3 ms·

If an official government employee is already apparently breaking the law and also threatening you personally, you need to ask yourself whether they'll worry ab

by hedora 3y ago

If an official government employee is already apparently breaking the law and also threatening you personally, you need to ask yourself whether they'll worry about continuing to break the law in order to make good on their threats. Note that none of the people that coerced Mayer into breaking the law have been disciplined or even named, so I guess they didn't need to worry about such things after all. I've heard EFF and corporate lawyers advise people to never speak to law enforcement under any circumstances. The reason is that the police are allowed to lie about their intentions and the facts of the case, and if you say something that is incorrect, you can be prosecuted for lying to them. So, for example, they can spew a bunch of lies and trick you into incorrectly speculating ("Since Jim was waving that gun at you, then I guess he really did buy it after all"), and then later, you need to prove (probably without the benefit of a recording) that it should have been clear to the officers that it was just speculation, or you go to jail. Their advice boiled down to politely and repeatedly respond with "I want my lawyer". At least one court has ruled that failing to respond at all to a question (even after repeatedly asking for a lawyer) means that you're now responding (perhaps with body language) and the interrogation is therefore admissible.

zzo38computer 3y ago
It is they will need to make the police not so bad. Make it illegal for police to lie about their intentions and the facts of the case (although perhaps they should be permitted to hide some of the facts of the case (although they cannot hide what you are actually accused of, or anything like that, if they are actually arresting you (since otherwise they should have no authority to arrest anyone)), and anyone (whether police or not) should always be permitted to claim "I don't know"). If you lie (or make a mistake) to the police while you are being interrogated, that should not be illegal (although making a false police report (while you are not being interrogated) would still be illegal). Furthermore, any claim they make that, if valid, would not authorize them to do what they are doing to you, makes what they are doing illegal in that instance. For example, if you ask them if they are police and they say they are not police then they have no authority to arrest you (although they can still make a citizen's arrest (for situations where that is permitted, so, not necessarily all of the things that the police might arrest you for), or to call some of the police other than themself (using the methods that ordinary people would use, not the ones reserved for police), etc. This isn't even half of enough to fix the problems with police, but it is a start.

by hedora 3y ago

zzo38computer 3y ago

It is they will need to make the police not so bad. Make it illegal for police to lie about their intentions and the facts of the case (although perhaps they should be permitted to hide some of the facts of the case (although they cannot hide what you are actually accused of, or anything like that, if they are actually arresting you (since otherwise they should have no authority to arrest anyone)), and anyone (whether police or not) should always be permitted to claim "I don't know"). If you lie (or make a mistake) to the police while you are being interrogated, that should not be illegal (although making a false police report (while you are not being interrogated) would still be illegal). Furthermore, any claim they make that, if valid, would not authorize them to do what they are doing to you, makes what they are doing illegal in that instance. For example, if you ask them if they are police and they say they are not police then they have no authority to arrest you (although they can still make a citizen's arrest (for situations where that is permitted, so, not necessarily all of the things that the police might arrest you for), or to call some of the police other than themself (using the methods that ordinary people would use, not the ones reserved for police), etc. This isn't even half of enough to fix the problems with police, but it is a start.