Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT

WCDT Strips 3311 - 3315 (Sept 19th - 24th)

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Is it cold in here?:
One ex-cop suggests rehearsing in front of a mirror a friendly and non-confrontational phrase like "I'd like to answer your questions, Officer, but my attorneys have always insisted they be present if I talk to law enforcement".

"You're not in trouble" is of course exactly what an investigator would say if trying to trap you into saying something incriminating.

EDIT: Answering oddtail, if you want to be a cooperative citizen you can do it through an attorney.

oddtail:

--- Quote from: Is it cold in here? on 18 Sep 2016, 23:34 ---EDIT: Answering oddtail, if you want to be a cooperative citizen you can do it through an attorney.

--- End quote ---

Which adds a layer of complication, wastes the policemen's time, and costs either public money, or the money out of the pocket of the person hiring an attorney...

jheartney:
I'd imagine it works the same way in any western country, though not all of them may have the functional equivalent to the fifth amendment.

Faye's next words should be "I have no statement to make." Then, "Am I free to go?" If the officer has probable cause, Faye may be arrested. But there is no way she will help herself by making any statement of any kind to the officer, particularly in an informal setting.

Of course, that would make for a boring story, so I don't expect it to happen.

Near Lurker:
The advice comes from two good things and one bad thing:

1. We take self-incrimination more seriously than most countries.
2. Hearsay is inadmissible in most circumstances.  (I think this one's true in most of the world.)
3. Our police are fucking lunatics.

In most of the world, you might have trouble relying on a fact that you didn't give to the police right off the bat, but here, that can't be used against you.  What's more, any such fact can't be used to help your case, since that would be hearsay.  So if you're innocent, it would be at best harmless to talk to police, but that's where (3) comes into play.  Remember, one in every hundred Americans are in prison right this second, and that's not counting those who have been released, and will soon be, if not back, illicitly employed in one way or another because they'll never have a "real job" again.  What's more, the "Reid technique" (basically, making you feel guiltier about letting the police down than committing the crime) is legal in the US, which has been shown to not only get false confessions, but convince people who could not possibly have committed a particular crime that they have.

The police will not help you, unless your goal is to have someone else arrested and/or shot.  Wait until you're talking to the DA.

jheartney:
I don't know that U.S. police are uniquely bad; see the Amanda Knox case for horrifically bad policing (plus even more horrific prosecutorial misconduct) in western Europe.

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