No one should ever talk to police without first speaking to an attorney. Why? Because the Indiana Supreme Court has said that it’s okay for police officers to lie, use deception, and make up evidence to try to get a confession. Many people have been tricked into saying something they shouldn’t have based on police dishonesty.
Police Are Allowed to Lie to You
Officers can lie and say they found your fingerprints or DNA at the crime scene. They can claim there’s an eyewitness who saw you commit the crime. They can play good cop/bad cop and mess with your head. They can make promises about not filing charges, even though that’s the prosecutor’s call to make.
Police have even more power in an interrogation. Officers can smack people on the body, curse at them, and intimidate them. One of the few things they’re not allowed to say is Confess now because you’ll never get a fair trial because of your race. Short of that, police can get away with an awful lot.
Cops Want Confessions
Police are trained to get confessions, and they aren’t necessarily worried about whether these confessions are true. Spend a little time online looking into the Reid technique, and you’ll find some pretty alarming stuff.
Officers will use psychological techniques to make you feel trapped and then convince you that talking is the only way out. This is a standard way of getting people to talk themselves into criminal charges in scary, high-pressure environments.
Police Aren’t the Only Ones to Watch Out For
In addition to uniformed police officers, this also applies to detectives, attorney general investigators, IRS agents, hospital security guards, campus cops—basically anyone who works for the government or wants to talk to you about some sort of wrongdoing.
Again, it’s never a good idea to talk to the police without first consulting an attorney. If you have any questions, give us a call at 317-632-3642 and remember—always plead the 5th!