Free Police Interrogation Advice...

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I think MPSIMS is the right place for this. Remember, I am giving advice, not asking for it.

Also, I shared this once before, on another boards. But it will be interesting to share it on these boards. People on the SDMB are very law-abiding, it would seem. I am curious how they will even react to my advice.

First off, Disclaimer: I am law-abiding, as I assume most or all of you are. That having been said…

Also, where I first got this information. I have tell you of a wonderful book, I bought in 1997. It’s called “The Court TV Cradle-to-Grave Legal Survival Guide” © 1995 American Lawyer Media, LP and Little, Brown and Co., Inc. , ISBN 0-316-03699-4 (hardcover), ISBN 0-316-03663-3 (paperback). This book is a treasure. As the title suggests, you can literally answer any legal question with it. It probably is out-of-print. But I’m sure you could get it used, if you shopped around a little. Try ebay.

Anyways, while perusing the book once, I came to the section on police interrogations. You know, the police don’t have to read you your Miranda rights until they actually choose to interrogate you.

Then anything, apparently, is fair game for them to do. Let me give you just one shocking example. The police will tell you they are preparing to make a plea deal with you (according to this book). All they need for you to do is to confess to the crime. The only thing is, this is bullsh*t. The police don’t have the power to plea deal. Only the prosecution does! Shocking, no?

Also, I once heard on TV that they will sometimes tell you they talked to your friends and relatives, and they all ratted on you. Only thing is, they did no such thing! More shocking, no? And of course even if you’re perfectly innocent, they will still talk to you for hours unending, just to wear you down.

The best advice, if you should find yourself in this position, is ask for a lawyer. They can’t do these awful things if you have one. Of course, with the courts getting more conservative by the day, this still may some day not be the case. But it couldn’t hurt.

The strange thing about this is, as I alluded to above, the prosecution can’t do this. The courts have stepped in and said they have to stick to whatever deal they make with you, especially if they get it in writing. (Also, as I said, this book is 20 years old. I shudder to think what may be going on now.)

One more thing, I might as well add. As I said, the best legal advice you can give someone who has been arrested, is get a lawyer. But there is a moral, call it, argument I have heard some people make. If you have hurt someone, esp. a little child, or something like that, you should really come clean. Not for your sake, but for the sake of society. (The Court TV guide also briefly touches on this point.)

And I just have to ask, anyone else have horror stories like the ones I just gave (personal or that you heard)? Please share it. But keep it clean and legal.

:):):slight_smile:

2

Most people who are arrested are both stupid, and guilty. This is bad for them, but good for the rest of us. Because they think they can talk their way out of it. So they talk, without a lawyer. And they need a lawyer, because they need someone to tell them “don’t try to talk your way out of it - you are stupid and you will incriminate yourself, and the police can use it against you because you voluntarily answered questions and didn’t ask for a lawyer.”

I have never been arrested (so far, but the weekend is coming up) but I knew that yes, the police can lie to me and say they have witnesses who saw me do it, or whatever. I am also aware that the police do not arrange for plea bargains. If I wanted to plead to something in return for a lesser sentence, I would need something signed by the DA in that jurisdiction. Which would be something a lawyer can advise me.

As Ron White said, “I had the right to remain silent, but I didn’t have the ability.” You have rights. Whether you have the IQ to exercise those rights is a different question.

If I have done something morally wrong, then yes, I should confess. Bargaining for a lesser sentence or a lesser conviction is a practical matter, not a moral or ethical one.

But the police are rather good at getting people to talk, even when they have the right not to. I don’t see this as a downside, because most of those are guilty in reality, and the presumption of innocence is a legal fiction that applies only in a court of law.

If I am arrested and I am guilty, I say nothing and ask for a lawyer. If I am innocent, I would answer questions and, indeed, try to talk my way out of it. I am not going to care if they say they have witnesses against me - they don’t, because I am innocent. If they say my friends ratted me out, I don’t care, because they didn’t. If the interview starts to drag on too long (and I am innocent) I ask “am I free to go?” and any other answer than Yes means that I say “OK, then I want a lawyer and I am done talking” and wait until a lawyer arrives.

Incidents where the innocent are convicted certainly happen, but they are not common. At least not common enough to worry me. If I am innocent.

Regards,
Shodan

3

One problem with the “asking for a lawyer” bit is that most of us don’t already have a lawyer we would call. Or if we do, it’s more likely the guy who prepared your will or represented you in your divorce rather than a criminal lawyer. So I thought to be prepared, I’d find the best criminal lawyer in town, meet with him/her and memorize the phone number, just in case.

Never did do that though.

4

Duplicate post.

5

They tell you what you need to know when you are arrested. You have the right to remain silent. You may speak with a lawyer. That’s really not stated clearly enough though, tell yourself that you must remain silent, you must speak with a lawyer. And if you haven’t been arrested (and if you’re not sure if you’ve been arrested then ask them) then you can leave. But even if you’re not under arrest, keep your mouth shut unless a lawyer advises you to say something.

6

A friend of mine is a cop. When my kids were in high-school he talked to them about what to do if they were questioned by the police or arrested. He did role playing games with them.

He urged them to say nothing other than “I want to speak to my dad or a lawyer” regardless of the situation.

“Hello, my name is Officer Friendly.”
“I’d like to speak with my dad or a lawyer.”

7

People who typically get arrested would not likely read anything like this (or read anything at all) and would not follow the advice if it was told to them.

8

Isn’t it a basic tactic of a Jr High Vice Principal to tell a miscreant “Look, your buddies already told me everything”?

9

I once heard on TV that the book mentioned in the OP is bullcrap.

10

I’ll point out the downside of this principle.

If the police are asking you about a crime and your immediate response is to ask for a lawyer, you will become a suspect. You’ll get a lawyer because it’s your right but you’ll spend a long time afterwards being interrogated as if you committed the crime.

Sometimes, if you are innocent, the best thing to do is to tell the police what you know and move on.

If, on the other hand, you’re guilty then, yes, the best thing you can do is ask for a lawyer. You’re not going to talk your way out of getting arrested.

11

Never talk to the police.

12

“People who typically get arrested”, huh?

A friend of mine was arrested for violating a court order requiring that he stay a certain distance away from his (at the time) wife. She had lied to get the order and she lied to get him arrested.

Things were eventually sorted out and he is now happily divorced.

He works in a machine shop, is well educated, and reads in his free time.

13

The OP’s basic message is spot-on: get a lawyer. The moment you’re arrested, detained, interrogated in any way for a criminal matter, you should say, “I haven’t done anything wrong, and I want an attorney now.”

That said, the OP’s hyperbole is not grounded in fact.

“Then anything, apparently, is fair game for them to do.”

No. The police can lie, yes, but they cannot threaten physical harm, or inflict it, to secure a confession. In general, the rule is that any tactic they use cannot overbear the will of the suspect and thereby lead to a false confession; confessions must be voluntary to be admissible. If a confession is obtained in a way that can fairly be said to have been forced, as opposed to simply convincing a guilty suspect that the police are certain of his guilt and can prove it, then the courts will likely find the confession inadmissible.

14

I’ve wondered about that step in the process myself. If I ask for a lawyer, will they provide me a phone and the yellow pages (Or these days, access to google or Siri)? Do you call a family member and have them get you a lawyer? Will they give you your cell phone back long enough to look up a lawyer?

15

If I’m being questioned voluntarily as a witness, I’m happy to cooperate, but I’m gonna be careful with my answers.

If the questions appear to be inquiring about me and my relationship to the crime/victim, then I’m done talking; a remark as casual as “he owed me money” could conceivably establish motive, which will definitely make you a suspect. Likewise, inconsistent answers to deliberately repeated questions will generate suspicion.

If I’ve been arrested and/or charged, then I’m already a suspect and I’m not saying anything to anyone without consulting a lawyer first, regardless of my innocence or guilt.

16

In a nation that prides itself and its global leadership in its principles of justice, how do discussions like this even take place? Unless a nation is a police state, it is not necessary for the police to ask a suspect any questions at all, as investigation later will develop all the necessary evidence of guilt, if there is any.

17

My professor in my business law class (partner in a local law firm, loved the class, he told the funniest war stories of his time in the courtroom) said that you should say, “I was in fear for my life” (if you shot someone) followed by, “I want to speak to my attorney.”

Then zip it. The Night Of has some good insight on this. The facts can make the situation look bad, even if you’re innocent, and they can and will use whatever you say against you. The more you say, the more your attorney has to tap dance.

I don’t care about looking like a suspect. I assume if the police arrest me they already think I’m a suspect. I want to make sure my rights are covered.

18

I attended a class in community college called ‘Aspects of Evidence’, taught by a former LAPD officer. He told us all that if we were arrested, detained, interrogated, then we were to ‘keep our fucking mouths shut’.

He made this point over and over again. Invoke your right to counsel, invoke your right to remain silent, then do so.

19

This link should convince any/everyone to Shut the Hell Up!.

This is simply another instance of the old rule:
“Never try to beat a man at his own game”.

The cop across the table builds cases for a living. Unless you have at least as much experience at knocking down cases, assume you will lose any gambit you cleverly devise.

Yeah, the cop is too stupid too trap ME - I’ll just bullshit my way out of this… :rolleyes:

20

Interrogators have a lot of tricks. Lying and pretending to have more evidence than they really do is a major one, but that is just one in their bag of tricks.

“I need a lawyer” is all you need to say. Cops are not your friends, the US has created so many stupid laws that pretty much everyone is a criminal nowadays.