Bill Ryan's Other Blog

Boing Boing has the details. I’ve been thinking about this post for a while.  As much as I dislike watching television and avoid doing so when I’m home, I’ll cop to watching tv before I go to bed when I’m on the road travelling.  Very few hotels have XM and AM reception is exceptionally poor even in the nicest of places.  Even though I use my down time to read or code, there’s something discomforting about complete silence.  So I break down, turn on the tv and then as much as I hate to admit it, I’m usually hooked.  NCIS and CSI Miami are the worst…NCIS just b/c its cool and CSI Miami b/c I still get nostalgic for all things Dade County.  When I see the First 48 on though, I’ll definitely watch it instead.

A few weeks ago, I purchased FlexYourRights and thought it was phenomenal and it really made an impression. I don’t want to do anything to discourage you anyone from buying it so I won’t go into too much detail (they have a free version on YouTube if you’re interested) but you can sum up a big portion of it as thus:  “Don’t talk to the cops.  Don’t submit to searches.  Ask if you’re being detained or if you are free to go”.  That’s a gross oversimplification but essentially, that’s the point.

It’s a really well done film from a legal perspective and if you watch if just once you’ll be converted.  They emphasize that if you actually did something wrong (other than some really minor traffic offense perhaps), you’re not going to talk your way out of anything.  While most cops are decent folks, they aren’t your friend. They’re not looking to help you out if you broke the law.  And besides, cops don’t prosecute cases, only Prosecutors do that.  People consent to searches all the time which can never help but can definitely hurt.  People talk and answer all sorts of questions, again, which can never help but can definitely hurt.  You get the idea.

Right after I FlexYourRights the first time, I replayed it a few times.  I wanted to make sure I completely understood it, but I always try to remain at least a little skeptical whenever I learn something ‘new’ especially when it’s something that could have a huge affect on my life.  I mean, the last thing you ever want to do is screw up big time or miss a huge opportunity b/c you accepted something uncritically.

If you’re unfamiliar with the First 48, the premise is simple.  According to the show, police statistics show that if there isn’t a strong lead developed within the first 48 hours of a murder, the chances of it ever being solved drop dramatically. As such, those first hours are critical.  B/c they have the luxury of showing whatever episodes they feel like it, you tend to see episodes where they actually catch the culprit or are at least are sure they know who the culprit is.  I’ve seen one or two where the perps got away with it but most of the time, they feature episodes with a resolution. 

ONE THING REALLY STICKS OUT THOUGH.  Whenever they get to the point that they know who the person is and can take the person into custody, they almost ALWAYS Confess. It starts out the same. At first the person doesn’t know anything. Then through talking or whatever, the cops get some more evidence. They play the Good Cop/Bad Cop with them and almost always get the guy to confess.

One case I remember vividly though was where a guy killed his ‘homeboy ‘ and his homeboy’s girl. After shooting them, he put them in the victim’s truck and set it on fire.  In most of these cases, the cops get a tip that starts things moving.  In this episode, all of the culprit’s friends turned on him. Three people turned on him.  He went into hiding previously and they sent a fugitive apprehension team to get the guy – which they did.  When they caught him, he had the murder weapon on him. There was a whole bunch of additional evidence too.  So assuming everything on the show was true, it was pretty clear they had the right guy. He was one of the only people I ever saw just shut up and ask to see his attorney.  He didn’t try to talk his way out of it, He didn’t hit the cops with some song and dance. He just shut up. And they commented that even with all the evidence, him not confessing would make things a lot more difficult to get a conviction with.

Every time the people won’t talk, the cops get really frustrated. They typically have a conference and do whatever they can to pressure the guy to talk (usually scaring him and telling him if he cooperates, they’ll go much easier on him – as though they cut deals with defendants or whatever).

Now, I just sit there with my mouth open wondering why people don’t catch on to this.  If you ask to see an attorney, the cops get really frustrated and do what they can to get you to talk before you can talk to your attorney. They discourage you to come in with an attorney.  They lie. They play games. They’ll tell you your friend ratted on you when he didn’t. They split you up and try to get you to play against each other.  And yet, people still fall for it.  When they say “Your friend just sold you out”  they always get mad and start blabbing.  They get the people emotional and brow beat them. They threaten and cajole. It’s so freaking predictable you’d think they took a class on all of this.  So why do people insist on trying to talk their way out of it? And if you think you don’t have anything to worry about if you’ve done nothing wrong, you simply must not read much b/c every single day there are multiple stories about Law Enforcement officers abusing their power, setting people up, lying , and virtually every other form of malfeasance you can think of. 

I don’t like to see predators and violent criminals get away with their crimes.  I regret that they can use this sort of information to help them break the law and prey on others.  I’m just shocked that people who engage in often times very sophisticated plots to commit crimes, can be so dumb when it comes to dealing with the police. If they just watched the First 48, they’d learn a whole lot about how cops operate and what not to do. 

[tags] CSI, CSI Miami, NCIS, The First 48, The 1st 48 Hours[/tags]