Not bad advice I would think for most cases. But maybe your mileage will vary.
RE: cops
Last year Monica Miller (author and pro-like activist) said, learning from the past year’s protest arrests, she and the others in a Michigan leaflet distribution action at an abortion place were careful to follow each rule the police told them earlier. No chanting, no attempts to block a woman’s progress as she walked in from the parking lot and so on.
They followed each rule and still got arrested anyway. Cop said “We have orders from the city to do this no matter what you do.”