Kamakazie Sith wrote:I'm curious about something, Alferd. You recommend that people "shut the fuck up" when dealing with police and then provide an example. What I'm curious about is your example does not involve anyone talking to the police. If Fenix was face to face with this deputy he could have sat there silently and he still would have had any large sums of money confiscated simply because the deputy conducted an illegal stop, conducted an illegal search, and then illegally seized the money without probable cause that it was profit from a crime. So, how would remaining silent make any difference at all?
Civil forfeiture is legal, to varying degrees of permissiveness, in 37 states. If a deputy has a bug up his ass and decides to seize your stuff, it is better to keep silent because he cannot then later say that you gave him permission to search your vehicle or person, depending upon the justification he requires to seize your assets. Well, he can say it, but your lawyer can later, in court, put forth the claim that you never said anything of the sort, because you never said anything.
Let me add this, then: remaining silent doesn't help you at the time of the incident, it only doesn't hurt you. Waiving that right by speaking only hurts you. Even if you are perfectly reasonable, eloquent, compliant, and polite, you can at any time royally fuck yourself by misspeaking once. Take Fenix's example. He joked with the cop and it turned out fine. What happens if the cop is more suspicious of Fenix? He could very well be arrested for for the robbery. And when his day in court arrives, the prosecuting attorney puts the cop on the stand, and something like this happens:
DA: "Officer Cop, when you stopped the defendant's vehicle, was there anything he said or did that made you suspicious?"
Cop: "As a matter of fact, yes. When I mentioned the beer robbery, I never mentioned what kind of beer was stolen. The defendant said--correctly--that Bud Light was stolen. And I wondered how he knew that."
And the more Fenix's attorney protests that it was just a lucky guess, the less credible he seems. A simple remark has brought Fenix that much closer to being convicted of crime he did not commit.
Of course, the above is most assuredly a worst-case scenario, but that doesn't mean it cannot or has not happened. The cop doesn't need to be a dick, or malicious, or abuse his power. He could honestly believe that, because of something Fenix said, he was the guy that knocked over that convenience store.
"There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance--that principle is contempt prior to investigation." -Herbert Spencer
"Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain." - Schiller, Die Jungfrau von Orleans, III vi.
What color's the taxi? Because they must've been really plastered if it was a yellow one.