Mecha-Man
Iron
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- Sep 21, 2026
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Knowing how to interact with police shouldn't come up very often in your life, but it should a couple times in your life and this thread is everything you need to know about Police and the law so you can behave appropriately.
First thing to realize: Police have a very strong sense of camaraderie. If one of them is against you, they're all against you. I see a lot of people asking to speak with the supervisor/chief/sergeant. This is pointless. If the deputy has ruled against you, so will the higher up. Knowing this will save you a huge dead end.
You cannot negotiate with police. Even if you feel the officer made an incorrect call or is outright breaking the law, the act of resisting will always immediately put you at fault. You must obey all commands given by an officer. Whether that command (or their conduct) was lawful you take that up to the courts. Courts will almost never drop resisting charges or what happens after even if the police was in the wrong initially. All debates happen in court.
You must identify yourself when prompted, even when mirandized. "You have the right to remain silent." Does not apply to identification.
Speaking of miranda rights, it's important to know what they are, when they apply, and when you should invoke them. There are 3 phases to police investigation:
1. Under questioning: Here police are conducting an investigation and just asking you questions. At this point, you're free to go. This is usually if you're just a witness or a nearby civilian who has nothing to do with the suspected crime scene.
2. Detained : Here police have what's called "reasonable suspicion" you're in violation of a crime. You're no longer free to go. Even if police are in the wrong (ie no real reasonable suspicion - trying to leave leads to resisting charges that won't be dropped and what happened afterwards also won't be dropped). So de facto, reasonable suspicion is really 100% officer discretion. You are NOT yet mirandized here. That's very important to know because depending on the situation you might already want to stop answering questions, but they haven't mirandized you yet. More on that later.
3. Under arrest. Here police have what's called "probable cause". This means you're placed in handcuffs and will certainly get charged and either go to jail or get a summons. You must be mirandized here. If you are mirandized it means you're under arrest and 99.99% of the time, it's better to invoke them.
So when should you invoke Miranda? Ideally, whenever you feel that the narrative is not going in your favor. By the time you're arrested and you get mirandized, this is almost certainly the case. However, you might want to invoke them earlier, particularly in the detained portion. The general rule of thumb to immediately invoke Miranda at the first question is a decent rule to follow, but it's not the absolute best. The optimal move is more nuanced. You want to carefully answer questions to police if you feel you can still control the narrative and paint yourself innocent believably. If you realize that's not going to happen, you should decline to answer questions even if not mirandized because police will interpret answers poorly if they already believe you're guilty (you still have to identify and obey commands, even when mirandized or invoking silence).
Another important thing to keep in mind is that it's important not to treat police as all or nothing. Even if you know with high certainty you'll be convicted of something. You still don't want to give police any freebies. This means:
- NEVER admit to fault
- NEVER self incriminate
This is important to realize, because there's not much benefit in "coming clean". You should always decline searches, insist innocence, and invoke silence when reasonably possible, no matter the situation. Because when you do you're far more likely to give prosecutors a harder time convicting you, you'll make them fear mistrial, and they're much more likely to give you better plea deals.
Most cases never go to trial. They get resolved with plea deals. So don't throw your bargaining chip away by admitting crimes, ever. Only accept plea deals.
First thing to realize: Police have a very strong sense of camaraderie. If one of them is against you, they're all against you. I see a lot of people asking to speak with the supervisor/chief/sergeant. This is pointless. If the deputy has ruled against you, so will the higher up. Knowing this will save you a huge dead end.
You cannot negotiate with police. Even if you feel the officer made an incorrect call or is outright breaking the law, the act of resisting will always immediately put you at fault. You must obey all commands given by an officer. Whether that command (or their conduct) was lawful you take that up to the courts. Courts will almost never drop resisting charges or what happens after even if the police was in the wrong initially. All debates happen in court.
You must identify yourself when prompted, even when mirandized. "You have the right to remain silent." Does not apply to identification.
Speaking of miranda rights, it's important to know what they are, when they apply, and when you should invoke them. There are 3 phases to police investigation:
1. Under questioning: Here police are conducting an investigation and just asking you questions. At this point, you're free to go. This is usually if you're just a witness or a nearby civilian who has nothing to do with the suspected crime scene.
2. Detained : Here police have what's called "reasonable suspicion" you're in violation of a crime. You're no longer free to go. Even if police are in the wrong (ie no real reasonable suspicion - trying to leave leads to resisting charges that won't be dropped and what happened afterwards also won't be dropped). So de facto, reasonable suspicion is really 100% officer discretion. You are NOT yet mirandized here. That's very important to know because depending on the situation you might already want to stop answering questions, but they haven't mirandized you yet. More on that later.
3. Under arrest. Here police have what's called "probable cause". This means you're placed in handcuffs and will certainly get charged and either go to jail or get a summons. You must be mirandized here. If you are mirandized it means you're under arrest and 99.99% of the time, it's better to invoke them.
So when should you invoke Miranda? Ideally, whenever you feel that the narrative is not going in your favor. By the time you're arrested and you get mirandized, this is almost certainly the case. However, you might want to invoke them earlier, particularly in the detained portion. The general rule of thumb to immediately invoke Miranda at the first question is a decent rule to follow, but it's not the absolute best. The optimal move is more nuanced. You want to carefully answer questions to police if you feel you can still control the narrative and paint yourself innocent believably. If you realize that's not going to happen, you should decline to answer questions even if not mirandized because police will interpret answers poorly if they already believe you're guilty (you still have to identify and obey commands, even when mirandized or invoking silence).
Another important thing to keep in mind is that it's important not to treat police as all or nothing. Even if you know with high certainty you'll be convicted of something. You still don't want to give police any freebies. This means:
- NEVER admit to fault
- NEVER self incriminate
This is important to realize, because there's not much benefit in "coming clean". You should always decline searches, insist innocence, and invoke silence when reasonably possible, no matter the situation. Because when you do you're far more likely to give prosecutors a harder time convicting you, you'll make them fear mistrial, and they're much more likely to give you better plea deals.
Most cases never go to trial. They get resolved with plea deals. So don't throw your bargaining chip away by admitting crimes, ever. Only accept plea deals.
