# What, if anything, can cops not lie about **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 1, 2011, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-anything-can-cops-not-lie-about/594891 "2011-09-01T21:53:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-anything-can-cops-not-lie-about/594891/21 "2011-09-02T06:23:45Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > My impression of how it works in the US is that the prosecutor and the judge are the ones who can offer leniency, but cops will pretend they can offer it if you confess to a crime. So false offers of favors do not seem to be banned here. Didi you even bother to read the posts in this thread? ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-anything-can-cops-not-lie-about/594891/22 "2011-09-02T15:28:34Z")
Several posts said that citizens can lie with impunity to cops and I guess that is true. But I have read that there is a federal law that makes it a punishable offense to lie to a federal employee. I have lied to customs agents on many occasions. Example, I overheard (on a train) a customs agent tell the guy in the next seat that it was illegal to import any meds into the US. I certainly wasn’t about to let him confiscate my meds, so I lied that I didn’t have any. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-anything-can-cops-not-lie-about/594891/23 "2011-09-02T17:31:05Z")
I’m pretty sure cops can lie about whether they don’t need no badges. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-anything-can-cops-not-lie-about/594891/24 "2011-09-02T18:31:12Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > Short version: cops can’t lie about leniency. Falsely imply leniency, sure, but not lie. It was the norm back in the day when I was a cop to tell someone that you would put in a good word for them with the prosecutor if they told you what happened with no bullshit. And we would. We would always say that he was very cooperative during the interrogation, etc. Of course, we had no control over whether the prosecutors took that into consideration. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-anything-can-cops-not-lie-about/594891/25 "2011-09-02T20:03:27Z")
Can the cop bind the district attorney with some kind of deal? “If you cooperate, you can plead to disorderly conduct and we won’t prosecute you for anything else.” If the DA goes ahead and charges me with mopery, can I get the charges dismissed? Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-anything-can-cops-not-lie-about/594891/26 "2011-09-02T20:25:38Z")
The DA is not the final arbiter of a deal. Usually, the judge will go along with the DA’s deal, but he doesn’t have to. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-anything-can-cops-not-lie-about/594891/27 "2011-09-02T22:16:29Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > “If you cooperate, you can plead to disorderly conduct and we won’t prosecute you for anything else.” If the DA goes ahead and charges me with mopery, can I get the charges dismissed? Yes. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-anything-can-cops-not-lie-about/594891/28 "2011-09-02T23:01:55Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > Several posts said that citizens can lie with impunity to cops and I guess that is true. But I have read that there is a federal law that makes it a punishable offense to lie to a federal employee. I don’t know who said that, but in the United States that’s absolutely not true. Just ask [Martha Stewart.](http://money.cnn.com/2004/03/05/news/companies/martha_verdict/) The federal law you refer to is [18 USC 1001](http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/usc_sec_18_00001001----000-.html). There are corresponding state laws in probably every state. There used to be some question in the United States about the “exculpatory no” where you denied committing a crime to an investigator. For example, if an FBI agent asks you if you accepted any illegal bribes and you say “No I didn’t.” But the Supreme Court put that to rest in [Brogan v United States](http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/96-1579.ZS.html) by saying that no such right exists. Your choices are basically tell the truth or say nothing. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-anything-can-cops-not-lie-about/594891/29 "2011-09-03T01:25:11Z")
If there is no recording or witnesses available for the Miranda and a LEO grills you with and records that part then later claims he did in fact Mirandize, being as you are the one arrested, how could you expect to get anyone to believe he did not? Unless you have your own recorder, a lone LEO can do or say anything short of leaving you a bloody pulp above & beyond what it would take to subdue you and there is nothing you can do about it. Absolute silence except for “I want a lawyer” is the only thing to do when one on one with an LEO because you never know if you got the one bad one. Just pray you can stand the ass whuppin if you did get the one bad one. YMMV ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-anything-can-cops-not-lie-about/594891/30 "2011-09-03T13:49:55Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > … If the DA goes ahead and _ **charges me with mopery** _, can I get the charges dismissed? I need to study up on what’s legal and what’s not… I’m moping around right now. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-anything-can-cops-not-lie-about/594891/31 "2011-09-03T14:15:59Z")
The famous video in which a law school professor gives a speech explaining why you should **never talk to police** , and then calls a LEO up to give a rebuttal, the LEO doesn’t rebut anything the professor says but confirms that as a defendant you should **never** talk to police whatsoever. (The LEO in question was also a student, finishing law school.) Something the LEO says though is that he always tells suspects that, “if you tell us what you did, I’ll put in a word for you with the judge and prosecutor and it will help you.” He says that _isn’t_ a lie, and that in his 20+ year police career it pretty much always did help somewhat. What he goes on to say is that the suspect might be lead to believe that “putting in a word” will mean they don’t do any jail time, but what it really usually means is something like you will do 3 years in prison if the police officer advocates for you versus 5 years if you don’t cooperate and make the state go through all the effort of convicting you. So it’s deceptive but only in an “implied” manner, the officer doesn’t make a specific promise of anything. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-anything-can-cops-not-lie-about/594891/32 "2011-09-03T16:49:21Z")
> [@ricksummon](#): > > I can’t find a cite, but I believe that a cop can’t pretend to be a lawyer, priest, or other person that has a confidentiality privilege. > > Not that that stopped Elliott from doing it on an episode of _Law and Order,_ of course. 🙂 The only time I remember Elliott doing that, he wasn’t pretending to be a therapist; he went in as one of the patients in a group-therapy session, spinning lies about why he needs therapy and listening attentively as other folks truthfully did likewise. So I’m not sure that would fall under the same blanket prohibition. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-anything-can-cops-not-lie-about/594891/33 "2011-09-06T18:02:30Z")
> [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > The famous video in which a law school professor gives a speech explaining why you should **never talk to police** , and then calls a LEO up to give a rebuttal, the LEO doesn’t rebut anything the professor says but confirms that as a defendant you should **never** talk to police whatsoever. (The LEO in question was also a student, finishing law school.) Yup, love that video. Here’s [part one](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8z7NC5sgik), where the professor explains how you can only hurt yourself. And here’s [part two](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08fZQWjDVKE), where the LEO has the chance to rebut. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-anything-can-cops-not-lie-about/594891/34 "2011-09-06T19:24:52Z")
Here’s [Gfactor’s Staff Report](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2842/what-can-the-police-lie-about-while-conducting-an-interrogation) about what cops can lie about during an interrogation. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-anything-can-cops-not-lie-about/594891/35 "2011-09-06T22:34:40Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > > I’m pretty sure cops can lie about whether they don’t need no badges. [nitpick]…_steengking_ badges.[/nitpick] ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-anything-can-cops-not-lie-about/594891/36 "2011-09-06T22:52:55Z")
> [@FatBaldGuy](#): > > I’m pretty sure they can’t lie about having a search warrant when they don’t. “It’s all right. We’re authorized.” - Det. Fontana, Law and Order. He got away with that at least five or six times. 😛 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-anything-can-cops-not-lie-about/594891.md?page=1)