Taken without permission from http://home.beseen.com/cultures/logicinfo/polframe.html Disclaimer I write this to you, not to excuse you from all guilt associated with crime. I only wish that people not be run over by the cold wheels of justice. I do not believe that our justice system is fair or that it rehabilitates people. Have you ever seen that section on a job application, asking if you are a convicted felon? "Felon" is a life-long label. Getting tough on crime is putting a huge chunk of the populace in jail. Getting tough on crime means more juveniles are going to get tougher sentences. They claim what they do is to protect our children. The war on drugs is putting the dime bag weed dealers (our children) away by the hundreds. How many times have you heard a coworker or a teacher tell you they lived foul once? Nine times out of ten, the only reason they have a job and a life is the simple reason; they weren't caught. How is it there are productive members of society who have committed crimes? Many people can stop being thieves, dealers, etc. on their own. Perpetrating crimes has almost become a phase of growing up. I don't want to defend it, but I've been there. No amount of preaching from me is going to change you. So, until you reach the point where living foul is in the past; you may as well learn to deal with the police. I have been questioned by the police far too often, and at times I have had company in my misery. Someone who was once so calm and self assured can become a sniveling, repentant do-gooder under the watchful gaze of a police officer. Their cries of guilt echo off the very stars as they do everything in their power to receive the maximum penalty the law can provide. They want their authority figures to smile upon them, put a bloody rainbow sticker on their hand, and let them off with a warning. Fat chance! When one is questioned by the police, there are a few things one should know. The police are going to do everything they can to get an arrest if a crime was committed. They will try to do as much work as they can to provide proof positive that the perpetrator of the crime actually committed the crime. This includes threats of violence to uncooperative "scum bags", perhaps even violence, and outright lies. If someone happens to be with a group of people, they will all be separated and questioned. They will all be told that their friends have blamed it all on them. They will look for differences in stories, and for the weakest willed in the group. They will bring their impressive arsenal of psychological interrogation tactics to bear. But, keep this in mind; no matter how different the stories, no matter how outrageous the lies, if no one actually breaks down and confesses, they will need physical evidence, eye witnesses, or a frame to press any charges. If the police do not know much of what happened, they use a lot of vague language in their questioning. "Look, we already know what happened. All we want is for you is to come clean. If you did it, well, just own up to it. If you are straight with us, we'll be straight with you." All they want is to book you. They will not be straight with you if they think they can get you to play yourself. All their crap about straight talk truth is what they were taught to get confessions. They do not necessarily hold themselves to being truthful with you. It would blow you away to know how many people have thrown their lives away so they could have a cop be straight with them. In the grand scheme of your life, does it really matter if that cop thinks you lied to him \ her. By all means lie your arse off. Play dumb as you competently can. "Do you expect me to believe that?" "Yes." I looked through a manual on police interrogation tactics. They had charts that graphed out when a suspect was most likely to break down. They had examples of what an honest person would say, as opposed to the perp. Essentially the honest person will say things to the effect of: I am inconvenienced by this, I am indignant, I hope you catch the person who forced me to have to go through this. "Do you think I'm an idiot.?" "I don't know if your an idiot or a genius. Good cop \ bad cop The good cop-bad cop ploy. Most cops will pull this played out crap on you. One cop plays the mean bully who wants to feed your constitutional rights to you along with your genitalia. The other cop plays the good guy. He treats the mean one as a force of nature. He doesn't know how long he can hold him back, you'd better just implicate yourself and all your friends. "C'mon, I'm a good guy, I've been straight with you, let me see you to the pen." Think of the good cop as Judas. The bad cop gets to be himself. Remain silent The whole purpose of the cops even bothering to question you, no matter how sure they are of your guilt, is to obtain a confession or rat from you. Anything you say after they have read you your Miranda rights is legal evidence, "will be used against you in a court of law". The moment you hear, "You have the right to remain silent." You should shut the ell up. It doesn't necessarily mean that you are under arrest, they could just be questioning you. It is always best to ask. "Am I under arrest?" If you are not under arrest, the cops don't have enough evidence to charge you. This is when your right to remain silent is the most precious. If you are under arrest, they are going to charge you with something. If I were you, I would want to know what those charges are. Ask, "What am I being charged with?" It could be something totally unrelated to what you have actually done, disorderly conduct for being loud, littering, jay walking. Magic phrase You want to hear the magic phrase that can end all the harassment and questions? It is illegal for them to continue questioning you after you have invoked the magic phrase. Pay attention, "I want to speak to a lawyer." It is just as easy as that. Another magic phrase that works just as well is, "I don't want to answer any questions." This will doubtless piss them off. If you're in a group, and there is something the cops will probably get out of your friends, then before they separate you, yell. "Ask for a lawyer, they can't question you!" They'll tell you to shut up, but it is a matter of survival. You may get hit, but make sure your friends hear you. What should you say? The first thing the police will want to know is your name, address, and birthday. These items of information should appear to be given freely. If you know you have warrants out for your arrest, and the crime is minor; assault, shoplifting, possession, something like that, you should have an alias prepared. It only works when you don't have identification on you, and when you have the alias completely memorized. If you are over 18, you are supposed to have some ID on you. If you have been stopped in a car registered to you, the alias won't work. If you don't need the alias, don't use it. Don't use one around friends, but if you do, keep the same first name. Your friends could become your worst enemies by calling you by your name. What shouldn't you say? The police may ask you where you are coming from. If you have not allowed them to search you or your vehicle, they need suspicion to get a warrant. If you tell them where you are coming from, they may claim they were suspicious because of crimes committed by people coming from that area. Tell them where you came from, and they will search. Police legally need permission to search, or a warrant. Don't give permission. I stood outside a car for two hours in the cold without a jacket, because a girl ratted two friends of hers out for smoking a joint. They got permission to search the car. They found one seed. There have been many cases of cops abusing authority and searching anyway, but the crap they may find is useless to convict. If a cop wants in to your house, apartment, dorm room, or one that belongs to someone else, talk to them outside. "I need some air, let's talk out here." Never allow a cop to walk off with your property. They need permission for that too, unless they have a warrant. Pissing cops off One of the greatest temptations in life is to talk smack to the cops. Here are a few reasons it would be in your best interest to choke all those clever come-backs down. If there are no witnesses, the cop may very well just beat you down. Cops have a code of silence that almost all of them follow. They hate rats in their own ranks. What I am saying is, other cops don't count as witnesses. They are unlikely to kill you. I know that this is no reassurance, but it is the truth. They like to use mace, tasers, and night sticks. K-9 police may just let their hell hounds have at you. You may see that cop again. Cops get around, and if you are a habitual criminal then you're pretty much bound to have multiple run-ins with the police. Cops make terrible enemies. They carry guns. They are trained in how to take people down. They are under a lot of stress. They know how to get away with everything. Cops are human beings. They have dangerous jobs, and help people when they can. Most police don't live past 40, and they deal with a lot of disrespect. The fuzz may be in your face and hating you, but they could just as easily be saving your life. Run. If the crime you have committed is serious enough and you are not visibly armed, run. They cannot shoot you unless you are waving around a weapon. Cops have made mistakes and shot unarmed people before, but if you have nothing in your hands, chances are, you'll live. This is a last resort. Only do it if you are convinced you have been caught. If they let loose the dogs, you're pretty much assed out. The only way to get one of those dogs off you is to kill or incapacitate the dog. If you are armed, drop the weapon and run. If the cops have a record of your fingerprints, it is only a matter of time, if you weren't wearing gloves. Groups should separate. Try to make it hard for the cops to catch everyone. The attitude Stay calm. It takes a calm person to be able to rationally deal with a police situation. Try to calm down, if you are scared, they will see it. It may not matter what they see if you don't play yourself. Be an idiot. When in doubt, play dumb. If you are going to go through questioning (which I advise against), be an idiot. A kid bought a stolen gun on the black market, and was busted with it on him. He handled the situation beautifully. His story was that he bought it from some dude at a party. Never met the dude before, couldn't remember his name. Bought the gun cause, check this, he thought it was cool. Be respectful. Don't be blatant about it, but just treat them as if you empathize with them. You see where they are coming from. An "officer" here, a "sir" there never hurt anyone. Do what they tell you (except play yourself and \ or others). Don't piss them off. If they seem the talkative type, talk about something inane; the weather, your shoes, anything, just keep it shallow. Think before you speak. Cops play word games, not as well as lawyers, but anything to get you to play yourself. They may ask you complex questions; questions that assume your guilt. "When you broke into that car, did you take anything?" If you answer no, they will act if you just told them you broke into the car. They will try to confuse you, anything to add to your stress. The more stress they can put you under, the more likely you will be to play yourself. Remember the details Your story, should you choose to make one up, will contain details that you make up on the fly. I advise forgoing this altogether, but no one listens to me. Remember the lies you make up, fake names, fake addresses, whatever. They write it all down so they can remember to try to trip you up later. Memorize that crap, soon as you say it. It is hard to do, so just say you want a lawyer. Cops try to keep you off balance; they try to intimidate and confuse you. They do it all day long. Don't lie when you don't need to. It only makes your story harder to keep track of. It is easier to deal with the cops if they think you are being truthful. Interrogation Interrogation at the police station is no different than in the street. You still have the right to remain silent. You can still invoke the, "I want a lawyer," magic phrase. In the interrogation room, the cop's chair is comfortable, yours is not. You are on video, and everything you say is picked up by hidden microphones. The whole point of interrogation is to get a written, signed confession from you. The book I read on interrogation had one paragraph written about people who refuse to be questioned. The author wrote that these people are unavoidable, and thankfully there are very few of them. The interrogator may decide to bluff you. The interrogator may make a great show, to the point of having it planned and timed. Another cop comes in, hands the interrogator a file, and says, "Quit wasting your time, we got him cold." The interrogator will look it over, sigh, cock his head, furrow his brow, gather his papers. "Yep, you're right." Don't fall for it. Don't talk. Drugs If you are caught with drugs, and \ or paraphernalia on you or in your house, you had better pray you don't have it separated into sellable portions. Up to a pound of weed can be claimed as personal consumption. I don't really know the amounts of other drugs where you can legally claim personal consumption. Go ahead and claim personal consumption. Never, never, never say you deal. If you have your, shall we say acid, broken up into separated tabs and individually wrapped, you are in a world of trouble. All those years in the pen, just cause you wanted to save a little time. Don't carry a scale on you. If you do, say it is so people can't skimp you when you buy. You don't know where you got the drugs from. Play dumb. Ask about treatment options if things start to look bad. They like that. Cops see junkies on the hard stuff all the time. They know intimately what drugs can do to a person. If you are busted, getting treatment looks good to the judge. It could also be something that helps you out in the long run. If you at any time suspect you are dealing to a narc, in front of witnesses, ask, "Are you a member of or affiliated with any law enforcement agency." If they are a narc and answer no, they have entrapped you if they bust you. Remember the witnesses and you'll get off. They mark the money, or have the serial numbers written down. The cops follow close behind, and if they catch you with the money, you are busted. Stealing Many times, when a person is caught stealing, there are multiple charges to deal with. If the item is government owned, the charge will be larceny. If you trespassed to reach the item, you will be charged with trespassing. If you broke in to a car, store, house, etc.; you will be charged with breaking and entering \ burglary. The value of the item stolen also comes into play; grand theft ($1000 or more). This potpourri of charges means that the prosecution could put a person away for more years than it would take for your life to end. If you are going to steal, then you should be aware of a few things. Breaking into places is very risky. If caught, you face felony charges; time. Gloves should be worn and discarded after use. If anything seems wrong; you hear people, sirens, anything... leave. Do not arm yourself, armed robbery is a serious offense. One of a kind or rare items, items with serial numbers (guns, cars) are easily traced. If there is any reason you would be a suspect in the crime, don't keep the loot in your house. Sell to people you know or through people you know. Be paranoid. If questioned play dumb, and \ or ask for a lawyer. Drive-bys If you do drive-bys, then you should wipe all this information out of your brain. Shoot yourself in the head. Play yourself and get arrested. I can deal with hand to hand fighting, weapons, all that. But you drive by fools are such lice; I hope you drown in your own vomit. I understand you all too well. Sorry This is a bit on the incomplete side. I am open to any and all suggestions. I'm sure all of you have your own bits of wisdom and stories to contribute, so, by all means, do so.