Police Tricks

Know their tricks but also have a few tricks of your own:

Consensual Contacts- Police Officers are required to have a search warrant or arrest warrant by law and they are required to have a reasonable suspicion that you have committed a crime prior to talking to you. Remember your goal is to use your rights to your advantage and not to let go of your rights unless it is to your advantage.        

A consensual contact is the police officer's trick to get around the law. An example, you are sitting in front of your house. Then a police officer drives by and looks at you, and in his mind he is thinking this is a high drug area that guy is probably a drug user. However, at that moment can not prove you use drugs, he can't see any signs of drugs use (stumbling, red eyes, slurred speech, twitching), and he has not seen you use drugs. Therefore, he has no reasonable suspicion or probable cause.

What is his next move? The police officer gets out of the car and walks up to you. He asks you how are you doing, and he asks you if you want to talk to him or he just continues to talk to you casually. He keeps asking questions and you keep answering without objection or telling him you do not want to talk to him. He has just tricked you. Everything that you said he will use against you. If he has noticed marks on your arms, can smell alcohol, notes your eyes are red, or you are on parole or probation, you have just made yourself subject to a search and likely arrest.

NOW- learn a few questions that will save you from the trick:

1. Are you ordering me to talk to you?

2. Can I leave or do I have to stay here and talk to you?

3. Do you suspect me of committing a crime?

4. Do you think I did something wrong?

5. Do I have a right to remain silent?

6. Well, my name is X and my date of birth is X. I choose to remain

    silent. I do not want to talk to you.

You should ask these questions immediately. In other words, after, the police officer states how are you doing today, you should begin with question number one. If you begin to engage in a conversation with the police prior to asking the questions, you will have lost your rights. If you do not remember the questions, remember to keep your mouth closed except to say your name and date of birth. Also, Be Honest about your name and date of birth, because if you lie about it in most cases it will be a misdemeanor.

Side Note: If your attorney, a judge, or a police officer asks you to give a waiver of one of your rights, make sure you ask them to fully explain the right and the consequences of giving up that right, including those consequences that may not be apparent until years later.

Rules to a Criminal 

    Well this will be the first of many!! It is time for me to share some of these years of education with the community and potential clients. My goal is for you to learn a few things to help you save yourself from harm, which I have learned over the years most people cause for themselves due to a lack of knowledge.

So let's First Go Over KNOW YOUR RIGHTS-- you can't use your rights if you do not know your rights and if you try to use them without knowing them -- you will likely make your life worse:

I. You Have the Right to Remain Silent
II. You Have a Freedom of Speech
III. You Have a Right to Not Incriminate Yourself
IV. Dont Be a Rat/ Don't Snitch

I am going to address these three rights in more than one Blog. These three rights all work together and they work against each other, if you let them.

The first right is the one most of us need to use everyday and all day. If you are in  an argument or someone is trying to tell you that you have done something wrong or trying to question you about something that you may or may not have done. Silence may be golden!!

If you are standing in front of a police officer and he is asking you a thousand questions about where you just were, where you have been, what have you been drinking, do you have any drugs in your possession, have you used any drugs recently, where are your children, do you own this, is this your car, etc. Silence is Golden!!

However, if the police officer says what is your name, can I see your id, what is your date of birth-- Your freedom not to speak no longer exists-- You must answer those questions, but you only have the duty to answer those questions -- thereafter-- Put YOUR TWO LIPS TOGETHER AS IF GLUE IS STUCK IN BETWEEN THEM AND SHUT UP-- if you must say something because you have an attitude -- you think you smart enough to talk your way out of trouble-- you too cool to be quiet-- you are too afraid to shut up-- the words coming out of your mouth in whatever attitude you want to say them should be these words and these words only " I REFUSE TO ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS I HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT; I WOULD LIKE TO SPEAK TO MY ATTORNEY"    and then you should have your attorney's business card in your wallet/purse and in your car.

Now Be  Very  Aware of the tricks--  the police are very powerful  and they will use everything possible to trick you into giving up your RIGHTS-- these are YOUR RIGHTS-- do not give them over to anyone no matter what-- so if they tell you-- we are going to take your children away-- we are going to arrest your mother-- we are going to harrass your friends-- we are going to tell your friends you snitched-- we are going to have you locked up for the rest of your life-- we are going to pin everything on you if you don't explain to us what happened-- or they may try to be nice-- and tell you if you just tell us we will let you go home

BLOCK EVERYTHING THEY SAY OUT AND REMAIN SILENT- IF YOU HAVE TO CONTINUOUSLY REPEAT YOUR NAME, DATE OF BIRTH AND I HAVE A RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT

   You may have to sit in jail for a night before your attorney can get there, but if you are silent you will likely save yourself from sitting in jail or paying a ton of fines that are a lot more costly to you than that one night.

The police and the prosecution must prove what you did -- It is not your duty to help them by opening your mouth and singing your top ten hits of how , who, what, where, and when. It is not your duty to say sure you can search my car. It is not your job to say no it is not mine -- it is his. Or I only have a little drugs in the car. Or I have a pipe in the car, a knife in the car, or a gun in the car. They have to find it! They have to find it legally! They have to prove ownership! They have to prove you knew about it! They have to prove everything, and the minute you start talking is the minute you are ready to pay a fine or go to jail or prison. I am saying this to everyone. I am saying this for every situation including speeding tickets and when you decide to call the police yourself. I have seen situations where someone has called the police, because they were attacked and they ended up going to jail for being under the influence of drugs and drug possession. I am not saying do not call the police for assistance, but I am saying be careful of what you say to them, your attitude towards them, and how you look when you talk to them.

So Part I: BE CAREFUL AND BE QUIET-- I CAN HELP YOU BETTER IF YOU DO NOT HELP THE POLICE