As a chick married to an ex-cop, I say this all the time to people close to me, but it bears repeating here: No cop is your friend after you’ve been detained.
Get rear ended by a drunk at a red light? That cop will direct traffic around your vehicle, document the accident, sure. Call animal control on your piece of shit neighbor? You’ve got a pretty good chance the officer who shows up helps out in a meaningful way.
But after you’ve been arrested, when a police officer says, “Just be honest with me and I’ll do the same.” or the old “Help me and I’ll help you.” Politely ask for a lawyer. Shake your head. Ignore them. Pretend you’re Hollywood royalty being asked for a selfie. “ …mmmm… Sorry, but no.”
Keep your mouth shut. Don’t do their work for them. Wait for a lawyer.
I worked as a police dispatcher for a year and a half, and I’d agree with this. My cops were generally nice people (and I say this having been on the wrong end of their sirens twice, once before and once after being hired), and they often helped in good ways… on the street. Not so much in the station. Generally speaking (and I know this is oversimplification and is worse in a lot of places but), it went like this:
On the street, you were considered as a person/citizen they have sworn to protect who may have made a mistake or done something wrong.
Once you were in the station, you were considered as a criminal. In the station you are the only one on your side.
Stay safe.
TV and film has you thinking that only guilty people ask for a lawyer. This is not true. The law is complex and difficult and confusing and if you’re being questioned by the police you’re not going to be in your best state of mind. A lawyer is your basic civil right and you should exercise that right. Keep silent, ask for a lawyer, take your legal advice.
Guilty people don’t ask for a lawyer, smart people do.
“Guilty people don’t ask for a lawyer, smart people do.”
My uncle was a cop. My uncle is the most down to earth, wouldn’t hurt a fly person in the world. I don’t think he even arrested a single person ever, that wasn’t his job on the force.
His advice? Get a fucking lawyer. Never say a damn word. A cop knows how to twist your words around and make you even doubt yourself. They know damn well how to make you feel guilty by getting a lawyer. YOU need to know that it’s SMART to get a lawyer. Get a lawyer.
If you want to watch a show that shows people admitting to things they may not have done and the tactics involved, check out The Confession Tapes. It’s on Netflix.
My husband is a defense attorney, and yeah, get a lawyer. There is no lawyer more expensive than not getting a lawyer in this kind of situation.
any white at a protest who tries to go against police and deliberately provoke a response from them is not to be trusted and does not have the safety of black and brown people in mind.
there is a good chance that they are police too. if anyone, especially a white dude, ever randomly gets your attention and conspiratorially tries to convince you to jump a police officer, then dude is a cop. They have been using this technique and script for at least 30 years.
Check their fucking shoes. They’re always too afraid that their little toesies will be hurt so they’ll usually still be rocking the exact same boots as the guys on the other side. This was what gave the cops away when they provoked riots in Toronto a while back.
@talesofalamia, remember when I pointed out the shoes of the two well-dressed informants near us?
Similar note: IME, unmarked cruisers have five distinguishing traits:
1. They’re one of the department-issue models. 2. They’re always white, black, or dark blue. 3. They always look like they just rolled out of a car wash. 4. Usually rocking restricted plates. 5. Most reliable if present but hardest to spot: Their mirrors are bulkier, to fit the light rigs in.
In Austin the under cover officer that tried to convince me to set a cop car on fire had a convincing fake beard.
Be careful out there and read up on common tactics used against protestors before going.
You can usually see the stealth lights if you look into the grill.
Besides the old obvious as fuck Crown Victoria, be suspicious of 2013+ Ford Taurus and Explorer, 2006+ Dodge Charger and Dakota, 06-13 Chevy Impala, 11+ Chevy Caprice and both the Tahoe and Suburban.
Look for oversize mirrors, plugs on the roof and/or A pillar, lights inside the grill, extraneous lights inside the headlight assembly, lights tucked up behind the rear view mirror, steel wheels with or without wheel covers, and plugs or short antennas on the trunk lid.
Reblogging this for two reasons: 1. So people who have reason to be afraid of the police (which is pretty much anyone with significant melanin) see it. 2. Uh, good writer reference for describing undercover cop cars…
Civil rights violations in the US today doesn’t look like the bad cops on TV, it more often looks like the good cops on TV
How many times in your favorote cop show have they kicked in a door and searched a home without a warrant?
How many times in your favorite cop show have they questioned a suspect without their lawyer present and after the suspect has clearly stated they don’t want to talk?
Special question to fans of Criminal Minds: how many times have the BAU purposefully taunted the unsub in a standoff to the point that they become agressive and the agents then shoot the unsub?
By the way, to be clear on the door kicking thing, I am very specifically talking about the following line I’ve seen countless times:
”Hey, did you hear screams/smell drugs inside?”
And like it’s always shown as a flimsy excuse, yet, still the right and good thing to do
The one where they make the suspect talk without a lawyer is so common it’s actually ridiculous.
Or the one where they get mad at a perp for having a shitty attitude/mocking them and end up losing their temper and using unnecessary force is always framed like the police had no other choice. Because the perp insulted their wife or dead colleague so obviously they deserve some brutality
also when the cops maybe don’t do anything wrong, but the show frames it as “if only we could violate human rights a LITTLE, then we could solve the case!” or even that the law is preventing them from doing their job. e.g. the stodgy old judge won’t give them a search warrant, the arrogant psychiatrist won’t hand over their patient’s information, the team has to do things by the book this time(!) because the FBI/internal affairs/the media are watching them.
the number of times the police stalk someone because they’re “sure” they’re the culprit, even when they have no evidence and their captain tells them not to, but it’s justified in the end because they wee right of course, looking at you SVU.
Despite growing concerns about police misconduct and the excesses of the war on drugs, this important information has remained largely unavailable to the public.
The Innocence Project has helped free hundreds of wrongly convicted people from prison in the last decade, and they point to studies which estimate that between 2.3% and 5% of all prisoners in the U.S. are innocent, which suggests that roughly 46,000 to 100,000 people are currently serving time for crimes that they did not commit. Keep that in mind the next time you are tempted to believe that your innocence will protect you from prosecution.
How could this happen?
The lie is that police won’t manufacture evidence unless it is a murder case but planting and manufacturing evidence is a very common practice. The temptation is great when and if an officer thinks you are guilty of some crime, even if not this one. After all, if you are a “criminal” in his mind, he is doing society a favor by framing you. Try to have a friend videotape any arrest just in case, and if you suspect that anyone witnessed the planting of evidence, get their names and phone numbers so your attorney can talk to them.
Police Steal Video Equipment
The police often feel that citizens do not have a right to videotape them in action. But the right to do so has been recognized by most courts so far. That does not mean officers will allow it though. Police officers still routinely claim the right to take cameras from bystanders or to destroy videos. If you are arrested and friends are videotaping it, tell them to load the video to a social media site immediately to stop the cops from destroying the only copy. Do the same yourself, if you are the one with the camera.
Police Coerce Confessions
Geragos and Harris point out in their book that of the hundreds of people wrongly convicted and then free through the Innocence Project’s introduction of scientific evidence (usually DNA testing), the defendant had confessed in one third of the cases. We all like to think we would never do so, but after hours of grilling and a lack of sleep it is easy for people to say what is demanded and sign whatever is placed in front of them, sometimes thinking they can correct the confession later, or sometimes no longer caring as long as the torture of the moment ends…
Under the current law after your arrest the police are allowed to keep asking you questions even if you have already told them that you don’t want to say anything. This repeated questioning period can last for hours and hours. During this time you have to keep repeating that you have nothing to say!!!!!!
On serious cases the police may tell you that if you take a polygraph test you can clear your name if you pass. Remember that you are under no legal obligation to take the test. Remember that the results of the polygraph cannot be brought up in court. Remember that the guy giving the polygraph test works for the police. He is likely to tell you that you have ”failed” the test and then the cops come in and start the questioning by looking you in the eye and saying, “Well we know you are lying. The machine says so. Why don’t you tell us the real truth”. Most people by this time start sweating and talking. Don’t fall for this trick.
!!!!!!!!!There is no such thing as a truth machine!!!!!!!!!
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The police may try to get you to talk by bringing a form in and say something like, “All right, we understand that you don’t want to talk to us but we have to get some basic information, where do you live?”. You do not have to comply with any of their request for information. This is a trick to get you to start talking to the police. You can choose not to say anything apart from your name and date of birth. Most people who don’t know these police tricks and tactics and start talking actually help the police convict them.
This may surprise you but under the law the police are allowed to lie to you when they are questioning you.
They may tell you things such as, we have your fingerprints and DNA all over the scene. They may tell you, we have video of you at the scene, what do you have to say about that? They may say that your buddy that you did the crime with has made a full confession and told us that you were the one who planned this crime and he just stood there, what do you have to say about that? Once again you have to be strong under these conditions to exercise your right to remain silent.
Police officers also engage in mock executions, putting plastic bags over heads, cigarette burnings and severe beatings. Chicago PD used electrical shock on a 13-year-old boy, Marcus Wiggins.
Good cop bad cop
Sometimes the police will play the old good cop bad cop routine. This is the classic tactic where one guy will be a total asshole and the other guy will be much nicer. When the asshole is not around the nice cop will “confess” to you that he does not approve of what the asshole guy does and how he does it. He will pretend to be your friend and try to get you to talk because now you will have a common “enemy”. You would be surprised how often this routine works and people start talking.
Undercover pigs
There are times when police will send you back to the holding cells after their first attempt at getting you to talk and put an undercover officer in the cell beside you. This undercover officer will try to get you to talk by saying things like, he too is being screwed by the cops etc. Sometimes the undercover officer will pretend to be asleep and just listen carefully to everything you mutter or say aloud to yourself or to other prisoners. These undercover cops are usually excellent actors and look the part of belonging in a holding cell.
Do not talk to the police
The police are experts at questioning. You give an inch and they will take a mile. A small detail that you got wrong will be used to make you look like a liar. In my view there is no advantage to talking to the police upon your arrest. Remember that if you talk about your innocence to the police some judge down the road at your trial may even say that the story you told at the police station was false and self serving. In my opinion, there is no upside to talking to the police once you have been arrested. It is always much better to wait until trial to tell your side of the story.
Remain silent: what you don’t say can’t hurt you.
You have the right to refuse searches: saying no to searches can’t be held against you.
Determine if you’re free to go: police need evidence to detain you.
You don’t have to let them in: police need a warrant to enter your home.
Report misconduct: be a good witness.
Don’t get tricked: remember, police are allowed to lie to you.
The police have a very long history and pattern of abuse. Do a Google search and you’ll see that this problem is nothing new.
“What few people understand, but police know all too well, is that your constitutional rights only apply if you understand and assert them. Unless they have strong evidence (i.e. probable cause) police need your permission to search your belongings or enter your home. The instant you grant them permission to invade your privacy, many of your legal protections go out the window and you’re left on the hook for anything illegal the police find, as well as any damage they cause in the process.”
What few understand is that cops can write shit on paper and it is real in the eyes of the law. I read on paper that they read me my rights. I read on paper that I gave permission to search. … well, I read a lot of things on paper that had its own reality. There were even things that I could have proven to be bogus but for a lawyer who worked against me. Advice – Do not hire lawyer from same town you are being tried in.
#Cops #CrookedCops #Police #Abuse #Justice
#StayWoke
REBLOG! This can save someones life!
Damn that’s important af
Black Tumblr Boost
here’s good video too
Black folks gotta know all this
My dad, a policeman for forty years, was one of the good guys. Still, he always told me: if I ever got into any kind of trouble, no matter what got said to me or what was done to me, it was absolutely essential to answer *absolutely every question* with a polite “I don’t want to answer any questions; I want to speak to a lawyer.”
There are three kinds of cops: those who will do the right thing, those who will do the wrong thing, and those who will follow the lead of whichever type of cop they happen to be working with. Problem is, they all look the same.
Also, every kind of cop lies at least in certain situations, usually to trick a suspect into confessing. We were taught in my crisis counseling training that many people who are actually guilty of crimes like domestic violence or sexual assault will be quite candid if they think they have a sympathetic ear, and cops count on that. In any interaction where you’re being questioned by police, remember that’s what they’re hoping for, and even good cops can convince themselves that that’s what happened.
People have a confirmation bias: we look for things that back up what we already believe is true and ignore or forget information that contradicts it. Cops are people, and they’re subject to all the same fallacies of judgement as the rest of us. In an environment where corruption is tolerated or encouraged (and power over other people tends to breed corruption), cops will convince themselves that what they or their colleagues do isn’t wrong, because they don’t believe that they’re the bad guys.
