Then why “No?” And you get that that’s a false dilemma, right? A person could decide the likelihood of going to jail in a given situation is in fact so low that it’s worth cooperating, as opposed to a higher chance of being beaten or arrested anyway. There aren’t just two possibilities here.
It’s very easy to say on a message board “Oh, I’d never talk to the cops!” In theory it’s the right thing to do. Works great in those ACLU Youtube videos! In reality, when the cop’s reminding you there are no cameras around and getting ready to start yelling “Stop resisting!” even when no one is resisting and you really have nothing in the trunk, that’s a way harder call.
Yeah, no. Unless you’ve got a pile of blow on your coffee table, they’re not going to care. The police in our town have used our surveillance cameras more than we have - we’ve used them once (to see who dinged our bumper; didn’t find anything. Twice if you include my son trying to see who left a gift for him on the front porch); the police have used them three times looking for information on crimes in the neighborhood. We got the cameras after there was a DEA raid across the street.
Let’s say a co-ed has been found dead. The police have established she was last seen alive at a frat party a few nights back. The police round up the people who were at the party and ask them what they remember about the night of the party. Things like did they know the victim; did they see her leave; did they see who she spent time with; did they see anyone giving her a hard time; etc.
Most of the people answer the detectives’ questions. But one student immediately tells the detective that he wants a lawyer and refuses to say anything else.
Guess who just moved from being a witness to being a suspect.
Yeah. And guess what. I’ll still stand on my rights and in addition say no when they ask me to take a lie detector test. Example of why I’m right: broken because NSFW YouTube?
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Have you never seen the video linked below? Absolutely everyone should watch that video in its entirety. If you think because you are innocent (truly innocent) that you cannot get into trouble by talking to the police you are sorely mistaken. More than a few people have spent many years in jail because they thought like you do.
I would argue the opposite point. I think refusing to talk to the police when you are innocent increases the chance that you will be falsely set up. As I pointed out in my previous post, you’re making yourself look guilty. And you’re pissing off the police.
Two groups of people benefit from spreading the idea that you should never talk to the police without a lawyer:
Lawyers - They get more business.
Genuine criminals - They benefit if innocent people start acting like guilty criminals. It makes them stand out less.
You really should watch that video. Your concerns are answered there. Note that the second half is a former police detective who verifies all of it.
And to be clear, this doesn’t mean never, ever, under any circumstances don’t talk to the police. For instance, if you are a bystander and witness a car accident then for sure talk to the police. I think the attorney in the linked video did a follow-up making points like that.
So you have a lawyer and a detective telling you one thing, with examples and quotes from the likes of supreme court justices, and you just don’t believe them?
It’s your life. Do as you like. Chances that you’ll be wrongly prosecuted because you spoke to the police is probably pretty small.
Except that the lawyer would be able to allay the police’s suspicions, provided that the client is indeed innocent. The lawyer might contact the detective, and offer to provide photos from the client’s house phone, specific to what the police are looking for (e.g. “can you send me anything showing the people in attendance before 9 pm?”), without surrendering its entire contents, which might reflect other illegal conduct (like drug use). Or, the attorney might arrange to provide a blood sample that can exonerate their client, since it won’t match DNA from the scene, without subjecting their client to an interview, since the guy might have done something embarrassing like cheat on his girlfriend, or maybe something illegal like get drunk while underage, that he doesn’t want to have to discuss. Or - depending on the severity of the conduct - the lawyer may even be able to obtain immunity from prosecution for any testimony they may ultimately give.
Point being that, even if the hiring of an attorney may increase suspicion at the outset, a lawyer can facilitate being eliminated as a suspect for those who are not guilty, but have other reasons for not getting too involved with the police.
How do you guys think a police investigation works? Do you feel the police just grab some random guy off the street and then manufacture a case against him?
That’s not the way it happens. The real danger only starts when the police suspect you of a crime. Becoming a suspect is the biggest single step in getting convicted; once you’re a suspect, the police will look for evidence to connect you to the crime - even if you are not guilty of the crime.
So I would say the biggest tip is not “call a lawyer”. The biggest tip is “avoid being a suspect”.
Now if you are a suspect then you should definitely stop talking and get a lawyer. But you are much better off being a non-suspect than you are being a suspect with a lawyer. So if asking for a lawyer is what moved you from being a non-suspect to a suspect, you’re actually making your situation worse.
That guy was clearly already a suspect. And as I have repeatedly said, if you’re a suspect you should ask for a lawyer and not talk to the police.
Now go back to the post I wrote above. If you were among the crowd of people who was present at the party and the police are asking you about what happened at the party, do you feel you would be helping yourself or hurting yourself by refusing to talk to the police?
