Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
WCDT Strips 3311 - 3315 (Sept 19th - 24th)
Is it cold in here?:
So why is the investigation happening? Someone's sergeant yelled "Get your numbers up or I'll have your job"? Or is someone actually being taken advantage of?
The thought of a raid on a place with Bubbles in it leads to horror quickly.
Emperor Norton:
I think the never talk to police thing is a bit crazy. If they aren't interested in you, saying you won't talk without a lawyer is going to MAKE them interested in you, and in general, waste a lot of time and money. And if you have the money to spend on a lawyer just to be present whenever a cop wants to talk to you, you are in a whole different stratosphere of wealth than I am.
I answered a knock on my door the other day, and there was an officer outside. There were 4 police cars out on my street. Of course, my first thought is, well shit. Cause that looks bad. Before I can say anything, the guy tells me he is looking for someone, and if I've seen a specific man. He shows me a picture, and from the paperwork he was holding, it was an arrest warrant.
He wasn't on the lease for the home next to me, but he was known to be dating the resident there.
I told him what I knew, which wasn't much. Yes, I'd seen a man that could have been that man go into that house before, but I couldn't be sure. I don't know the neighbor on that side that well (she moved in less than a year ago and is not social). Yes, there is another car that is parked over there pretty often, but I can't remember the make, model, or even color at the moment. Sure, I'll call your tip line when someone is home so you can come ask them questions.
Quick 10 minute cordial conversation. Very nice fellow. And he was on his way, I called the tip line later when someone was home, and went about my business, never heard anything else about it.
Or I could spend a ton of time, make them suspicious of me, and spend a bunch of money to hire a lawyer I can't afford.
Hmmm. Tough choice.
(The difference in the comic being that that officer is interested in Faye. Yeah, she should get a lawyer).
Emperor Norton:
--- Quote from: Is it cold in here? on 19 Sep 2016, 21:06 ---You can get on the wrong side of the psychological line between good citizens and prey in absolutely no time flat. Once across that line you are stuck there.
http://blog.simplejustice.us/2014/02/18/falling-down-the-good-guy-curve/
There is no bottom to how you can get treated once that mental switch gets toggled.
https://blog.simplejustice.us/2015/09/29/not-even-motherhood-evokes-empathy/
I've got one of the decent police departments where I live but never take that for granted.
--- End quote ---
And asking for a lawyer when they have zero interest in you is going to put you on their radar SUPER fast.
hedgie:
--- Quote from: Emperor Norton on 19 Sep 2016, 20:43 --- And if you have the money to spend on a lawyer just to be present whenever a cop wants to talk to you, you are in a whole different stratosphere of wealth than I am.
--- End quote ---
Didn't use it much with cops, more like doctors who wanted to keep me in the institution, but dating one's sister was quite useful.
Morituri:
I have had generally cordial interactions with the police.
I did stand accused of a robbery once in college - I was at the place that was robbed on the night of the robbery, but neither did it nor saw it take place. They called me in for questioning, and I talked to the man, told him particulars about when and how everything I knew about had happened during that night, refused to take a polygraph test, did not consent to have my house or car searched, and went home.
The officer was convinced I was guilty, or at least told me he was when he was trying to get a confession, but my response was simply that I had told him the truth and whether he believed me or not I wasn't going to start lying now. I walked out of there because they had no evidence. The DA refused their search warrants on me for lack of probable cause, just as she should have, and a few days later the guy who had actually committed the robbery was caught committing another one. Things stolen in the first robbery were discovered in his car. I guess probable cause to search a vehicle isn't a problem when the guy takes it to the parking lot of a business he got caught trying to rob. Anyway he got convicted of both.
I spent half of the year before that being a bouncer at a somewhat rough bar in a different part of the state, and saw our local officers of the law several times during that year in the course of our respective jobs. Usually they had matter-of-fact questions and I had matter-of-fact answers. It was always completely professional. Sometimes "When was the last time you saw this guy and who was he with?" And sometimes "And what did this idiot do here before he went home and beat up his neighbor?" And so on.
Once we had to call them out. The kickers were playing 'Phil' with a trucker who was coming through, and there was going to be violence if the situation wasn't controlled. It was great how they handled it. Four guys in uniform came in, ordered a plate of wings and an onion tangle (complimentary of course because we LIKE having the police come in) and sat there at a table munching and shooting the breeze about nothing in particular and pretending to completely ignore the patrons. But the patrons didn't ignore them. The game of 'Phil' ended instantly when the police uniforms came in. The kickers trickled out in ones and twos over the next twenty minutes or so and the trucker went his way in peace. There was no violence, no arrests, and not even any hard feelings about it. We just had a laugh about it afterward.
I dunno. I figure it's different in different places, but so far in my life I've been fortunate to be in districts where the police are actually professionals who take justice and protecting the peace pretty seriously.
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