If you are arrested...

You’ve made a mistake. And now you’ve been arrested. You’re sitting in the police station and the "nice" policeman wants to talk to you. He says it will go easier on you if you level with him. He offers you a cigarette, some soda, and maybe says you can go back to your family as soon as you talk to him. You want to talk to him because it’s just a mistake, and you’ve only done something a little wrong, and if you just explain it maybe it will go away.

It won’t go away. The biggest mistake you can make is to think that the police are your friends and that if you just tell them what happened, it will go easier. It won’t go easier.

The first job of the police is to find "crime". Their second job is to blame someone for it. They are there to do their job. For it to go easier on you, it’s up to the prosecutor, maybe the judge, and certainly a skilled defense attorney, It’s not up to the police. If you think it is, you’re making the biggest mistake of your life.

The police are trained to ask questions, trained to be nice, trained even to lie to get you to talk to them. Did you know that when the FBI was investigating the bombing at the summer Olympics in Atlanta they invited that poor security guard down to headquarters to watch a movie in the hope that in that "casual" atmosphere he would talk to them? The FBI didn’t tell him that! And this is perfectly legal.

What you should do, at your earliest opportunity, is to tell the police that you want to speak with an attorney. At that point all questioning by the police must end. They may ask you to fill out a Miranda card. This is their excuse to start a conversation with you. You should, and you must request an attorney. Do it, It takes a little courage. You are all alone in a police station, and no one else knows you are there. They may even threaten you, or slap you. Be courageous. Tell them you want an attorney. Insist on it. They will leave you alone.

My experience is that the easiest way for the police to "solve" a crime is to have you confess to it. Many people are in prison based only on that "confession". You don’t have to become one of those people. Every client who agrees to speak with the police, even if "off the record" is putting one foot inside a prison cell. It never helps you to speak with the police.