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Why You Shouldn't Talk to The Police.

Jason Apollo Hart Feb. 18, 2019

The unfortunate news, if you are reading this, it is probably to late. You have likely talked to the police and are regretting it. Hopefully, after reading this article you won't talk to the police again. More likely than not, if you are talking to the police it won’t help you. We won’t say that talking to the police never helps, but we can say that you should never talk to the police as a policy. Very rarely has a person helped themselves by talking to the police in Apollo Law’s experience. If the police are talking to you, they are most likely only doing so because they want to charge you with a criminal offense.

If they have detained you, it’s because they believe that they already have enough evidence to arrest you and they want to see if you will admit it and thus, give them an even stronger case against you. If they have evidence to arrest you for a crime, they will. If they don’t, they likely will not arrest you. It’s as simple as that. Talking to the police or not talking to them won’t make a difference!

If you deny that you committed the crime, the police will generally not believe you. Police officers tend to be jaded individuals by the nature of their job. It is a difficult and noble job. However, arresting individuals for criminal offenses and putting themselves at risk of bodily harm while doing so on occasion tends to make officers quick to judgment. The requirements to be a police officer have also dropped do to funding and recruitment issues in modern times. In Frankfort, as of the date of this article, there has been significant turn over at the police department in Frankfort. It takes on average eighteen months to train and get a newly hired police officer to work in Frankfort and they are under staffed. Our attorney has also met several officers whom were barely literate (predominately outside of Franklin County), had substance abuse issues, and even a few that deliberately made false arrests for personal vendettas rather than violation of the law. That said, often the police will not investigate the innocence of individuals but will try only to confirm their guilt. If they already have evidence suggesting that you committed the crime, they’ll assume you’re just doing what most criminals do in their mind and are simply denying the offense. It will not prevent you from getting arrested, even if you are telling the officer the truth.

MANY people think that they are savvy enough or eloquent enough or well educated enough to be able to talk to the police and convince the police not to arrest them. Even some experienced lawyers fall for this trap. Talking to a police officer is never a good idea. Anything you say can and will be used against you in court. So why risk saying anything at all? We advise that you tell the officer that you have nothing to say and that they can speak to our attorney (if you have hired Apollo Law or plan to hire Apollo Law to represent you). The police inevitably will try to good cop bad cop you, don’t fall for it! Blame our attorney Jason for why you are not talking to the police. If they are going to arrest you, let them and don’t say anything. Tell the police to call us if they have any questions.

Even if you are guilty of whatever offense you are being detained (arrested) and questioned about you should say nothing until you speak with an attorney. If you think that you can’t afford a private attorney, you should fill out an affidavit of indigency and wait to talk to your public defender. Kentucky crimes have large ranges of penalties and collateral consequences. A police officer has no authority to make offers to you. Only the prosecutor can make you an offer and even then, until the offer is in writing and entered by a Kentucky court it is subject to change.

Officers tend to misunderstand what people tell them. Apollo Law has had numerous cases where the officers simply misunderstood what the individual was saying, or the officer deliberately began adding words to the individual’s statements. If the officer is rushing to judgment and looking to charge you with something just about anything you can say will be taken out of context. Often, such interrogations are not recorded by the police. Unfortunately, police officers view themselves most commonly as part of the prosecution and not as a public employee and protector of the accused as a member of the public. The matter then comes down to who will the judge or jury believe, you or the police officer?

The other common issue is that if your statement isn’t 100% accurate the police and the prosecutor are going to hold it against you. People are prone to telling white lies when under stress or simply making mistakes because of the stress of talking with armed police officers while being detained or arrested. There are many experts available now to discuss the prevalence of false confessions and coerced confessions. There appears to be a correlation between the greater the criminal allegation equaling the greater the coercive action by the police. It is better not to say anything until you understand what the allegations are and have an attorney to discuss your rights and defenses to such allegations.

In conclusion, NEVER speak to the police until you talk to an attorney. Call us at Apollo Law if you beleive the police are going to or have questioned you regarding a criminal offense. The earlier we enter our appearance the greater the chance that we can help you with your case.