For those that still think they can talk their way out of it with police

In My Humble Opinion
21

I think here’s the rub. The only time I’ve been a suspect has been over traffic stuff. I have talked to cops for other reasons.

I once had someone flag me down in a parking lot to assist another driver that had passed out. The guy who grabbed me was on the phone with 911, and soon after a cop showed up, and I explained what I had done and what I knew, and assisted as best I could until paramedics showed up and I was summarily dismissed.

I once had to call 911 when a neighbor knocked on my door late at night bleeding from her face from a domestic violence incident. I cooperated any way I could. I also refrained from making any comments about the accused, or things “I wanted to do to him”.

In neither situation did I feel the need for legal counsel.

I’ve been pulled over numerous times1,2 on minor traffic stops. Try to avoid admission of anything or consent to anything, but it’s never come up.

I once was out at a club with friends, and as I was leaving the parking lot, I swung wide to the second lane to avoid a rough patch in the road and because I needed to be in that lane to take the U-turn at the upcoming intersection so I could enter the freeway going the other direction.

As I’m driving up the on ramp, I get flashers in my rearview, and pull over on the shoulder. I had just executed these maneuvers in front of a cop who was traveling down the road I had pulled onto.

I know exactly what he’s thinking - he’s got himself a DUI. When he approaches the car and asks me about my driving, I didn’t clam up, I explained what I said here. He asked if I had been drinking and I said “no”, which was true.

He let me go with nothing more than a grumpy remark to be more careful.

Of course, if I had had anything to drink, that conversation might have gone differently, but I had nothing to hide, and answering his question with a quick explanation did far more good for me than declining. Not explaining would have done more to justify a sobriety check than explaining did.

I don’t know if white privilege has been a factor in any of my stops. I do know that one time an honest admission I had been a little fast got me a polite lecture on the risks to pedestrians in that area near my apartment and across from a high school, and then a written warning, no citation.

I suppose if had alcohol on my breath, or if I were a pot smoker, any of these situations might have been different.

But for me, polite cooperation and small talk has never worsened my situation. Sticking by “my rights” or the absolute minimum response has always gotten a ticket.

But you make your own choice based on your situation.

1 This makes it sound like I’m pulled over once a week or something. I’ve been driving for about 35 years. If I were pulled over once every 5 years, that would be 7 times, which is about the right number - I have to approximate because I don’t recall exactly how many times. It might be twice that, but it’s not 35 times.

2 I would have used a simple asterisk, but that is translated by the code to mean I want italics, so I now have to resort to full on code markup to make a footnote.

22

I recently got a ticket for speeding through a school zone. I told the cop that I normally drive through there before 7am (no school zone limit before 7) and didn’t realize it was 7:05am. I’ll give him credit that he was committed to writing the ticket so at least he made it quick.

23

I’ve “talked my way out of it” with police.

  1. It was only speeding and nothing more serious (and relatively minor speeding at that)
  2. My parents had a sticker on the back window which you get for donating to the police union (I think that was a big part…I saw the cop looking at it)
  3. I knew I was caught. I was speeding. So I never denied anything
  4. I was polite and never gave them any shit whatsoever. Yes sir/ma’am, thank you, no problem
  5. Probably didn’t hurt that I was a white male dressed reasonably well in a well maintained car. I was obviously not drunk or stoned or under the influence of anything

A few times I got away with nothing more than a verbal warning.

That said, I would not count on that happening (I did get tickets a few times) and this was back in the 80s so a different time I think for this.

24

It probably reflects reality though.

One of the most interesting things that I have ever done was a police ride along with a Santa Barbara cop. At one point we were sent to a pharmacy. A woman called in a fake prescription for Vicodin and the pharmacist realized. The police arranged that when she showed up they would lock down the store and send an officer and that was us.

The cop took the pharmacist aside and had a conversation and when he was walking away said loudly, “the call was recorded, right?” and the pharmacist nodded his head. The woman broke down crying and admitted what she had done and was taken directly to jail.

Afterwards the cop was talking to me about it and was very proud of his trick. I asked if lying was legal and he explained how it was (and everyone in this thread knows why). I asked, “then why do people talk to cops?”. His reply, “because they are stupid”.

25

When I was a teenager back in the early 60’s I got pulled over in a small rural town of 300 by the local cop for rolling through the only stop sign in town. My friends and I had been swilling beer all evening and the car reeked from it. The cop searched the car for beer, but fortunately we had just gotten rid of all the bottles and he found nothing.

I gave the cop a sad story about how my father was an alcoholic and the car always smelled this way. I told him it was embarrassing and a big problem for me. He let us go.

A few days later, my grandfather, who lived in that town came over and had a talk with my dad. Later my dad said, “I heard you had a little incident the other night. You should know that that cop and I have been friends since boyhood”. That’s all he said.

Apparently, the cop and everyone else thought it was quite amusing.

26

Sometimes it’s not possible to talk yourself out of a ticket. For instance maybe the cop was assigned a specific traffic detail because of many citizen complaints of violations. He may be less inclined to give you a break because of that. It is certainly easy to talk your way into a ticket. Just act like a regular human towards the cop.

27

Many years ago I (white female, in suburban/semirural area) got pulled over for speeding. The cop walked up to my window, said something like “Did you know you were speeding back there? Why did you do that?” I replied “Because I’m an idiot!” Heh, I could see the anticipatory sternness deflating. Turns out I was also lacking a current sticker on my license plate, but my registration was up to date and I told the guy I didn’t get a new sticker in the envelope. Got off with a warning and directive on how to get the sticker.

28

I take it you’re not a fan of Law & Order Criminal Intent and it’s reliance on the trope of criminals talking themselves into it? :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

29

Another thing the cop told me during the ride along described above, “you can’t talk yourself out of a ticket but you can definitely talk yourself into one. Don’t be a dick”

But I did talk myself out of one once. I was going around 80 down a freeway at two or three am driving from the Bay Area back home to Santa Barbara after a concert. The CHP pulled me over in the middle of nowhere.

“Do you know how fast you were going?”

“Around 80”

He laughed and could tell that I wasn’t impaired and said, “you’re the first honest person I have seen in weeks. Just slow down and have a safe ride home.”

30

When pulled over for a routine traffic stop, ISTM than an officer will give you a few chances to lie to them. My advice is to not take them up on it. Also, be an old white man if you can.

31

Or a white woman who doesn’t try to flirt her way out of it. Just polite, respectful, and compliant.

32

Sigh. I’d rather be a young white man with a large trust fund and heavy-duty lawyers…
Should have picked more affluent parents, I guess… :frowning:

33

Let’s say a cop knocks on your door and says there has been a complaint from a neighbor about a disturbance, or something about your car on the roads and the license was tracked back to your house. He is under no obligation to disclose exactly what the possible implications are, nor do most people understand the specific elements of various violations.

You are generally under NO obligation to do anything other than identify yourself. You might think yourself a reasonable, responsible person who has done nothing wrong, and you might feel willing to engage with him in a rational discussion of what you believe happened, or what you believe might have given rise to the report he received. But by doing so, you might unwittingly admit to some necessary element of an offense, which might lead to a citation/complaint.

If you are polite, but say nothing, the cop has nothing other than the other person’s complaint. But if you corroborate it - even by suggesting you were at the location or engaging in something like what was reported, you might “make the case” against you.

As others have suggested, feel free to act however you feel approprate in whatever circumstances.

34

Reminds me of STFU Friday video (1 minute):

35

What about body cams?
I’ve recently watched a lot of youtube clips of cops in action. Of course, these are all filmed with body cameras.
That makes it impossible for them to cheat. They have to enforce the law equally, or risk their jobs.
There are lots of videos where the cop stops a drunk driver, who turns out to be a policeman himself, from the same station (and sometimes even the top boss at that station.) The cop gets flustered and embarrassed, but says clearly…“Sorry Mike, you know how this goes…it’s all on film and I have to follow procedures. Get out of the car and walk in a straight line.”

How common are cameras these days? It seems to be a decision made by each city’s police department. Either every cop is wearing one, or, I suppose, nobody is wearing one and there’s nothing to see on youtube.
I’m wondering if after the George Floyd protests things changed and video is more common?

36

In New Jersey it’s law for every officer to have one. If it wasn’t mandated then many departments would not because of the cost. The cameras themselves aren’t cheap but the real cost is data storage since much of it has to be kept for years. I only used them for a few years but I’ve found they help the officers much more than they can hurt.

37

Who do you trust to store the data?
There are lots of tools available to manipulate images and video…
Things like timestamps and metadata can be faked quite easily.

38

Oh, I am not good with that at all. A DUI who’s over the limit should not be just let go; there should be a pretty significant consequence for that.

Many years ago I worked at a mall bakery, and one Friday my paycheck went missing–I think it fell out of my pocket where I’d shoved it. (My financial acumen was, shall we say, not top-notch). Someone found it, opened an account at a bank, and signed my check over to themselves. Eventually it got sorted out, but it took awhile.

Five years later I worked for a different company, and my final check was mailed to me and never showed up. Turns out it was taken from my rural mailbox and signed over to someone. The cops came and took my report, all friendly-like, and left. Then one of the cops did that classic move, where on the way out he paused, turned around with a slight smile, and said, “Isn’t that a coincidence, that two different paychecks were stolen from you by two different people, and you’re filing two different reports? Kind of makes you wonder, doesn’t it?”

The look in his eyes was like a hungry wolf looking at a rabbit. Motherfucker thought he had me.

I was genuinely surprised, and said something like, “Uh, okay, but they caught the person who took my check last time, and I think you can look up the case,” and he shrugged and left. But damn that coulda gone badly. Never felt I needed a lawyer as much as I did right then.

39

That is a remarkably polite action for him to take.
I take it you are not in Arkansas.

40

There was one ticket I talked my way out of without trying

Officer: Where are you going?
Me: Work.
Officer: What do you do for work?
Me: I’m a math teacher.
Officer: Yeah? Then what’s the Law of Sines?
Me: (tells him)
Officer: Slow down and get out of here.

Second time in my life I was asked to prove I was a math teacher by being challenged to know what the Law of Sines is.