[jsmthrowaway]

This meme bugs me because it is possible to heed the advice while still speaking to the police. I find that the only people who parrot it are those who have never been on the other end of the table. I've seen random people run over and advise a witness to "not talk to the police" while they were describing what happened to an officer at the scene of an accident. You can't package deeper context with something simple like "don't talk to the cops" and expect people to understand it. I think this general advice does more harm than good because of the way it's delivered.

The correct conclusion to come away with from the advice is to be vigilant when interacting with those who have the power to prosecute you, and often that means invoking your right to remain silent -- but not always. You should also know when you need a lawyer -- again, not always. If the cops knock on your door because they're looking for a lost kid, calm down and get over yourself, they're not looking for you.

Sadly, you and me get that, but others take the advice to the extreme and I've seen both of my examples firsthand.

[yardie]

As a guy that had his name run for bench warrants while being a witness to a traffic accident, you can speak for yourself. In some cases nothing good comes about speaking to police, especially in minority/poor communities.

[jsmthrowaway]

As a guy who spent four months in county pretrial detention on three felonies and a misdemeanor and no bail, I do speak for myself. I didn't speak to the police and lawyered up and I spent 119 days in jail. The next time, the FBI came; this time, I was suspicious but not actually involved, and I carefully spoke to the FBI without a lawyer and remained a free man. It's almost as if there's more to it than the Fifth Amendment.

And yeah, if you're riding a warrant, you probably shouldn't give your name to a law enforcement officer. That's called being stupid, and if you think it's shady to have your name run when a peace officer interacts with you and knows your name, you have some case law to read. That's their job. Witness details go in the same exact system.

I get the gist of the advice but I'm tired of seeing knobs on YouTube with their phone out recording an officer while shouting "I invoke my rights!" over and over again, and I think part of it is the way this advice is interpreted.

[dhimes]

>As a guy who spent four months...

Holy shit! What exactly are you doing in your spare time? ;)

[ryanlol]

You don't necessarily have to do anything, refusing to talk (not necessarily help) makes keeping people in jail so much easier.

[sneak]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhUZaAYsaGU