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“Squeaker” McCarthy

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Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

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The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

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You are here: Home / Civil Rights / Criminal Justice / Shitty Cops / A Very Important Video

Reader Interactions

61Comments

  1. 1.

    Comrade Mary

    I saw this years ago. It’s great. It will be a real test of my common sense versus my Canadian / nice girl / librarian nature to actually put this into practice, though.

  3. 3.

    lamh36

    this probably works pretty well, unless you are a Black person in American, and the police has a history of beating or shooting you before you can even plead the 5th or say anything…ex: the Oscar Grant shooting

  6. 6.

    SmallAxe

    Great advice, even if it’s given by a professor at Regent Law ffs. And he also mentions his former student who appears to be Monica Goodling from his comments on the student taking the 5th in front of the Senate. Talk about Stepford people… she tops em.

  7. 7.

    cathyx

    Is it really 48 minutes long? I’m going to have to dress down for this and get more comfortable.

  9. 9.

    The Moar You Know

    Having spent some time in court as an expert witness, all I can say is that this guy is right on. If there’s a way to crucify you for something innocent, a lawyer will find it.

  11. 11.

    cathyx

    @raven: I watched the first 7 minutes. If I watch all of it I will miss this thread. I’ll watch it when the recipe exchange gets posted.

  12. 12.

    lamh36

    @lamh36: speaking of Oscar Grant, have ya’ll seen the trailer for movie depicting the Oscar Grant shootingFruitvale Station

    It’s getting rave reviews, but I’m gonna prob have to catch it when it comes on DVD, cause movies like this just tend to make me mad

  13. 13.

    srv

    Maybe Obama should watch this video

    NYPD’s Ray Kelly defends controversial policing practices in appeal to public
    With lawsuits pending over department’s stop-and-frisk policy and Muslim surveillance, the police commissioner turns to the media to vigorously defend his record as the city’s top cop
    …
    In his Tuesday op-ed, Kelly said it was not true that police in New York City stop people because of their race. “From the beginning, we’ve combined this strategy with a proactive policy of engagement. We stop and question individuals about whom we have reasonable suspicion,” he said. “Every state in the country has a variant of this statute, as does federal law; it is fundamental to policing.”

    Sounds like he’d be great for the Obama administration?

    In a television interview last week, President Barack Obama said Kelly would be “very well qualified” to be secretary of homeland security.

  17. 17.

    ChrisNYC

    Christ Regent Law School? Feeder school for the K Rove “let’s make the DOJ into a political prosecution unit” plan. No thanks.

  18. 18.

    kuvasz

    At the age of ten my father taught me never to trust a cop. Of course, his dad worked for the guy who sold Al Capone his beer.

  19. 19.

    StringOnAStick

    @The Moar You Know:

    Having spent some time in court as an expert witness, all I can say is that this guy is right on. If there’s a way to crucify you for something innocent, a lawyer will find it.

    Back when I was a geologist, I had the same experience. As the lawyers on the huge water law case I worked on said: “don’t write down ANYTHING you won’t be OK with seeing again. As a matter of fact, just don’t write down anything if you can help it.” Good advice if lawyers are going to be involved in lighting a fire under you, in a civil case or a criminal one.

    Someone I know slightly got into a shouting match with the official security guy over his non-leashed dog on the river trail recently. No one else around, and later the pseudo-cop decided he’d been physically assaulted, so cops came after this guy when he made his return lap while jogging with his dog. The guy’s a PhD student with the best, sweetest dog I’ve ever met, and the Blue Wall has decided he needs to be charged with felony assault of an officer (not a “real” cop, just the rules enforcement subclass hired this year to police the popular tubing section of the local river). Doesn’t look good for this guy, and all because he talked back to a semi-cop.

  20. 20.

    RSR

    Just sent this to my buddy, a talented and hard working CDL (Criminal Defense Lawyer), who, I’m sure already abides by all of that information.

    Talented as in part of the legal crew that helped the Occupy Philadelphia related Wells Fargo occupiers in their case which ended in acquittal.

    Judge Nina N. Wright Padilla asked all 12 [defendants] to approach so she could shake their hands.

    “I hope you continue your work in a law-abiding way,” said Padilla. “I must say you are the most affable group of defendants I’ve ever come across.”

    The current trial began Feb. 25 with seven lawyers representing the 12 free of charge. The defense argued that the sit-in was protected by the First Amendment’s free-speech guarantee. They also contended the protest served a “greater good” for society that outweighed the trespass charge.

  21. 21.

    The Moar You Know

    I should amend my previous comment – the professor is right on. The cop is even more right on.

  23. 23.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    Speaking of which, can someone please explain to me how in the course of 12 years the “first responders” have gone from being the heros of the universe and “running up the stairs while others were running down” and appearing in parades all over the country and being lauded as the last great hope of America to being blood sucking scum who are sucking the life out of cities and states all over the land because their retirement packages are so expensive that the cities are having to declare bankruptcy to protect themselves. I don’t get it.

  26. 26.

    The Moar You Know

    Do you mean “for saying something innocent”?

    @raven: While that would be germane to the video, actually, I don’t mean that. The video does a good job of explaining how anything, no matter how innocent seeming, can be used to really hurt you in court.

    Christ Regent Law School? Feeder school for the K Rove “let’s make the DOJ into a political prosecution unit” plan. No thanks.

    @ChrisNYC: There’s no ideology here, and I say this in all seriousness: to not watch this video because you don’t like the professor’s employer would be a really, really stupid decision. I wish every person in the country would watch it, because the points are good ones: everybody’s done something, and you are not better at making your case for innocence than the people who are trying to establish your guilt. If you start talking, they’re going to find something to nail you for, and they’re going to send you to the local house of daily rape for it if they can. And most likely, they will be able to succeed.

  28. 28.

    Roger Moore

    @The Moar You Know:

    The video does a good job of explaining how anything, no matter how innocent seeming, can be used to really hurt you in court.

    Not just that, but that the law is stacked against you if you talk. Basically, the exceptions to the rules against hearsay are stacked against the defendant. If you say something that helps you, it can’t be used in court because it’s hearsay, but if you say something that hurts you it falls into one of the exceptions and can be used against you. It’s exactly the opposite of what the 5th Amendment intends.

  30. 30.

    RobertDSC-PowerMac G5 Dual

    This vid gives me knots because I’ve always been polite and respectful around law enforcement. Bleh.

  31. 31.

    Fluke bucket

    Maybe I dreamed that I read that the Supreme Court ruled that you did not have the right to remain silent.

  32. 32.

    Ruckus

    @RobertDSC-PowerMac G5 Dual:
    Being polite and respectful is not the same as giving them information. Body language, not swearing at them, not looking constantly at your watch, not texting while they talk… None of that is talking to them but can change how you are treated. Of course all bets may be off if your skin is not pasty white.

  33. 33.

    RSR

    Oh, and my wife has served on multiples criminal case juries, and the comment about ‘Mama’s’ testimony being worth zero, she says is pretty much true.

    My wife is one of those weird people who enjoys jury duty. She’s a teacher, and gets her salary during service, so there’s that. She usually ends up foreperson–in PA the jury selects that person after being charged with the case. (And here in Philly, jury duty lunch time is usually spent across the street at Reading Terminal Market, and all its delicious goodness, so there’s that, too.)

    She’s both convicted and acquitted, and says that the prosecution evidence is the crucial path. She had one judge (judges and attorneys often speak to juries after verdict to discuss how and why a verdict was reached) concur that the prosecution, and especially the police department, completely screwed up the chain of evidence.

    The judge asked, so *why* did you acquit? The jury replied, the lack of a chain of evidence. He said, “Exactly,” and that he would have reached the same verdict, for that reason.

    I wish more people enjoyed jury duty, but I know it’s often a financial hit, and in some places hard to get to, and there’s nothing redeemable to do, like a hour a day in a dining and shopping cornucopia market across the street. (Jury duty in the county where I grew up in PA should count as time off from purgatory, from what I hear.) But, like voting, it’s a crucial civic duty.

  35. 35.

    Phoenician in a time of Romans

    @StringOnAStick:

    Someone I know slightly got into a shouting match with the official security guy over his non-leashed dog on the river trail recently. No one else around, and later the pseudo-cop decided he’d been physically assaulted, so cops came after this guy when he made his return lap while jogging with his dog. The guy’s a PhD student with the best, sweetest dog I’ve ever met, and the Blue Wall has decided he needs to be charged with felony assault of an officer (not a “real” cop, just the rules enforcement subclass hired this year to police the popular tubing section of the local river). Doesn’t look good for this guy, and all because he talked back to a semi-cop.

    Aye. Had a friend get taken in by the cops at a mass political protest., so he did the big “go limp” passive resistance bit as they had been trained. The cops “somehow” managed to sprain his wrist getting him into the van and then decided to charge him with “resisting arrest” to head off any assault complaints laid against them when he insisted on seeing a doctor..

  36. 36.

    TS

    @srv:

    Maybe Obama should watch this video

    Yep – let’s do what the GOP do – turn every thread, every issue into an attack on PRESIDENT Obama.

  39. 39.

    jonas

    As it says right there in the Miranda warning: “Anything you say *can* and *will* be used against you.” In other words, STFU until you have a lawyer. I saw this video a few years ago and it made a big impression. Hope I’ll never have to put this knowledge to direct use, but good to have.

  40. 40.

    Gopher2b

    I havent watched rhe video but I’m a prosecutor and I would never talk to a cop unless it was an emergency. I would never talk to a prosecutor without a lawyer. It’s like sex, enjoy the attention but use protection.

  41. 41.

    srv

    @TS: I don’t understand why you think Obama is attacking himself. Are you not proud of your PRESIDENT and agree with “very well qualified” Kelly and Bloomberg about stop-and-frisk?

  42. 42.

    TS

    @srv:

    I said nothing about the President – I simply disagree with your lack of respect and bringing him into a thread that has NOTHING to do with whatever you were discussing. Go pedal your hate with the RWNJs

  43. 43.

    Jay in Oregon

    @Redshirt:

    1) The Federal code, state law, federal and state regulations, and even treaties with foreign nations mean that it is impossible to say with certainty that you aren’t guilty of anything. Even if you’re not guilty of whatever the police are questioning you about, you could confess to something else that they can charge you with.
    2) People love to talk, want to be seen as cooperative, and love to tell their side of the story.
    3) People tend to say more than they need to and either say something that is untrue (intentionally or not) or say something that is true but, when combined with other evidence or witness testimony you’re not aware of, can be used to incriminate you.
    4) As Roger Moore said, exceptions for hearsay are stacked against the defendant. You can say something to a cop that is exculpatory and it can be ruled inadmissible, whereas statements that incriminate you can be allowed.
    5) Cops and other witnesses can make mistakes that harm your case.
    6) As the cop says in the second video, the police are very good at getting people to talk in interviews. See point #3.
    7) It’s not going to be any one of the above that hangs you, it will be a combination of two or more of them.
    8) In their jurisdiction at least, 86% of defendants in federal cases make a confession at some point. In cases that are exonerated later due to revisiting of DNA evidence, 25% of the people confessed to the crime they didn’t commit.

    In short; if you are innocent, don’t talk to the police. If you’re guilty, DEFINITELY don’t talk to the police.

  45. 45.

    Gian

    @Jay in Oregon:

    certainly if guilty don’t talk, and don’t talk about other crimes.

    call me an asshole, but when younger I was a witness to an incident where someone rabbit punched a bouncer with a cue-ball
    the bar had cameras which would make it crystal clear that I didn’t do it. I would’ve felt like I wasn’t doing my civic duty if I hadn’t described the guys who did.

    and I have to say that I’d hardly expect cops to be that much different than the rest of the people in the world, if they’re asking about who’s gun they found and you tell them you drove in a car pool lane solo, I doubt they care. OTOH if you tell them it’s not your gun, but looks like the one you used in a bank robbery yesterday (and said bank robbery happened) you really should’ve been silent.
    I get nervous by what amounts to an imperative to not talk to the cops in a way that reminds me of “on the waterfront” and “deaf and dumb” or “snitches get stiches”

    and sadly, for the innocent parents of a kidnapped kid, who may have a clue as to what happened, they have a real dilemma – talk or not talk…. because the unfortunate truth is most of the cases are more like andrea yates, or susan smith, and not stranger abductions, so innocent or not they are suspects.

  48. 48.

    Mart

    Bunch of 12/13 yr olds in the mean streets of white suburbia blocked the road with their bikes. As I slowed they opened up from the bushes with pretty good size rocks. Then they all got on the bikes and split except for one who taunted me – every time I tried to leave he’d back his wheels so I almost hit him. I got out of the car to talk about how lucky he is screwing with a nice guy and he takes off up the hill. I lock my car, spin and run him down going up the hill. Long story I track him down at a strangers front door. Two weeks later (out of state registered company car – the little shits got my plates) a cop shows up at work and human resources gets us a room to talk. Nicest guy ever, said he is always running into these little shits and their parents never discipline them. He is on my side. He asks if I ever touched them, they said I ran over their bike and punched one hard in the gut. I said that is crazy, I never, wait I put my hand on his shoulder once telling him to llisten for a minute. Cops says, oh boy, that is going to cost you, you can’t touch ’em when they are under 16. And it did. From now on silence I say, silence.

  49. 49.

    Kyle

    Cops are predators, and you need to make yourself as inconspicuous as possible so you do not draw their attention or show a vulnerability and become prey. Their job is to make arrests and get convictions, and a lot them aren’t real picky about how or from whom they get them.

  50. 50.

    Jay in Oregon

    @Gian:

    certainly if guilty don’t talk, and don’t talk about other crimes.

    The second video with the cop made it pretty clear that if you say anything that can reasonably be used as a confession then you’re toast (barring VERY strong evidence or testimony to the contrary). DAs like confessions because they save everyone a lot of time and paperwork.

    He told the audience that people, especially criminals, are stupid. He’s gotten people to confess over the phone (in Virginia only one party has to know the call is being recorded) and he’s brought a tape recorder into an interview to use for taking notes, then turned it off so he can ask the subject a question “off the record” (all police interview rooms have audio and likely video recorders).

    They count on the fact that people don’t know how the legal process works—or worse, learn it from TV—and say things like “look, if you come clean now then we can work something out”. Great, you’ve confessed and MAYBE instead of getting 10 years in prison you’re going to get 5, AND you’re still a convicted felon.

    If you are innocent then make them work to prove that you aren’t. Don’t hand them anything they WILL (not “may”, which the cop admitted he uses when giving suspects their Miranda warning) use against you. Both the cop and the lawyer said news and media portrayals that have made asserting your Fifth Amendment rights sound like the desperate act of a guilty person have actually made it easier to obtain confessions or other statements that can incriminate you.

  51. 51.

    hells littlest angel

    Really interesting video, but difficult to find a place to pause it, since he NEVER SHUTS THE FUCK UP. I think the transcript must contain only one period.

    (I’m not complaining, but, being of the laconic persuasion, just amazed that he can do it.)

  58. 58.

    Kirk

    @Jay in Oregon: A minor correction. Your silence is not an implied affirmation of the fifth amendment IF you are not being detained.

    If you are under arrest or otherwise being detained for questioning then the fifth amendment is assumed affirmed. If you voluntarily engaged – went (as per the case) to the police with information on the case – then you have waived your fifth amendment right unless you specifically reclaim it.

    Yeah, it’s screwed up. And the case left things unresolved (my opinion), such as: you’re a witness at the scene during initial investigation, or it’s police at the door who are canvassing the neighborhood for possible witnesses. Per the strict interpretation of the case both of those require specific affirmation just as though you went to the station to tell them about something you saw or heard or knew.

  59. 59.

    StringOnAStick

    I got good news about the situation I referred to higher in the thread (dog walker mouthed off to pseudocop, charged with assaulting a peach officer). The guy very wisely used the approach this guy advocates – he didn’t talk at all, even when they had him in the police station. I found out today that all they charged him with was 3 misdemeanors, dropped 2 of them and the judge pretty much smirked at the remaining one. It will probably end up as just a fine as long as he doesn’t have any other “events’ in the coming year.

    This is a small town and the pseudocop policing of the river trail is new this year; I suspect the judge has seem more than a few cases from pseudo-officer TouchyTouchy that seem over the top. The signs along the river very clearly state “zero tolerance” for off-leash dogs, alcohol and glass containers, but it seems reasonable that local residents should get one warning before the ticket book comes out. We only have this policing now because our little river trail area became tubing central for every Denver person sick of the heat last summer, and shit got way, way out of hand.

  60. 60.

    Jay in Oregon

    @Mart:

    He asks if I ever touched them, they said I ran over their bike and punched one hard in the gut. I said that is crazy, I never, wait I put my hand on his shoulder once telling him to llisten for a minute. Cops says, oh boy, that is going to cost you, you can’t touch ‘em when they are under 16. And it did.

    That is a perfect example of what the video is talking about. Obviously you can’t go smacking kids around but, generally speaking, who would think that even touching them on the shoulder would qualify as assault? (I assume that was the trouble you were referring to?)

  61. 61.

    Jay in Oregon

    [Time ran out on editing my previous comment.]

    Both of my parents are retired police officers and my sister works for the federal court system and spends just about every day in a courtroom. (I should send her this link and see what she thinks.) I’m a white male and have no criminal record aside from the odd speeding ticket; I’m kinda hardwired to trust cops and presume that they aren’t going to fuck with me.

    But seeing a police officer stand up and say “that guy is 100% correct” and tell a room full of potential future defense attorneys that they how to read people, they know how to talk to people, they know the law better than the suspects do, and they have all sorts of tactics they can use to get confessions is a real eye-opener.

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