Can the Police Lie to You?

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So the police stop you, call you, or arrest you. Do they have to tell you the truth during the interaction or can they lie? Criminal defense attorney Alex Spiro explains the surprising truth.

Alex Spiro is a former Manhattan prosecutor and is now a litigation partner in New York City. Spiro also serves as Chairman of the Board of Harvard's criminal justice initiative, The Fair Punishment Project.

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TRANSCRIPT

So law enforcement contacts you. You’re down at the station. You’re about to speak to detectives or agents, something you’ve never done before. So often people ask, can they lie to me? Can they deceive me? Can they mislead me? Can they trick me? My name is Alex Spiro. I’m a partner at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, and I’m here to talk to you today about why and under what circumstances law enforcement can lie to you.

The question here today is can law enforcement lie to a suspect? And the short answer is yes they can. The question at a deeper level is under what circumstances and when? The truth is you do have rights. You don’t have to talk to the police at all. If you call the police or they call you and you’re not down at the station house, understand that you are not in custody, they do not have to read you Miranda, and your confession or whatever you say to them can be used against you.

If you are in custody, they do have to read you Miranda rights, which means you have the right to remain silent. At the end of the day, you can always at any time invoke your right to counsel. Say, “I want to talk to my lawyer.” It doesn’t make you sound guilty; it’s smart. And then they can’t question you anymore.

There is a series of factors that courts look at when deciding whether a police interaction goes too far in the manner in which law enforcement conducts themselves. First, they look at the lie or misleading statement or the deception itself. What kind of lie was it, and how misleading was it?

The second thing they do is they look to the conduct that occurred in the interrogation. How long was it? How oppressive was it? Did the suspect get water? Was the suspect allowed to use the bathroom?

Then they look at the background and characteristics of the suspect themselves. How old are they? How intelligent are they? How sophisticated are they? Do they have any emotional or mental health issues? Have they been through this process before? And when they look at all of those factors, they consider whether or not the confession or the statement that’s procured is voluntary under the law.

Now, in terms of voluntariness, what we mean is would a person such as this person have potentially confessed falsely? Do all those circumstances lead us to believe that a person of that makeup would have been led to give a false confession?
In one case, the police lied about a suspect’s fingerprints being at a crime scene. In another case, they lied about whether or not the defendant who had also been shot would survive on his way to the hospital. Even in the case in which a person is on the way to hospital dying and the police say, “you may not make it, I need to know the truth now!” These were discrete and clear lies, and yet in both cases the court found that the confessions were voluntary.
There’s one case in which an Alaska court found that a confession was involuntary based on psychological tactics that law enforcement used. In that case, they used pretty much every tactic under the book. They even went so far as to tell the suspect that they would be forced by court order to take a polygraph exam and went through what kind of conditions and pressure that they would face. It was only after all of that that an otherwise vulnerable suspect did confess, and the Alaska courts ruled that confession involuntary.
Police can lie to you. When they are taking your statement, they can lie to you. And while sitting at home watching this video you think to yourself, “Why would anyone falsely confess to a crime they didn’t commit?”—it happens. The psychological pressure, the intimidation, it causes people to confess falsely. We know this. We know this because of developments in science.

So the bottom line is while you may have the sophistication and education to resist almost any police tactic, others don’t, and anything that you do say, no matter what law enforcement does, is likely admissible against you. Again, my name is Alex Spiro. Thanks for watching TalksOnLaw.
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This is disturbing. The cops can make all manner of false statements and outright lies during an interrogation. Enforcing the law with dishonest behavior? Shameful.

Jugivadi
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This definitely contributes to the distrust many people have with the government/law enforcement, but it seems like a necesssry evil is certain situations

shyaminikrishan
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If police can lie to me I should be able to lie to the police

jfs
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In the state of Oklahoma, A police officer or any other person, commits a misdemeanor under 21 OK Stat § 21-452 (2021) if they " practices any fraud or deceit, or knowingly makes or exhibits any false statement, representation, token or writing, to any witness or person about to be called as a witness, upon any trial, proceeding, inquiry or investigation whatever, proceeding by authority of law, with intent to affect the testimony of such witness". Because a suspect or person charged with a crime can be called as a witness, this means that, under Oklahoma State Law, Police cannot lie to a suspect with the intent to cause a suspect to in any way change their testimony.

Harlem
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The long answer is yes, they can lie to you at any point, falsely claim laws that don’t exist, make up evidence, and even claim you took actions you did not in court as long as they say it’s what they “thought at the time”.

stonep
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Really interesting because it at first comes as a shock that they can lie so easily, but I suppose that just comes from wanting to inherently trust that you're in good hands when dealing with anyone, especially with someone in power. Always important to remember your rights in each situation, thanks for the video!

andiecook
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I had a cop question me but he didn't write a damn thing down that I said! He also lied to me while he was questioning me! And then he asked if I would take a polygraph test, brought up super personal stuff and was stating that everyone at work that wrote a statement pointed the finger at me (which was a lie)It was scary! I was at work, something was my company brought me back after their own the cop still questioned me. But, he didn't write anything down! How could he possibly remember what I said? And I'm not taking a polygraph test, they are so inaccurate!

lynettep
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How can you tell if the cops are lying to you? THEIR LIPS ARE MOVING AND SOUND IS COMING OUT! That's how.

tonyhelton
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Super interesting development, but this week Illinois passed a new law that police cannot lie to juveniles / under 18s.

Talksonlaw
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Just happened to me kinda why I'm here said I was blamed by someone who didn't blame me and that I'd be given a ticket if nobody was found guilty

Nathan-nnsl
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So if it's under the right "circumstance", anyone can lie??

doreenwang
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Isn't this 21 Savage's Lawyer? Paid by Jay-Z?

delete
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Ok, so they can't lie to certain people. What's the penalty if they do? Is it the same as a regular private person, or something much less severe?

SirenaWF
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Cop tells me my headlights were out, my lights weren’t even out. Lying 🤥. I got my smog check yesterday. I know my lights arent out

jonathonmoores
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It's quite telling that this is not taught to everyone while they are in school. Surprising how many people willingly talk to detectives because they have been indoctrinated into believing police ALWAYS have your best interest in mind.

matthewhall
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So basically say "I Want my lawyer & shut up "?

Yardie
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Are they allowed to lie to you about your rights?

krs
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I guess there is agreement that investigations can utilize reasonable deception, but I think I read that cops cannot lie to you about being detained or arrested. There are other things cops commonly allege on the streets, like telling you you have to provide ID on demand, or the business about "obstructing" an investigation by not talking to them. Can you folks do a video on that?

robertsparling