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Comment by kenjackson | Hacker News Reader

I find that absurd. How can giving the police information that can exonerate you always be a bad idea? It seems like people have entered this weird behavior where they follow guidance blindly.

EDIT: And after watching some of the video the presenter seems to be making the case that you should never interact with the police. And maybe even moreso -- maybe never communicate at all w/o your lawyer since there are laws you may be breaking at any point in time that you may not realize.

If prosecution doesn't care about the truth, and the police happily will comopletely fabricate out of thin air, and you regularly break laws you aren't even aware of -- it seems like talking to police is a relatively small problem.

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Police are trained to get you to incriminate yourself. They will twist your words of innocence into evidence of guilt, i.e., you say, "I went to the kitchen for a knife so he could cut his steak.", but the police write down, "suspect went to kitchen to grab knife."

Despite what popular culture teaches us, the truth isn't going to come out because crack team of investigators using DNA and cool tech to magically solve a case. The police are going to pick an easy target to pin everything on, and trick them into giving enough information for the prosecution to strong arm a plea deal.

It's not about justice, it's about solving cases with the lowest possible effort.

> The police are going to pick an easy target to pin everything on, and trick them into giving enough information for the prosecution to strong arm a plea deal.

Isn't that effectively Occam's Razor [1]? The guy with the worst defense should be the culprit.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam%27s_razor

Just because you're telling the truth doesn't mean that they'll present it to the court in a way that makes it seem like the truth. If they want to convict you, witnesses will show up pinning you to the crime. That, or they'll use "interrogation" tactics to get you to "confess" when you're innocent. It's mindgames to close the case early. The U.S. has a worrying amount of wrongful convictions, for many reasons.

To sum it up: never speak to police without a lawyer.

The problem with this and the video provided above is if the police are going to just completely fabricate statements you make then they can also fabricate that you decided to speak to them and confess.

Knowing several officers, including some id never want to run across as part of their job, I do think they are far more likely to fabricate something that corroborates what they actually believe to be true.

That is if they come by and ask you what you saw the night your neighbors house was broken into and your response is “I’d like to talk to my lawyer”, seems like you just bought yourself a whole lot of headache for probably no good reason.

A headache now is better than a prison sentence later.

Being raised where I was I've probably interacted with the police 50x in my life. Usually things just like that, "did you see the guy in the car?" or "do you know where they live?". I've never once been to jail or even been asked to go to the police station. But I do know quite a few people hauled in for refusing to say anything. Not sure it was legal, but I feel like most police simply aren't trying to just grab random people around a crime to bring in (and I was taught to run if you see police, but that also just seemed counterproductive to me). And if they've decided that you're the guy they want to bring in, good luck with "talk to my lawyer". It sounds like they'll just make up your narrative for you. That is, it seems almost more likely that this is going to invite attention and likelihood of prison time.

"I did not commit the crime" is a pointless statement even if you repeat it a hundred times. No one is going to believe you. It can't be brought up in court. It is hearsay.

"I committed the crime" on the other hand is an instant confession and conviction.

So the best advice is always – keep your mouth shut.

Because if your memory is jumpy or you're tired, and you make a mistake, especially on location or temporality, they will absolutely use it against you (especially if you fit the profile they have in mind) and kill you for it (literally in some US states). Never talk to the police without a lawyer.

My father ended up a night in jail because he gave in good faith poor information (that they still used). Don't talk to the police. Even if you're white: as long as you're not in a suit, don't do it.

If you’re going to make the claim it was an accident, it’s best you do that through a lawyer negotiating on your behalf, or in court - not in an interrogation room full of people who believe it was malice and will leap on any misspoken words to paint you as a murderer. If you’re being accused of multiple homicide, you better bet you shouldn’t just start volunteering random information that you /think/ will exonerate you.

parent comment roughly paraphrased the advice... the core advice is to never speak to police WITHOUT YOUR LAWYER present.

Certainly providing the menu that might exonerate you is probably fine -- but that's what a lawyer is for.

Did you watch the video? It’s explained in the video.

The police can’t exonerate you

Learn about the concept of hearsay...

> It seems like people have entered this weird behavior where they follow guidance blindly.

And people watch too many police procedurals (tv shows). The cop you're talking to only has one job: gather evidence. It's not his job to determine your guilt or innocence or whether the evidence rises to the level where the DA will file charges. Telling him something that can exonerate you does nothing for you. Your lawyer needs to make sure that evidence is available to the DA (if you want to avoid charges being filed) or the jury, if it gets that far.

> How can giving the police information that can exonerate you always be a bad idea?

Hearsay. If you hear somebody say they committed a crime, it's not the same as witnessing them commit the crime. Hearsay is generally inadmissible as evidence. It goes the same way with what you told the police. The cop you're talking to hasn't witnessed anything. He can only repeat what you've said, which is inadmissible.

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