4 Things Police Don't Want You to Know

Just Criminal Law
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Just Criminal Law owner and lead attorney Christina L. Williams is featured in this video with an introduction.

Learn about your legal rights in Wyoming and South Dakota and what you can do as a citizen to protect your legal rights.

[razorback]

She is right. Don’t just assert your right to remain silent. Make sure to say “I want to talk to a lawyer.” That triggers more rights, forcing the cops to cease all questioning.

[garingdahl]

I've always been [and still am] a Law & Order sort of person. HOWEVER, after sitting on a jury in a criminal case, I quickly came to the conclusion to NEVER, EVER, willingly allow the police to question you without a lawyer present.

[Sjm]

You missed something.
NEVER EVER EVER GIVE THEM PERMISSION TO SEARCH YOU OR ANY OF YOUR PROPERTY WITHOUT A WARRANT.

[forever]

I’m a retired police officer and everything you stated is actually good advice!

[rorywynhoff]

Another thing to note is that "Anything you say can and will be used AGAINST you." It cannot be used to help you, therefore there is no incentive to speak to them beyond what is legally required.

[donniekak]

You only need to know one thing. Don’t talk to police, ever.

[milestephcampbell]

Thank you for this!
1) Police officers are allowed to lie
2) Unless you have been arrested or detained, you are free to leave
3) The police need probable cause to arrest you
4) You have the right to remain silent, so, by all means, do - until your lawyer gets there.

[leviefrauim]

Retired LEO here. She's spot-on w/this advice and I've told people this repeatedly, even though they look at me like I'm crazy. Sorry, but some of my fellow LEOs are NOT to be trusted. If you're in trouble, STFU and demand a lawyer.

[bhamilton]

As a retired cop I would say this is the BEST advice you can have. You do not have to agree, nor cooperate by giving them any of your information for their bias reports. Make them do there job, and find out that information.

And yes police reports can be written with bias..

But our law enforcement problem can be addressed with term limits for all elected officials. These Politicians that don't change (sheriff's, chiefs, mayors, ect) but they like to blame the line officer. Turn over at the top is what's needed, in the court system too! Time to move these old people/ideas outta here! Term limits for all

[Rowgue]

I have a standard procedure I use anytime I'm approached by a cop now. As soon as they say a word, I immediately ask if I'm being detained. If the answer is no then I immediately attempt to leave. If the answer is yes, if they refuse to answer, or if they stop me when I attempt to leave after being told I'm not being detained; then I say "I'm not interested in having a conversation. I am invoking my right to remain silent and will not be answering any questions without an attorney present". And no other words come out of my mouth, period. If they continue to press things and demand my ID and insist that I have to answer their questions or whatever then I turn around and present my hands behind my back.

Anything you say outside of that can only hurt you. Every single question a cop asks you has the solitary purpose of establishing probable cause to arrest you.

[juistian]

I've had police officers tell me these same exact things. One of the most common themes in these talks they've given is that "People have the right to remain silent, but most people can't."

[kevinkemble]

In 2008 I was in a catastrophic motorcycle crash, one mid-morning. While the emergency services were racing to the scene along with a medial helicopter….I’m bleeding to death, femoral artery torn and my leg from hip down crushed, and more ….getting to the point ….a cop pulls up, walks into the field where I’m about to die says. “You were speeding weren’t you?” “Tell me you were speeding.”
Now people I’m out of my mind in pain at this point, however because of my background around authority figures… I told the cop, I’m on the phone with my wife saying goodbyes. I’m all geared up fortunately full face helmet, riding boots, totally the best of the best which was always the way I suited up… the cop still insistent asking… knew I wasn’t going to converse with him. Did say, No I wasn’t, once. He takes my phone, and tells my wife “if you want to see him you & family better get to whatever hospital he’s airlifted to if you want to say goodbye.” If I wasn’t in so much pain while lasting for months, after multiple surgeries, years of physical and physiotherapy. Never mind.

My goal was to be in the saddle again, and I did until 2018, hit hard and still remained quiet on the street until emergency vehicle showed up. Wife went down hard in 2010, she elected to get hospital and not call the cops.

We’ve had retiree cops tell us don’t talk cops.

[brettcomstock]

Good advice. You have the right to remain silent at all times. One’s Fifth Amendment rights don’t “kick in” when they Mirandize you. No. You have had those rights all along. And, silence IS the best defense.

[jollyjohnthepirate]

I've seen videos of cops arresting a lawyer because she wouldn't answer their end well for the police.

[leskerr]

It is very sad that we have reached the point where citizens have to be advised how to protect themselves from the police!!

[jeffreyjackson]

What's truly sickening that you actually have protect yourself even from police. The way that some of them act, it's clear that they are no better than criminals.

[Milesco]

An important thing that most people don't know is that the police DO NOT have to mirandize you unless you are both [1] in custody, and [2] being interrogated. On TV and in the movies, the police read you your rights the second they start to arrest you. That's not how it goes down in real life. In real life, they *don't* mirandize you when they arrest you, unless and until they start questioning you. That way, if you spontaneously blurt out anything incriminating, they are free to use it against you because even though you were in custody, they weren't questioning you.

Likewise, the police can question you all they want without reading you your rights if you're not in custody. If they come to your house...stop you on the street, whatever...they can ask you all the questions they want, and they don't have to mirandize you. So it's up to you to remember your right to remain silent. (And of course, _use it!)_

(And by the way, to be legally safe, you should explicitly invoke the 5th amendment or the Constitution. For example, "I'm invoking my 5th Amendment rights, " or "I'm invoking my constitutional right to remain silent." That way, the prosecution can't use your silence against you later in court.)

And even innocent people should know that it's always best not to answer questions. You have no way of knowing what kinds of info or statements that seem perfectly harmless and innocent can turn out to be incriminating later. For example, you might admit to not liking someone -- which by itself is no crime -- only to find out later that the person turned up dead. Whoops -- you just incriminated yourself (gave the police a motive) without even realizing it.

So remember: the _Miranda_ rules only apply if you are in custody *and* being questioned. Unless *both* conditions are satisfied, the cops *don't* have to to read you your rights. So you need to know them beforehand.

[alexrodgers]

Definitely do say ‘I will remain silent, I claim the 5th, or something’ You do cause problems for yourself if you don’t communicate that you are staying silent. And, like she said….
Remain silent from that point on. It is amazing how stuff has changed, and increased in these regards lately. Their ability to lie to us is honestly baffling!

[snowfreeze]

I once had a Sheriff's deputy stop me outside of child visitation and try to serve me with papers. He asked me my name and I politely declined to give it to him. I wasn't driving or anything, I was walking. He was pretty mad.

[TheKim]

They can lie about more than that. I was a victim of an assault that could never be proven. After a long consideration, I decided there should be a record somewhere. I didn't want to attempt to press charges, but I did want something on file, in case something worse should happen. They said they would take such a report and only keep it on file, and not follow up with the perp. There was absolutely no way anything could be proven, follow up would only put me at greater risk, and impede the steps that were already in motion, for me to get away. I explained all of this first, my report was conditional on their assurance.

2 minutes after the report was complete, they were on their way to question the person. All it did was make matters really bad, and slow down and make much more difficult, my extraction from the situation. Sadly, they will lie even if you are a completely innocent person, not even suspected of a crime.