# When arrested why can what you say \*only\* be used against you but never to help you? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 24, 2020, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-arrested-why-can-what-you-say-only-be-used-against-you-but-never-to-help-you/916174 "2020-07-24T02:23:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 42
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2020, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-arrested-why-can-what-you-say-only-be-used-against-you-but-never-to-help-you/916174/42 "2020-07-25T21:10:58Z")
I don’t know if you’ve asked it before or not, but I have. > [@A little help with the hearsay rule please.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-help-with-the-hearsay-rule-please/514345): > > In this popular web video of [Don’t talk to the police](http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4097602514885833865#), the first reason that the professor gives (around 9:00) is “It can’t help.” The reasoning is that under the Federal Rules of Evidence, anything said to an officer that might help the defendant’s case would be considered hearsay according to 801(d)(2)(A). Quick googling show that this passage says: From [here.](http://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/fre/rules.htm#Rule801) Given that the section is exceptions to the hearsay rule, why would statements made to the police be inadmissable? Is the speaker… --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-arrested-why-can-what-you-say-only-be-used-against-you-but-never-to-help-you/916174)._