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.
posted by Tobin @ 1:52:00 AM
7 comments
7 Comments:
I think the point is that as Americans we have a right to an attorney and don't need to talk alone to create your disaster; as you made a valid point that even if you're innocent sometimes you say things that shouldn't have been said - no matter how innocent it may have seen. TALK to the Police, but TALK to the police with a representative; an attorney.
I speak from experience...lawyer up...especially if you are innocent!!
My ex-boyfriend is a cop, thank God I was smart enough to break up with him. But before I did, he informed me of so much..
In their eyes you have no rights!!
If you haven't done anything wrong, they have no right to detain you.
Get a lawyer ASAP! Got a cell phone..?? USE IT!
Protect and Serve!!!
Yeah right themselves!
So far I've only watched Professor Duane's video but wow- what an eye opener to a layperson like myself. I'm saving the police officer's video for tomorrow and am planning on forwarding on this blog link to a few folks because-- wow. I would *never* have thought even the innocent had so much to watch out for. This is such good information to have. Thanks for posting this.
Good reminder.
When I was in my twenties in the UK I voluntarly went to the police station about a traffic incident. I was immediately locked up and hauled in and out of interview for 8 hours. No lawyer , no phone call allowed and all I tried to do was explain my side of the story...the cops got reported and I would never speak without a lawyer present ever again.
I've read a few similar articles to this one, usually focusing around protecting oneself, but saying "Don't ever talk to the police." goes a bit too far. So your suggestion would be that if anyone witnesses any crime, ever, that they are never to speak to the police about it, regardless of what the crime was? It's this sort of paranoia that leads to criminals getting away and police trusting people less ... it's their job to protect us, and if we don't help them, they in turn, are as human as we are, and will likely return our lack of help to us.
If you're being harassed, if you are worried that you might be suspected of something you didn't do, than yeah ... lawyer up and keep your mouth shut. But otherwise, stand up and be a citizen; don't expect someone else to do all the work "because it's their job".
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