Earlier quoted context omitted.
Even if your spouse or child was murdered and you know the identity of the killer? This is a very silly statement.
What benefit would I see from talking to the police in the scenario you describe?
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Don’t Talk to Police (2012) [video]
211–220 of 246 posts
Re: Don’t Talk to Police (2012) [video]
#212Earlier quoted context omitted.
Keep your passport in a hidden pocket no easily reachable by pickpockets.
Although that helps to deal with pickpockets, can't thieves still demand your passport at gunpoint/knife-point, if they know the police require you to carry it?
what good is a passport to 99% of muggers?
Re: Don’t Talk to Police (2012) [video]
#213Earlier quoted context omitted.
nah. this is exactly the type of behavior that gets people in trouble. a cop is not your friend and this is not social hour. if we are running on anecdotal evidence: every time I got a ticket I got it dismissed. 25mph zone, 40mph zone, freeway, school zone you name it. they do their number and "bark" at you. you get the ticket and take care of it later. btw: traffic tickets are a racket. to give you an example: 72 in…
You've had much better luck than me getting tickets dismissed. I'm sure it's a jurisdiction thing. Also faster than 30 mph on the 405? Your story doesn't check out. When was your last drink tonight, sir?
there's more than one 405 :) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_405_(California) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_405_(Washington)
Re: Don’t Talk to Police (2012) [video]
#214Earlier quoted context omitted.
While it is true that you are physically at their mercy, provided you survive your encounter with the police (not by any means a guarantee in this country), you CANNOT be incriminated in a court of law for invoking your right to remain silent. You CAN be incriminated in a court of law for literally anything else you say. The winning move is clearly not to give them any more ammunition than they already have.
That WAS true, until Scalia et al eviscerated the protections of the 5th Amendment if you invoke it after you start talking. Then (according to the majority opinion of the Court), your subsequent invocation of the 5th Amendment CAN be used as evidence against you.
Relevant cases: Berghuis v. Thompkins (2010), Salinas v. Texas (2013)
Re: Don’t Talk to Police (2012) [video]
#215Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is there no Miranda equivalent for federal agents?
There is, so you have the right to remain silent. The difference is that federal law makes it illegal to lie to a federal agent. Lying to the police is dumb in general because it can be used against you. In the federal sense it’s dumber as it is a felony in of itself. This is often cited as an abuse of power etc. I think there’s a lot of nuance.
Just being silent is not enough: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36371237#36375516
Re: Don’t Talk to Police (2012) [video]
#216Earlier quoted context omitted.
> This is clear cut. Sort of. So you're pulled over for a brake light that's out. Then, they start asking "Where are you coming from?", "Why are you here?", "Do you live near here? (when they already have your address)", "If you're coming from that far, why don't you have luggage?" etc. I guess you can try to give as terse an answer as possible without coming across as rude? Saying nothing is your right, but they hav…
I think the standard cop questions, "Do you know how fast you were going?" and "do you know why I stopped you?" are also invitations for you to incriminate yourself. A polite "No idea, officer" is your answer. Edit: to you guys claiming that's lying to an officer and you have to know your speed, I can only say show us the proof that that's ever happened. I don't think that would ever come up in court, if you happened…
They already logged your speed, so I don't see what you're gaining by remaining silent on this.
Re: Don’t Talk to Police (2012) [video]
#217Note cops are trained to assume that cagey people could be guilty. (1) I wonder if this guy wants to make more work for himself and people in his profession, and (2) Black and White people might get very different results from this and other advice.
While you have the right to remain silent, I remember reading somewhere that you have to actively invoke that right (by stating something like "I invoke my 5th amendment right to remain silent") for your silence to be considered an invocation of that right, and not merely suspicious behavior, an implicit admission of guilt, or obstruction of justice. This is actually reprehensible, since invoking a right should mean…
When agents interrogate people in their custody, yes, miranda rights are read to the detained. What about non-custodial interviews? People are asked to come for interviews without being detained. In such cases, one is not read miranda rights. This is where people get trapped by the law enforcement: non-custodial interviews/interrogations are often conducted at home/work/private offices, even police stations. For more, Berghuis v. Thompkins, Salinas v. Texas
Re: Don’t Talk to Police (2012) [video]
#218Earlier quoted context omitted.
> a bunch of Western Europeans (what I assume […] As an American, it sounds like your judges and politicians haven't even tried to keep them in check. Wait, what? You don’t know if this is a Western European thing but you just took that “from the rest of the world”? I guess I could do the same: (1) I’m not from America (the majority here), (2) I haven’t experienced bully police asking for id, so (3) I’ll just assume…
As a white American I also haven't really had any bad experiences with cops, it's something commonly referred to as "privilege". If you'd like to read about other peoples experiences with police in Western Europe, here's the start of that thread https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36372948
Oh, so you were referring to a story from a place in Western Europe, concretely. You see I was dumb enough to go by your comment itself
> what I assume you mean by "around the world", since that's almost always what's meant
Were you just say “I’ll assume Western Europe based on nothing”.
> If you'd like to read about other peoples experiences with police in Western Europe
What do you mean “other”? I haven’t said where I’m from.
Re: Don’t Talk to Police (2012) [video]
#219Earlier quoted context omitted.
The answer in the title. Never talk to the police.
That sounds like a good way to end up paying for an accident that you weren't actually at fault for. The fifth amendment doesn't apply to civil cases, and police reports are a large part of how insurance companies assign blame. If "never talk to the police" sounds like a reasonable hard and fast rule to you, it's probably best that you just follow it. It's a good first brush. But attorneys aren't magic. It's possible…
> That sounds like a good way to end up paying for an accident that you weren't actually at fault for.
The defense against that isn't talking to the police, it's having a good dashcam.
Re: Don’t Talk to Police (2012) [video]
#220Earlier quoted context omitted.
It seems like there’s a practical approach and a literalist approach here. I never understood the insistence of “don’t talk to the police” in relation to the questions above. If you can give the “right” answers, why wouldn’t you? I understand how this might be compromising fundamental rights, but at the same time I just want to get home. Is this wrong?
The problem is that you don’t know what the cop is doing. They might just be pulling you over for the reasons they stated, or they might be investigating some crime in the area and looking for suspicious people. Even a right or true answer can incriminate you in a certain light. Everything you say can potentially bite you in the ass later. Better to be a little inconvenienced and take longer to get home than say some…
> Better to be a little inconvenienced and take longer to get home
How much longer? In my jurisdiction the cops can hold you for 24 hours (or something like that) without formally charging you.[1] I do not believe that this is very different to other places.
TBH, the only reason they don't usually do it to the wrong guy is because cops like to have a decent set of evidence before detaining someone. If they waste their time on someone who probably isn't going to get convicted, then they aren't looking for the person who probably will get convicted, and their comparative statistics looks bad.
So, yeah, there's a fine line.
Piss off the cop for no good reason and you'll get home ... eventually.
Be polite but say as little as possible and you'll not waste more than 5m.
Be talkative and there's a good chance you'll incriminate yourself of a crime you never committed.
[1] After which time they have to either charge you or let you go.