On Mon, 11 Nov 1996, Sandy Sandfort wrote:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SANDY SANDFORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
C'punks,
On Mon, 11 Nov 1996, Timothy C. May wrote:
...This benign neglect will probably change rather quickly if one of the offshore betting markets starts carrying odds that a particular judge or other public figure will be killed. And if he _is_ killed, look for interrogations of the AP "ringleaders" --and maybe many of the rest of us, who have spoken out for anarchy and the like...
Just a reminder of the appropriate response in such a case. Just keep repeating the four magic words, "I want a lawyer." Co-operation buys you NOTHING. (I hereby christen this the "Jewell Rule" for obvious and topical reasons.)
From that point on he vowed never to make statements to police except in
"Me too." Seriously, this is the best course of action. A friend of mine tells an interesting story. On driving to a convenience store early in wee hours, he sees a man splayed across the hood of a parked car, perhaps dead. Being the good citizen he is he tracks down a police car and reports the incident. Instead of investigating the "body," the police decide to pull him over and write him $700 in tickets for various fictitous violations (all of which were later thrown out). He, as would any reasonable citizen, protested, not so much for the tickets, but for the possibility that the prone man might need medical attention. (The incident was not called in on the radio). He took the tickets and remarked something to the effect of, "I can't believe this is what one gets for trying to be a good citizen, trying to get involved." Officer's response: "Yep. Next time don't bother." Eventually, some 30 mintues later the police drive to the location and revive what was a sleeping bum, take my friend to the station and make him wake his wife to bail him out to the tune of $250. Total cost: $300 in legal fees to fight the "violations." the highly unlikely event that he might somehow become the prime suspect of a murder investigation and counsel suggested he do so. Whenever a police officer asks questions more substantial than "can I see your license" or "do you have registration" he simply clams up shurgs his shoulders, or otherwise makes completely unsubstantial responses which drip apathy from all four corners. If questioned about his non-responsiveness he smiles patiently and begins thusly: "Let me tell you a story officer... once upon a time a man was minding his own business at 2am on the way to the convenience store...." You can never win. Don't try. Readers might remember my own account of being interrogated for attempting to purchase a car in cash at a "we hate drug dealers" dealership in Virginia. Cops know enough to play on human nature. Most people want to show the officer they are cooperative, to prove their good will. Most people will try to win the war of wits and waive away all their rights simply because an officer asks if its ok with you if he violates your rights politely. "If you have nothing to hide, why can't I search the trunk?" "You don't mind if I come in do you?" "Why don't you come down to the station, it will only take a few minutes." "If I find anything after I get a warrant, I'm not going to be happy." "We can do this the easy way, or the hard way." "Who are you protecting?" "Tell us how you found the napsack, we want to make a training video." What most citizens fail to do is call the bluff. If every citizen made every curious police officer go to a magistrate and sign for a warrant, police would be a whole lot more careful about which cases they decided to bother a magistrate with. Be patient. Make them get the warrant. Make sure you tell them, politely, that it is your hope that more people will do as you have, that the magistrate will begin to wonder at all the warrant applications that are suddenly coming in for this officer and the lack of corresponding arrests. Perhaps someone will pay attention.
S a n d y
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