Posted on 03/28/2017 9:52:01 AM PDT by Sopater
Almost every time I speak at a college or law school campus, there are one or two audience members whose mother or father is a police officer or a prosecutor. I always ask them: What did your parents tell you about dealing with the police?
Every one of them, without exception, has told me the same thing: My parents in law enforcement taught me years ago that I should never talk to the police, or agree to let them interview me about anything, or let them search my car or my apartment or my backpack without a warrant.
You need to stop for a minute, and let that sink in.
(Excerpt) Read more at learnliberty.org ...
This is false; it makes me wonder then, how much of the rest is false?
Like the "all over the country, prison cells are filled with innocent people."
Oh, really? I'm sure they'll all tell you that...
I guess I’ve been lucky but I’ve never had an exchange with the police where they were hostile. I’m polite and I’m sure that helps but they have been professional.
My rule is that if I see a crime or a fleeing criminal, I’ll point the way and help the police. I like small talk too. But, if they are at work and it involves me in any way, as a parent, neighbor, owner, etc., they can ask me through my lawyer.
So you get pulled over for a speeding ticket ...
“may I see your driver’s license and registration, please?”
(frozen silence)
Yeah, right. :-)
I personally have, in my possession, a police report in which the officer in question made up my ‘admission’ out of whole cloth.
Years ago in the 70s my brother and his friend were driving and smoking some grass. They got pulled over. The cop was actually a nice guy. Was going to give them a lecture and let them go.
But my brother’s friend began mouthing off to the cop in a Cagney style swagger saying no copper was going to run his life and tell him what to do.
The cop leaned over to my brother and said, ‘I was going to let you both off easy but your friend here changed my mind’.
They both spent the weekend in jail.
It’s good advice.
I agree, he diminished his otherwise good advice by sticking in that obvious exaggeration.
bfl
“The next three days” is a great movie.
I guess I’ve been lucky but I’ve never had an exchange with the police where they were hostile. I’m polite and I’m sure that helps but they have been professional.
What is amazing - shocking, actually - is how your innocent responses (due to the fact that you know you have nothing to hide) can get you convicted. The way it happens is actually fascinating.
That is not what he’s talking about.
true. even better advice: if cops are talking to you, you should be talking to God.
I had a former Federal Prosecutor tell me the same thing (was in reference to Federal Agents, but same concepts apply).
Customs/FBI were doing an investigation of smuggled technology. They cast a wide net and sought out everyone in the industry to get leads or draw a picture of the problem.
They seized laptops, phones, etc... at airports and wanted permission to access them.
This former DOJ official and Federal Prosecutor said to me, which was very surprising: You want to be a good citizen. You have nothing to hide and want to prove it. You hope they catch any wrong-doers. But DO NOT speak to them. Tell them to get a warrant. You have no idea of their intentions, no idea of their ethics, and no idea what irrelevant threads of your life they may want to unravel.
I’m addicted to that show. One of my favorites was the cop in Columbia SC answering a call for loitering yutes near a convenience store. Turns out the store is named “Obama”. Figures there’d be loitering yutes in a hood with an Obama store.
Even good cops can, while being sincere in their quest for information, supply evidence that a good DA can use to convict an innocent person.
i.e. it’s not that the cops are necessarily “out to get you”. Rather, it is that the information, presented with the right twist, can land you in prison - even if you are completely innocent.
The side subject here is that you really, REALLY do not want to find yourself in a court of law as a defendant in a criminal case. At all costs.
bookmark
Me walking home from the neighborhood bar at 1am. Local police officer pulls up.
P.O.: Hey, how’s it going tonight?
Me (determined to look sober): Doing great, and you?
P.O.: Just great, where are you headed?
Me: Home!
P.O.: Where have you been tonight?
Me: At the bar!
P.O.: How far do you live?
Me: About a 1/2 mile.
P.O: Does that include the zig-zagging from curb to curb?
Me: Yes sir! All taken in to account.
P.O.: Haha! Can I give you a lift?
Me: Front seat or back?
P.O.: Front.
Me: Thought you’d never ask, let’s go!
We really do have a nice local police force :-)
Later
To expand on this advice, if you’re going to take it, make sure you don’t make yourself a target. Make sure all lights are working on your vehicle, any cracked windows are repaired promptly, and keep your vehicle clean inside and out.
As it is surprisingly easy for an officer to suddenly decide when you refuse to have your car searched that you must be under the influence of a controlled substance and searching subsequent to arrest does not require your consent.
I don’t believe that is an exaggeration.
But it is just my opinion. I would guess it would be hard to prove, one way or the other, for obvious reasons.
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