don't ever, ever talk to the police. ever.

I just watched a great set of videos about why you should never talk to the police for any reason.

Here's the first one, by Professor James Duane, giving a background on the law and a bunch of different scenarios where even if you're innocent, anything you say just makes your life worse. Then, there's a second video, by a cop, about exactly why the law professor is correct. It's a nice set.

(Don't let the fact that Professor Duane talks way too fast annoy you, you just have to ignore it and focus on the good stuff, he makes some really great points.)

I find this particularly interesting because I've been interrogated by cops and various security professionals several times in my life, and I've found myself doing exactly what he describes here, talking way too much to try to convince them that I'm innocent, or embellishing the truth if I'm trying to get out of something. You always, always end up saying the wrong things, or going a bit too far in your earnest desire to help prove your innocence. I've always regretted it in retrospect.

The primary point that he makes is that the 5th amendment is NOT just for criminals to protect themselves, it's also for innocent people to protect themselves from the system. Anything you say that is false, even unrelated to the case at hand, is ammunition against you. And even the fact that you talked to them at all, even if everything you said was 100% fact, can be used against you if the cop misremembers what you said.

At the end of the day, absolutely nothing you say to the police helps you, it can only hurt you, and that's a very interesting thing to keep in mind. Innocent or not, your words are ammunition against you. The only way to win, is not to play, as I learned from WarGames. Don't ever talk to the police.