Comment by x0054 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by x0054 | Hacker News Reader

Here is what you need to do if you are ever in this situation:

1. Ask "Am I under arrest?" 2. If the answer is anything other than "Yes" ask "Can I leave now?" 3. If the answer is anything other than "No," get up and leave! Don't ask for permission, don't say another word. Just leave. If anyone tries to stop you, say "Unless I am under arrest, I am going to leave NOW. If you prevent me from leaving than I am assuming I am under arrest. If so, please read me my miranda rights right now."

If they read you your rights, ask for a lawyer. Specifically say "I want to speak to a lawyer and I chose to remain silent and not answer any questions until I speak to a lawyer." If the cop tells you that your lawyer is on his/her way and then continues to talk to you, you should say "I see you continue to talk to me, I am going to assume that you are trying to elicit statements from me after I invoked my rights. I am going to relay this information to my lawyer."

If you are innocent, you have NOTHING to gain from talking to a cop. If you are guilty, you WILL hurt your case every time.

UPDATE: Spelling

It's quite true. My father is a lawyer, and the first thing I remember learning, even before "don't talk to strangers" was "never talk to police". After that it was "get everything in writing" and "act as if everyone is carrying a tape recorder", but that's neither here nor there.

I don't have "a lawyer" on call - won't they provide me with a shitty one?

Most public defenders (I only worked with San Diego and LA once) are pretty good, though overworked. Public defender positions in San Diego especially are very competitive, and you often get top notch lawyers. Federal Defender positions are VERY competitive, and you often get top graduates from prestigious law schools. This may not be true everywhere, I only practiced law in South California.

In any case, even a shitty attorney knows how to say "my client has no comments." But, a far more important question to ask is "Am I under arrest?" If the answer is anything other then "Yes," be nice, say goodbye, and walk away. Most people do not realize that they have this right. In most cases cops do not have the evidence sufficient to arrest you, but they will make you think you are under arrest, so they can fish out some "probable cause" out of you. You don't have the right to an attorney unless you are under arrest. This is why they will often also tell you that they are "just talking" because as long as they are "just talking" they do not have to provide you with a lawyer.

You will NEVER get a straight answer to the question "Am I under arrest?" Just listen to what they say, unless the very first word from their mouth is "YES", assume the answer is NO. They will say things like "we are just talking" or "you could be if you do not cooperate", or "we want to hear your side of the story before we decide to arrest you." All those answers translate to "we don't have the evidence to arrest you, but we would like to talk to you until you slip up, and we find an excuse to arrest you."

Do you even know what you're talking about? Miranda rights are for interrogations.

I agree with your advice, but I think in this case they would have arrested him. It's definitely a rock and hard place situation.

My guess is they would have held on to his Google Glass, verified that no movies were recorded, and returned it to him. They would not be able to arrest him without evidence. Could they falsify some evidence, like claiming that a "witness" saw him record the movie, for sure. But would they? Probably not. Some cops are dicks, but most are honest.

Cooperating with the police may engender good will.

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