Protecting Yourself from a Bully with a Badge (When You’ve Done Nothing Wrong.) Part One
First off, not every Law enforcement officer is a racist, a misogynist, a homophobe, or just a power-mad entitled dick – male OR female, and I’ll give examples later in this series. The ones who aren’t hate these other jerks as much as we do.
There’s this thing called “qualified immunity,” which the ones who are dicks, think permits them to break the law and screw civilians over — up to and including killing them — often without consequence.
If you want to see for yourself what I’m talking about, go to YouTube or TikTok and search for “bad cops.” You’ll see hundreds of items there, illustrating police/civilian encounters gone bad: from cops just being stupid to going on out-and-out vendettas. Content creators include Audit the Audit, Justice for All, DeleteLawz, KY Reacts, LackLuster/L L Media, We The People University(a former cop/sheriff deputy), The Civil Rights Lawyer, and @Detectivemattthornton (still an active duty officer) on both Tiktik and YouTube.
First of all, according to the courts Cops are ALLOWED to lie to you. They are also allowed to intimidate you through their lies and ask “fishing” questions to try to get you to incriminate yourself (Show me the man and I’ll show you the crime.) Keep your hands visible at all times!
Always be polite!
As soon as you see flashing lights, check your speedometer. If you have a dash cam, make sure it’s turned on. If you also have a smartphone, START RECORDING on it. Lock all your doors. Don’t roll your window down so far that the cop can reach through and try to open the door if he/she gets frustrated.
A.)”Do you know how fast you were going?” Do NOT say ‘No.’ If you do, he can pick a number and say that’s how fast you were going — true or not.
Note: I once shut down a cop who came up and asked me that leading question by saying, “Yes, I know EXACTLY how fast I was going — the speed limit.” Of course, you can’t use that if you are speeding.
B.)”ID/DL, registration, and Proof of Insurance.” Answer,”Am I accused of a crime, Officer?” If he’s just fishing, he/she will hem and haw and say something alongs the lines of “that’s what I’m trying to find out” or “that’s what I’m investigating.” They have nothing on you, they’re fishing. You can refuse to ID yourself under the 4th and 5th Amendments if he can’t quote a specific crime. Mere suspicion is not a crime.”Disorderly conduct,” “obstruction” and similar “crimes” are mere deflections and lies. They cannot ask for your SSN in any case, despite what they may tell you. It is only a crime to give a FALSE name to a cop. It’s NOT a crime to refuse to provide ID.
For instance, “obstruction” in every jurisdiction I have checked so far means an active, deliberate physical act on your part.
If he/she keeps repeating this mantra, immediately ask for his/ her name and badge number and keep repeating that each time he refuses to tell you WHY he/she needs your ID, If they start getting frustrated and belligerent, change your response’ to “I want to see your Supervior/ Call your supervisor.”
C.) “Turn your phone off.” MAJOR RED FLAG!!!! They know they don’t have a good case and don’t want evidence showing their mistakes. In fact, some bad cops have been caught DELETING footage from someone else’s phone.
D.) “Do you mind if I search for your car/search you/pat you down?” before he has given a justifiable ( and actual) crime. If you answer anything other than “I do not consent/give consent/ give permision to/for any search of myself or my property.” or “I refuse to surrender my constitutional rights under the 4th and fifth amendments.” Be careful because if your reply is IN ANY WAY ambiguous, said cop will interpret it as you consenting to what would otherwise be an unlawful search. ex “Yes ( I DO mind)” = Go ahead ; “No (you don’t have my permission)” = Go ahead.
E.) “Have any drugs or weapons in the car?” Another RED FLAG that they are fishing, trying to get you to (supposedly) incriminate yourself and/or give themselves an excuse to escalate the situation.
F.) “Step out of the car” with or without threats of arrest or physical violence if you don’t obey and without giving a valid law that he has a justifiable reason to suspect you of breaking. Immediately demand a supervisor. This is also why you should keep your doors locked, to prevent the cop from opening the door and yanking you out of your vehicle. They may break out your window despite you not threatening them in any way.
If you aren’t alone and they have a phone, call the county or state police and tell them that the LEOs at your site will not identify themselves. You are unsure if they are real officers since they cannot give a valid reason for the stop, and you are fearful for your safety. (If the cops or 911 don’t seem impressed, I suggest you contact a local TV or radio station.) Stay on the line. Give a running commentary of what’s happening. KEEP AS CALM AS POSSIBLE. If you snap back at them, corrupt (or stupid) cops will claim you’re resisting and/or being aggressive and escalate things even further.
See part TWO, upcoming…
