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11 Reasons Not To Talk To The Police - Mark Sullivan, Palm Springs Defense Attorney

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#1 ·
This has to do with people being stopped by police, just to end up talking themselves into a corner and giving up their rights, or admitting to doing something when they weren't.


11 Reasons Not To Talk To The Police

This article might just as well be entitled “You have the right to remain silent. Use it. Say Nothing.”
This doesn’t mean “Deny having committed the crime.” It means telling the police officer that your attorney has advised you not to answer any questions, and then saying nothing else to anybody until you talk to him or her.
Recently, I was giving this advice to a potential witness, and he said, “I’ll just tell them that I don’t know anything.” This is wrong. For one thing, he did know something, so this would have been a lie. I may have wanted that witness to testify at the trial. A competent prosecutor would have discredited the witness by showing that at one point, he’d told the police he didn’t know anything, and at trial he was trying to convince the jury that he did know something.


What If The Police Don’t Read You Your Rights?

You always have the right to remain silent. Do not be confused by the fact that sometimes, the police don’t read you your rights. Sometimes they are required to, and sometimes they’re not. But any time you are questioned by the police – whether you are under arrest, or only being detained, or you are just a witness – you always have the right to remain silent, even if the police don’t tell you so. Until or unless a judge from a court of competent jurisdiction orders you to answer questions, you have the right to remain silent. Use it. Just politely tell the police that your lawyer told you not to answer any questions. And understand that even if you’re not asked a question, the prosecution can and will use anything you say, even to a friend or family member. A client of mine asserted his right not to answer a police detective’s questions, but spontaneously asked whether he could get the death penalty. The court allowed his question to be used as evidence against him. Say nothing.
Read the rest of this Attorney's reasons for not talking to the police here: 11 Reasons Not To Talk To The Police Crime, Justice and America
 
#27 ·
X2

It really bugs me when I'm watching a show like Cops on TV and they do a routine traffic stop and ask the driver "where are you going?" or "where are you coming from?".

Personally... I'm an adult and I'm free to come and go as I please. If a cop pulls me over for speeding or a tail light out then fine... write me a ticket. Where I'm coming from or going to is none of their business.

Of course I don't ever recall a police officer actually asking me that during a traffic stop.... but I see it on Cops all the time. Maybe it's just done for the "show"....I dunno... but I always find myself thinking...that's really none of the cop's business for a routine traffic stop.


So if you guys are witness to a crime and the police ask to interview you about what you saw, you will choose to say nothing in fear that you could end up in jail yourself?

Witnessing a crime and being suspected of a crime are 2 different things.
 
#12 ·
In 1991 at Fort Lewis (in the original shall issue state) Washington, I was arrested because someone called my barracks and told the C.Q. that there was a bomb somewhere in the building, the battalion dispatch clerk (who didn’t like me) told CID that I did it. Up to this point this is the story of a fairly minor inconvenience. The cop that arrested me refused to tell me what I was being charged (remember that fact because its going to figure back into the story) W/. He also felt that it would be a good idea to make a public spectacle of me by dragging me through the barracks twice in handcuffs.

When I was taken to CID headquarters I was left alone in a room for about an hour still in cuffs. (This is probably when I developed my pathologic fear of being mechanically restrained in any way), then taken to an interrogation room where I was handcuffed to a chair. And then the fun really began. The investigating officer told me that he knew that I was innocent (remember this is the same guy who has now left me hand cuffed for going on three hours) and that I had an excellent service record. (I didn’t know it at the time but my military career ended that night) He then asked me to do him just a little favor, if I would confess to the crime (they still hadn’t told me exactly what I was being charged with.) it would really help him out. In return for my assistance he would release me to my battalion commander with a recommendation that I receive no punishment.

When I refused to confess to a crime that I hadn’t committed, the real interrogation started, I wasn’t physically mistreated. Unless you count the fact that I was handcuffed for a total of 4 hours (and this by a cop who had already told me he knew I was innocent)

When golden boy was done with the mind games he (while I was still cuffed to his chair, probably for my own safety) typed up a transcript of our interview. Oddly enough the part where he professed my innocence disappeared, and a section in which I made a full confession was magically added. When the confes- I mean transcript was handed to me I refused to sign it and finally had enough sense to tell the cop that I wasn’t saying another word until I spoke to a lawyer.

The near term end of the story is that a month or so later after taking two lie detector tests all charges (which I still hadn’t been informed of) were dropped.

Now I’ve drawn attention to the fact that they never told me what the (according to the cop) relatively minor charges they filed against me were, honestly once they were dropped I didn’t care… until I tried to get a security clearance in 2002 and found out that they had been attempting to get me to confess to communication of a terrorist threat against the United States during a time of war. The “relatively minor charge” was still on my record 11 years after all charges were dropped.

I will never , under any circumstance, consent to questioning W/ out a lawyer present ever again
 
#17 ·
Guys you talk about getting prison time and losing this and losing that are you guilty of something? If you have not committed a crime then you dont have to much to worry about.
Everyone has a story of I had a friend of a friends, third cousins, brother in law who did this......if you dont want to talk to the officer dont but if LE and the legal system in your area is so corrupt and injust that you are convicted without evidence of a crime because you had an interview with the police and answered their questions you have much bigger problems to deal with.
 
#22 ·
Originally Posted by tacman605
Guys you talk about getting prison time and losing this and losing that are you guilty of something? If you have not committed a crime then you dont have to much to worry about.
You might want to actually read what I posted I commited no crime. The cop told me he knew I'd committed no crime and I had a hell of a lot to worry about.
 
#23 ·
So if you guys are witness to a crime and the police ask to interview you about what you saw, you will choose to say nothing in fear that you could end up in jail yourself?
 
#26 ·
It depends. If there's even the SLIGHTEST possibility that I could be a suspect, I won't be doing ANY talking without benefit of counsel. There's ZERO benefit to talking without legal representation and INFINITE risk.
 
#24 ·
For those who assume that not comitting a crime makes one innocent, explain that to the many comvicted felons who are being released after 10, 20, 30 years in prison when DNA proves they were, in fact, innocent.

Lawyers, by profession, must be skilled speakers. If you don't think skilled speakers can convince a group of people that the speakers are right and you are wrong, look at the politicians who you believed and voted for!
 
#30 ·
You mean by the "Chicago Gullibility Project?"

All that bunch of criminal lovers prove, in a lot of their cases, is that the guy who held her down while his buddies gang-raped and murdered her didn't leave enough DNA on the scene to prove it.

Lots of those guys are in there for 'smother crimes. You know, everyone knows the guy is a thug, so they charge him with 'smother crimes just to get one to stick.

I've known a couple guys who were released through this, and both of them needed to stay in.
 
#28 ·
Like all blanket statements, we can argue this one ad nauseam.
I think it depends what you are interrogated for.
In my last 70 years, I have never been a suspect in a criminal case.
My worst encounter with the law has been speeding on my Harley.
Each time, so far, I voluntarily disclosed out of courtesy that I was carrying (not mandatory in Florida, and answered the Officer questions politely and calmly.
Except once, I was told to pay more attention and let go without a ticket and we discussed bikes and guns for a while.

Of course, were I involved in a SD shooting, I would certainly be polite but stick to the name, rank, s/n routine.

As for many human events it is all a matter of circumstances.
 
#32 ·
In my last 70 years, I have never been a suspect in a criminal case.
...that you know of.

Correct me if I'm mistaken, but I don't believe that police have any duty to tell you ANYTHING if you're not in custody. And if you are in custody, they have broad leeway to lie to you.

In the past, lots of people who didn't commit any crime, who were not arrested for a crime and who had no idea they were a "person of interest" had FBI files. I'm 100% certain that the number who have attracted (not necessarily through any illegal activity) the attention of local police is VASTLY larger. It just takes being involved in some political activity of which the police or the local power structure do not approve.
 
#33 ·
Mn2Go come on got to do better than that you want to say something come on.
 
#35 ·
Originally Posted by jfl
In my last 70 years, I have never been a suspect in a criminal case.

...that you know of.


Deanimator what has happened in your life that you are this paranoid and suspicious of the government? I think after 70 years on this earth the man would know if he was the suspect in a crime. I was an active LEO for 22 years from patrolman to Chief of Police and never maintained or saw files maintained of persons of interest in my jurisdiction or surounding jurisdictions because of who they were, or what political party they belonged to that in my opinion is absolute BS. Let me ask you this. Do you feel because of your activities or political affiliation you have an FBI file?

As far as making comments like this on the open carry board I am truly sorry that people have been stopped and questioned, disarmed or accused of a crime by an LEO that did not understand the laws regarding this type of carry. But what question is the cop gonna ask that you are so afraid to answer "Did you know you are carrying a gun?".

If for whatever reason you do not want to talk to the police during an investigation dont. Invoke your right to counsel and say nothing. Generally you are told that you are under arrest and what you are under arrest for or you have the right to leave. As has been stated over and over again there is nothing in the law that prevents the officer from lying to the suspect "We know you did it, we have a witness" but it goes back to my original statement if you are not guilty who cares what they say or ask that will make you confess to a crime you didnt commit. If they are going to charge you they will charge you whether you have counsel there or not.

The people getting released from prison are being released because science has advanced enough that evidence found then can be retested under new and better guidelines. They were convicted because science and technology at that time could not prove otherwise not because someone did not neccesarily(sp) tell lied at their trial.

We have got to apply common sense to some of this. If I know I am not guilty of a crime and I am questioned about it I will give a statement to the facts as I know them without the benifit of legal counsel. When and if the investigation turns accuseatory(sp) in nature I will stop and ask for an attorney that is common sense but to say that you will not answer any question without an attorney because you think you can get yourself in trouble for a crime that you did not commit, come on surely we as adults are smarter than that.
 
#36 ·
Deanimator what has happened in your life that you are this paranoid and suspicious of the government?
History "happened" in my life:

  • J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI campaign against Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
  • COINTELPRO
  • Ruby Ridge
  • Waco
  • institutionalized police torture in Chicago
  • the murder of Kathryn Johnston by the Atlanta PD and the attempted coverup
  • the murder of Michael Pleasance by the Chicago PD and the attempted coverup

Which of those things DIDN'T happen? We all know that's not even scratching the surface.

"Paranoia" is the term that some use to describe knowing inconvenient facts. What happened in your life to cause you to blindly trust the government?


I think after 70 years on this earth the man would know if he was the suspect in a crime.
How would he kNOW? Has he checked to see if his name appears in any law enforcement files? And again, you didn't answer the question. Are they required to TELL him if he's not in custody? If IN custody, are they required to tell him the truth?
 
#38 ·
Ok let me see if I can follow along and answer some of the statements you put up here.
I understand that history has occured in your life as it has occured in mine but I do not have the same outlook of the government is out to get me as you but that is your right to feel that way. I am not saying have blind trust in anything except god but use your common sense.
There is a difference between brought in for questioning and being charged. If you are not charged with a crime you are free to go you dont have to cooperate with a damn thing. If you are charged you have to be told what you are charged with and taken before a judge and bond set period.
As stated over and over. During the course of an investigation the officer may make statements or ask questions that are not true to induce the suspect to confese or cooperate, This does not mean he can say you are charged with a murder you did not commit without evidence for s**ts and giggles.
If you have a specific case that you are talking about that shows a convicted felon was released because they now have the ability to prove someone lied in their testimony and not because of modern science would like to read it.
Richard Jewel was a hero, a suspect, a person of interest, a hero again, and then sued the media for convicting him in the press. In a large case like that it is gonna happen but I see the government playing a smaller role than the media did in all of it but again we have different opinions on the matter.
Waco and Ruby Ridge were incidents of the government overstepping their authority on a grand scale and since I lived in Naples, Idaho for a period of time and my father was a friend of Randy and Vicki Weaver those I will consede to you.
Now since I have answered your question answer mine. Do you feel because of your activities or your polictical affiliations that somone has a file on you?
Deanimator I think you and I have had similar discussions on here in the past. Not trying to start a war. No matter what I say it will not aleve your fears and suspicion of the government nor will your stated fears and suspicion be transferred to me. We will just have to agree to disagree.
 
#39 ·
Do you feel because of your activities or your polictical affiliations that somone has a file on you?
I certainly can't rule it out. I once wrote an email to the Clinton White House regarding the racist motivations of gun control. Nothing threatening, but Bill doesn't take well to criticism. I've never bothered to check.

Of course according to the current head of DHS, since I'm pro-gun, pro-Constitution, and a veteran, I'm a potential "domestic terrorist".

I guarantee you, my local police department knows my name, because I've called to report potential crimes twice and once wrote to complain about a cop making impotent threats based on a gross misstatement of Ohio law.
 
#40 ·
LOL well Deanimator you just made a new friend. You should have told me you wrote to Bill in the White house. We got that SOB out of Arkansas and gave him to the world.
As far as the PD having a file probably not, now knowing your name, "Oh hell its him calling again" dont let it bother you maybe it will keep them on their toes.
I have read some articles from some Ohio newspapers which have allowed me to understand a little better some of your feelings. In one article the columnist explained how the disarmament of society would work. In another the paper expressed views of how "alledged" armed criminals were killed in the act of committing a felony and that was a bad thing? Dont remember the name of the paper but with articles like that floating around can see where some of this is coming from.
We will just have to agree to disagree brother but I will tell you this I will fight to my dying breath to give you the right to say and do what you want.
 
#42 ·
No longrider learned that by living CSI and Law and Order thank you very much but you continue to watch those shows and you might learn something.

Look talk to the cops or not dont care. If I am charged with a crime I will have an attorney, in day to day dealing with the police, government or those guys whatever you want to call them I will continue to cooperate to the best of my ability.
The AIM movement come on even Deanimator added some from this decade.
 
#43 ·
No longrider learned that by living CSI and Law and Order thank you very much but you continue to watch those shows and you might learn something.
Apparently a pretty sheltered life. My life experience is vastly different. Innocence is irrelevant in a criminal investgation. I don't watch TV. Sad to see that you think it is a viable source of information.

Look talk to the cops or not dont care. If I am charged with a crime I will have an attorney.
Thats a direct contradiction to what you implied previously. Why the change when according to you
if you have not committed a crime then you dont have to much to worry about.
So which is it? As I said being innocent can cost you tens of thousands of dollars contrary to what you seem to think

The AIM movement come on even Deanimator added some from this decade.
As my relatives are still dead and wrongfully imprisoned you'll have to excuse that I think is current
 
#44 ·
tacman605, just because someone is paranoid doesn't mean there isn't someone out to get them.

Would trust your freedom to police officers from a fine upstanding organization such as the New Orleans PD?

And I know of LEOs so incompetent that they shouldn't be crossing guards.

There is a reason the Founding Fathers put the 4th and 5th Amendments in the Constitution.
 
#45 ·
Longrider I have not contradicted anything I have said:

From Post #35

"If I know I am not guilty of a crime and I am questioned about it I will give a statement to the facts as I know them without the benifit of legal counsel. When and if the investigation turns accuseatory(sp) in nature I will stop and ask for an attorney that is common sense"
There is a big difference between being questioned about an incident and being charged with a crime. If you are indeed CHARGED WITH A CRIME by all means get an attorney again that is common sense.
Yep I guess my life as a cop for 22 years was sheltered. I never arrested anyone who did not commit a crime nor had to lie, cheat or plant evidence to get a conviction.
AutoFan you are absolutely right I to know cops who had no business being cops but they did not work for me or would I let them work with me on any cases but it is the same in all walks of life from teachers to insurance salesman it is what makes the world go round. I am sure there are good and bad cops on the NOPD but dont know any would I trust them dont know but I would use the common sense that god gave me and what I have learned in life to make an informed decision about what to do.
As has already been stated this can be argued to death if you dont want to talk to an LEO no matter what with an attorney great go for it, if you want to confess to killing JFK do whatever floats your boat each one of us has different knowledge and opinions on every matter and will handle different circumstances in different ways.
LongRider if you feel your relatives were illegally prosecuted and inprisoned fight for them help them all you can, if they can prove their innocence and get out then sue the government for all they are worth. For those that died in the battles it is a great loss to your family and a nation then get an attorney and seek justice for those responsible.
 
#46 ·
In the service I was a loner spending an inordinate amount of time in my room alone reading and listening to records while my roommate partied. Most of those I worked with knew this as they partied with my roommate. Comments while working spread this to the NCO I worked for. So one evening I get a call from the MP office asking me to come down to the office. I worked on some of the guys cars so just thought it was something like that.

When I get there, 2 detectives from the city were waiting and took me into an interrogation room. They told me the wife of the NCO I worked for filed charges for some sexual thing and picked me out of the enlisted book. This crime was enough to put me in prison if it had been true. And of course being alone in my room would not be an alibi to them. They clearly believed they solved the case and that's when I told them what I did ......

Only by the grace of God did I choose that specific day and that specific time to visit some parent type friends who were well known in the city. I didn't hang out there but would see them now and them. The detectives were pissed and called the person to confirm it. Now they were REALLY pissed and asked me what I was doing there. But they had to release me.

I don't tell this story often because my life would have been entirely different had I not visited my friends that day. And this is exactly my point here.

Police do not always look at all possibilities when processing a crime. They stopped dead when I was picked out of the book. BTW, I have never met the NCO's wife, ever. People say sometimes they just make a mistake which I'll agree is probably the case here. However their "mistake" would have ruined my adult life, not theirs, not the victim's, just mine.

I respect LEOs as anybody reading my posts know. My concern is not them stopping me for a ticket, but being "chosen" as the perfect fit for a crime solution. It the justice system that scares me to death!!! That and the conviction scoring I see going on. It's a bad thing if the guy the police put to trial is found innocent. What did they do wrong, what did they not find to get the conviction? The scorecard in their files.

At one time the DA was sworn to discover the truth, but now they run for reelection on their conviction rates. Of course the cops involved are not favored by the DA when he loses a case. So you have good cops gone bad trying to keep up. Case in point is the Division (name?) in LA that was found to have a huge conspiracy to plant evidence to get the score.

Funny that came out not too long after Simpson was found innocent. As one who watched 90% of that actual trial, I agree with the verdict. There was evidence tampering, impossible claims made (which could not be substantiated) and wild assumptions by the prosecutor team that did more to prove he could not have done it than did. But when you heard the evening news, the lies about what was said in court made me sick.

So, I'll stop here with simply I do not trust my life with any part of the justice system. My strategy is to behave and stay out of their way. I drive very carefully and don't lose my temper, speaking well of everybody (easy because I like most people).

Will I answer questions by police? Some, but very carefully, telling them the basics as I recall them, and without lying. If they want to dig much I'll tell them of my training not to discuss and at that point politely and regretfully decline to answer further questions.
 
#47 ·
Funny that came out not too long after Simpson was found innocent. As one who watched 90% of that actual trial, I agree with the verdict. There was evidence tampering, impossible claims made (which could not be substantiated) and wild assumptions by the prosecutor team that did more to prove he could not have done it than did. But when you heard the evening news, the lies about what was said in court made me sick.
Oh boy, derail coming....

It is entirely correct to say that the prosecution's performance was incompetent at best and negligent at worst. But despite that, there is no sane way that anyone can conclude that Simpson didn't kill those two people. That's moon landing hoax stuff.
 
#48 ·
Old Lincoln, sorry you went through that. You talked to the investigators, gave a statement, told the truth and gave the facts as you knew them, they found you were telling the truth and let you go, you used your common sense.
Yeah they may have been pissed but not because you were innocent, maybe because they now know the woman lied or was mistaken in her identification of you and they now have to start over.
As far as OJ goes no one will ever know what happened, it was legal manuevering at its finest, in the criminal portion anyways. In the civil portion where a lot of the legal mumbo jumbo is not allowed he was found guilty and lost everything.
 
#49 ·
I was out running last night and had an epiphany:

How many folks on here advocating against talking to the police are outraged in other threads that families would shelter a murder suspect?

Rather than isolate myself from LEOs, I make it my business to appropriately engage them. Of course, I have an unfair advantage: I do a job that most LEOs identify with, and think is "cool" so they don't see me as some wannabe wanting to "see their gun".

I actually socialize with LEOs, shoot with them on the range and occasionally enjoy their company. Frankly, I think folks here are wearing the tinfoil hat "extra tight" and blowing isolated incidents out of proportion, to suit their agendas.
 
#50 ·
Rather than isolate myself from LEOs, I make it my business to appropriately engage them. Of course, I have an unfair advantage: I do a job that most LEOs identify with, and think is "cool" so they don't see me as some wannabe wanting to "see their gun".
I don't want to be a cop. I don't want to hang around with cops. I frequently see them say things which, to put it mildly, I find distasteful and which would cause me to avoid anyone else who said them.

I actually socialize with LEOs, shoot with them on the range and occasionally enjoy their company. Frankly, I think folks here are wearing the tinfoil hat "extra tight" and blowing isolated incidents out of proportion, to suit their agendas.
I have no desire to socialize with the police or to have any unnecessary contact with them. That's why I go out of my way to know and obey the law. It minimizes my contacts with them.

I don't want to be "buddies" with the police. I just want for BOTH of us to know and obey the law. I have no expectations beyond that.
 
#52 ·
OK, enough is enough. This very topic has been hashed out over and over again, with several threads dedicated to the debate. It always ends badly, I'm closing this one. If you want to read more debate on this topic :search: There is more to read than most of us have time for already anyway.
 
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