue
to respectfully ask them whether you are being detained.
Insist on a yes or no answer and tell them that you want to
be left alone or leave. Otherwise they are allowed to assume
that you are speaking to them voluntarily.
I wish everyone in the United States had the experience
I had. The police can be macho jerks who don’t care if
they get the wrong person. Many would be glad to make
an arrest under false pretenses and let the DA sort it
out.
Keep them on their toes. Never assume they are on your side.
They are on *their own* side! The Constitution is a miracle.