As a 33-year law enforcement veteran and former training commander with the Maryland State Police and Baltimore Police Department, I know how easy it is to intimidate citizens into answering incriminating questions or letting me search through their belongings. This reality might make things easier for police looking to make an easy arrest, but it doesn't always serve the interests of justice. That's why I believe all citizens should understand how to protect their constitutional rights and make smart decisions when dealing with officers of the law.
Unfortunately, this important information has remained largely unavailable to the public, despite growing concerns about police misconduct and the excesses of the war on drugs. For this reason, I agreed to serve as a technical consultant for the important new film, 10 Rules for Dealing with Police. The 40-minute docudrama aims to educate the public about basic legal and practical survival strategies for handling even the scariest police encounters. It was produced by the civil liberties group Flex Your Rights and is narrated by former federal judge and acclaimed Baltimore trial lawyer William "Billy" Murphy, Jr.
The opening scene portrays Darren, a young black man getting pulled over. He's driving home from college. This is the fifth time he's been pulled over in a year. Frustrated and scared, Darren immediately breaks Rule #1: Always Be Calm & Cool. Mouthing off to the officer, Darren aggressively exits the car and slams the door. The officer overreacts, dropping Darren with a taser shot to his chest.
Should the officer have tased Darren in that situation? Probably not. Would the officer likely be disciplined? No. But that's not the main point of 10 Rules. The point is that the choices you make during the course of such encounters have a massive impact on whether it ends with a simple warning, a tasing -- or worse. This is true even if you've done nothing illegal.
While being calm and cool is key to getting the best possible outcome, it's not enough to keep police from violating your constitutional rights. For example, when the officer commandingly asks Darren "You're not hiding any AK-47s in there? You don't mind if I take a look?", Darren gets tricked like most people do.
Intimidated and unaware of other options, he consents to the search. The officer carelessly dumps his bags, accidentally shattering Darren's laptop on the asphalt. In another "what if" scenario, the officer finds a small amount of marijuana hidden away. While someone else might have left it there, Darren winds up getting arrested.
What few people understand, but police know all too well, is that your constitutional rights only apply if you understand and assert them. Unless they have strong evidence (i.e. probable cause) police need your permission to search your belongings or enter your home. The instant you grant them permission to invade your privacy, many of your legal protections go out the window and you're left on the hook for anything illegal the police find, as well as any damage they cause in the process.
Of course, even if you know your basic rights, police officers are trained to shake your confidence. If you refuse a search, I might respond by threatening to call in a drug-sniffing dog and sternly reminding you that things will go much easier if you cooperate. Creating a sense of hopelessness for the suspect enables us to break down their defenses and gain compliance. In the film, we show several variations on these common threats, but the main lesson is that it doesn't matter what the officer says; you still have to remain calm and protect your rights.
In today's world of smart phone video, YouTube and Twitter, stories of police abuse travel fast, creating greater awareness of the problem of police misconduct. Unfortunately, this heightened awareness often serves to reinforce the notion that "cops can do whatever they want." It's true that much work remains to be done towards ensuring police accountability, but the very first step is to educate the public about basic constitutional rights.
Citizens who understand their rights are much less likely to experience negative outcomes, both on the street and in a court of law. Until each of us has the ability to protect our individual rights and recognize injustices against others, we're not likely to accomplish much in the realm of broader policy reform.
I hope 10 Rules for Dealing with Police will be embraced by parents, teachers, activists, and even police departments as we work towards reducing the tension that too often characterizes the relationship between cops and the communities they serve.
Here are the ten rules featured in the film:
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Ivyks said on 31 Friday 2010 pm31 2:07 pm: A couple years ago my friend and I got into a car accident on a central freeway in which we crashed into the center divider wall. Both airbags deployed, car was a total loss. I kept blacking out and falling back in the seat after I initially got out. But luckily, neither of us had any immediately obvious injuries but we were waiting for paramedics to take us to the hospital to check for internal injuries, x-rays etc. A highway patrol officer arrived and pulled over to assess the situation. He approached my friend, who had been driving and asked for his driver's license. My friend reached into his pocket to get his Driver's license card and the officer supposedly perceived this action as dangerous or something because he immediately started shouting at my friend and tackled him to the ground, twisting his arm and smashing his face into the freeway pavement. I guess the officer had trouble getting him down to the ground though, Then my friends parents got to the scene and the officer was yelling at them saying "Why is he so strong!? Is he on Drugs?!" my friends mother frantically explained that he has bad asthma and uses an inhaler which contains a steroid. Not only did he not take the fact that we had just been in a crash at high speed and could be injured into consideration, he treated us like criminals from the get-go. Insane. |
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Anyone who's ever had a question about what police can and can't do will find the answer in this film. Better yet, Flex Your Rights licensed the film to allow free public use, so anyone can show it at their school, church, community center, or local theater. The DVD is available at FlexYourRights.org. Show it to everybody you know and love.
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Rather than telling people they should be more educated about their rights we should begin by reforming the police and police training institutions themselves. If they truly exist to "serve and protect" the very first thing they should be taught is to make any citizen they are interacting with fully aware of their rights, and make it their mission to ensure those rights are respect and protected, rather than attempting to find ways to get them to give them up.
If that happens, get witnesses, get video (hopefully you had your recorde on before you started talking with them!) and file a complaint with the internal affairs department. Also show the video to a friendly reporter. Media is your friend when trying to correct such behaviour.
After I was hit I was in shock and my voice was shaky and weak, and the cop was clearly getting angry at me about this. I sat on the bench with my leg up because the pain was unbearable. The cop harassed me in front of my mother when she arrived and told me I wasn't being cooperative, and threatened to give me a ticket for not wearing a helmet. He let the man off with a citation and in the police report had written down that it was my fault.
They'll catch onto any sign of weakness and use that against you. I was a flamboyant little boy who didn't show respect because I didn't speak to him the way he wanted me to.
This truly was the first time I caught a glimpse of what most of the police officers are really like.
If you're being treated like a criminal, SHUT UP! You don't have to talk to them. This "being cooperative" BS is just that. You have the RIGHT to remain silent - USE IT.
Find the "don't talk to cops" 1 & 2 videos on YouTube. Highly educational.
Then check out flexyourrights.org
And if my son were injured in an accident & being bullied by an officer, I'd step in & tell the officer to stop, then call the PD to send the officer's supervisor to deal with the unprofessional conduct.
If the officer treats me with civility and professionalism, that's what she'll get in return.
And you better believe I'll have the whole interaction recorded.
No, they need reasonable articulable suspicion of a crime (being, having just been, or about to be committed... like holding a gas can in one hand & a lighter in the other as you approach that building).
You can always ask "why am I being detained?"
Probably, if the cop is just playing with you, s/he'll look suprised that you a) recognize it and b) are calling him on it, then answer "you're not being detained".
Get it on tape, walk away.
Buncha fluffy kittens here in the states, the cops. But thats what, wer used to say, is what makes America great, the ability to protest. (now, its just the assumption that complaining, and having some one listen, then do something about it is the american way.) Slam our cops all you want, its your right. Its their right to be human, and no human is perfect. Just take a look in a mirror for proof.
Welcome to America!
I know there is violence in their job, I know cops hammer people. I watch the t.v. show COPS. (Its only fun when they run!)
I just dont see it. Hey, any cop wants to search my car? Go for it. Wanna come in my house and look around? Sure thing. Cmon in.
You know why? Im not a criminal. Ive got nothing to hide. So all fo you complaining about cops reason to search and rights to deny, you already sound suspiscious. watchoo hiding?
I'm all for cutting police budgets, and giving the money to an organization which actually exists to protect and serve the people, not just in mocking name only.
www.InjusticeEverywhere.com
Much of the voting rights & victories won by the civil rights movement during the 1960s have effectively been eroded. Nearly 5 million people are now barred from voting because of felony disenfranchisement laws. The United States is the only industrial democracy that does this.
Drug prohibition has become a successor system to Jim Crow laws in targeting black citizens, removing them from civil society and then barring them from the right to vote. If harsh sentences deterred illicit drug use, America would be "drug-free" by now. But that is not the case, and never will be. The drug war has given the "former land of the free" the highest incarceration rate in the world and disenfranchised millions of citizens. It is a cure worse than the disease.
So what's your excuse?