As a chick married to an ex-cop, I say this all the time to people close to me, but it bears repeating here: No cop is your friend after you’ve been detained.
Get rear ended by a drunk at a red light? That cop will direct traffic around your vehicle, document the accident, sure. Call animal control on your piece of shit neighbor? You’ve got a pretty good chance the officer who shows up helps out in a meaningful way.
But after you’ve been arrested, when a police officer says, “Just be honest with me and I’ll do the same.” or the old “Help me and I’ll help you.” Politely ask for a lawyer. Shake your head. Ignore them. Pretend you’re Hollywood royalty being asked for a selfie. “ …mmmm… Sorry, but no.”
Keep your mouth shut. Don’t do their work for them. Wait for a lawyer.
I worked as a police dispatcher for a year and a half, and I’d agree with this. My cops were generally nice people (and I say this having been on the wrong end of their sirens twice, once before and once after being hired), and they often helped in good ways… on the street. Not so much in the station. Generally speaking (and I know this is oversimplification and is worse in a lot of places but), it went like this:
On the street, you were considered as a person/citizen they have sworn to protect who may have made a mistake or done something wrong.
Once you were in the station, you were considered as a criminal. In the station you are the only one on your side.
Stay safe.
TV and film has you thinking that only guilty people ask for a lawyer. This is not true. The law is complex and difficult and confusing and if you’re being questioned by the police you’re not going to be in your best state of mind. A lawyer is your basic civil right and you should exercise that right. Keep silent, ask for a lawyer, take your legal advice.
Guilty people don’t ask for a lawyer, smart people do.
“Guilty people don’t ask for a lawyer, smart people do.”
Having a brother as a cop, I’m learning that most cops think differently once they become a cop. They get indoctrinated into cop culture and are blinded by that culture that feeds them this concept that “Civilians don’t understand what it’s like being in my shoes” that they genuinely forget what the history of policing was built upon.
Prime example: my brother and I often have conversations about police shootings that get caught on camera and end up all over the media.
My brother often asks
“If you didn’t do anything wrong, why act hostile towards the cop if he pulls you over?”
His response is to blame the media for creating this culture that feeds into the fear and, there are those who want attention.I agree and disagree with his statement and we respectfully hash it out time and time again.
This post made me think of those conversations with my brother and the questions he often poses; I am a law abiding citizen, but I still get that curl of dread in my chest when a cop approaches my car or if I see a cop car in my rear view mirror.
It’s not that I’m in fear of that cop (that’s like saying I fear my brother, and I don’t), but I fear the uniform and history and the establishment it represents. I also fear the beliefs of the person wearing that uniform, because I don’t know WHO I’m getting, especially in a country where KKKs and Nazis no longer hide in fear.
Now, I love my brother and honestly, having been raised with him and listening to him and knowing his character I think he is a good cop, but I also think the cop culture has clouded his judgments on certain things.
I have a friend who is in the process of becoming a cop, and I, on the other hand, have experience working in the legal field… two different sides to the same coin. Both are meant to uphold the law, but cops tend to look at people as criminals while lawyers look at them as people (and, honestly, often times as victims of a corrupt system, which it is, both here and in the US).
I would like to believe that the majority if people initially get into policing for the right reasons. The issue is how the power corrupts them once they have it. The same thing happens to prison gaurds, and basically any other profession where a person has power over another person.
Don’t talk to the cops!!!! Linking to the National Lawyers Guild, who has some great and short “Know your rights” information.
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