An annual repost: Never speak with the police

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Sunday, October 4. 2015

An annual repost: Never speak with the police

Except to say "Hello." Both of these guys are excellent and entertaining presenters. Only police officer I would talk to is Andy Taylor.

Posted by The Barrister in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation at 05:59 | Comments (8) | Trackbacks (0)

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Excellent advice. Watch this several times to make sure you understand it in your bones. Learn that the rules are stacked against you when talking to a cop, especially if you're pure innocent.

Remember it the next time a cop pulls you over and asks a trick question like "Do you know how fast you were going?"

#1 fiftyville on 2015-10-04 14:24 (Reply)

The first cop and EMT on the scene of my wife's suicide (my adolescent sons found her body while I was out in the fields) took me aside and, after expressing their sympathies, said something to the effect of: "say nothing to the detectives that will be here soon. You will be considered a suspect by them. We all know what happened here but don't talk to them."

I didn't. Even when they did a paraffin test on me for gunshot residue. The chief of police eventually threw them out of my house after informing them repeatedly the 'shooter' was lying dead in the bedroom.

That was a bad day all the way around.

#2 Tonypete on 2015-10-04 16:45 (Reply)

Don't know what to say, Tonypete, except that I'm so very sorry that you, and your children, had to endure that, all the way round. Talking to cops should have been the least of your worries, in a sane world. Regretfully, it wasn't, and isn't.

There's something wrong.

#2.1 XRay on 2015-10-04 21:32 (Reply)

I link that for all my students every semester and tell them to watch it carefully. Some do. I have gotten many thank yous for it over the years.

#3 JorgXMckie on 2015-10-04 17:09 (Reply)

here's the bottom line:

if you're in a custodial interrogation, the first thing you do before the interrogator even sits down is invoke your right to an attorney. interrogation must cease at the point and can't resume except in the presence of counsel unless you initiate it and waive the right. then don't ever, ever, ever initiate communication with the government.

#4 Donny "The Bear Jew" Donowitz on 2015-10-05 01:56 (Reply)

See, however, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gP84guGKnNg

In the video, attorney Andrew Branca argues that "cases involving defensive use of force have numerous characteristics that warrant limited exceptions to this general rule of thumb."

In the video, Mr. Branca discusses Prof. Duane's talk and advocates the "say little" approach for self-defense cases. A primary reason is to identify and preserve perishable evidence.

#5 WestFred on 2015-10-05 02:08 (Reply)

That depends. A neighbor who was a hostile drunk made a number of false accusations to police. Those falsely accused gave candid statements to police. According to the video, those candid statements could have gotten those falsely accused into trouble. Au contraire: the police were able to sort wheat from chaff, decided the false accusations were false, and took no further actions on those accusations. The hostile drunk neighbor got evicted, and took his problematic behavior elsewhere.

#6 Gringo on 2015-10-05 13:33 (Reply)

Also don't text or write anything in social media that you wouldn't want read in court by the DA. It never goes away and is very convincing evidence for a jury.

#7 GoneWithTheWind on 2015-10-06 00:53 (Reply)

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Sunday, October 4. 2015

An annual repost: Never speak with the police