82403 Lying Police
Posted: Wed May 13, 2015 12:52 am
[emerges from hiding]
I sat in on a panel for LTUE this year about law enforcement and I got to hear from someone (Robin Ambrose, if my notes are right) who's worked on the lawyer end of things when it comes to cops and cops messing up. She said that sometimes a cop would tell a suspect that their friend just confessed to a crime and implicated that suspect. Even if the suspect is completely innocent, they might "confess" so that the cops would be more lenient and, in the process, actually implicate themselves. Prisoner's Dilemma in reverse.
A cop, once they have a suspect, will do everything they can to prove that suspect is guilty. It is their job, after all. But in a job where you're looking for evil (and you have to fill quotas to prove that that is what you're doing), it's easy to see evil that isn't there and make things worse in the process.
Also, some free advice she offered if the police are interrogating you:
Ask "Am I free to leave?" If yes, then leave. If no, say "I want my attorney" and shut up.
And I didn't write down the exact context to use this in, but: "I am not resisting, but I am not consenting."
[goes back into hiding]
I sat in on a panel for LTUE this year about law enforcement and I got to hear from someone (Robin Ambrose, if my notes are right) who's worked on the lawyer end of things when it comes to cops and cops messing up. She said that sometimes a cop would tell a suspect that their friend just confessed to a crime and implicated that suspect. Even if the suspect is completely innocent, they might "confess" so that the cops would be more lenient and, in the process, actually implicate themselves. Prisoner's Dilemma in reverse.
A cop, once they have a suspect, will do everything they can to prove that suspect is guilty. It is their job, after all. But in a job where you're looking for evil (and you have to fill quotas to prove that that is what you're doing), it's easy to see evil that isn't there and make things worse in the process.
Also, some free advice she offered if the police are interrogating you:
Ask "Am I free to leave?" If yes, then leave. If no, say "I want my attorney" and shut up.
And I didn't write down the exact context to use this in, but: "I am not resisting, but I am not consenting."
[goes back into hiding]