DON’T TALK TO THE POLICE – A IS FOR ANARCHY

From Unoffensive animal

The cops are not your friends! Cops are the guardians of the state, and their purpose is to protect property and perpetuate oppression. Therefore the cops will never be on the same side as radical movements, not with anarchists, nor with anyone who fights for the liberation of non-human animals. Some cops will still try to be friendly to you. Don’t go for it! At all times, the cops are trying to gather information, even if they are pretending to be helpful or “just having a chat”! Remember, the cops are your enemy. Therefore you shouldn’t talk to them! 

If you still have to deal with the cops, like during an interrogation, it can be good to know the laws of the country where you live, to use them to your advantage. For example, if can you bring a friend as support during interrogation, or if you are entitled to a lawyer, or if you are (or not) allowed to give a No Comment interview.

The cops have different interrogation tactics. For example, they may ask questions about everyday things, to trick you into start talking. They might ask you if you’d like some water, or if the chair is comfortable, or if you need more clothes. Every question is an attempt to build report with you. Don’t fall for their tricks! It is to your and your friends advantage that you remain silent. A good counter-strategy during questioning can be to always answer in the same way. For example, “No Comment”. In this way you make it easier for yourself not to fall for their tactics, and you don’t risk telling the cops anything that could jeopardize the safety of you and your friends.

On arrest, the cops task is to gather information to build a case against you or your comrades. The police station and the setting are all built in order to push you towards talking to them. They might say things like “this is your time to tell me what really happened” or “Now you can tell me your side” or “we know you are innocent you need to help us prove it”. Your innocence (in most countries) is presumed until proven otherwise. You do not need to prove your innocence, and you do not need to give them a single word. Don’t make their job easier. If you feel you need to represent yourself or your actions, it is not at the cop shop but on trial where you might have time to say what you need to say. The cops don’t care, they just want to charge you!

Remember, the cops want to collect information about you and it’s difficult to know in advance what information the cops want and what it might be used for. If nobody talks, everybody walks!

There are 20 Comments

people on best practices: you don't have to be terrified of the cops in order to dispose of them. There's also LYING, being very curt/terse in what you say, and being extremely polite...i have employed all of those strategies with the cops, and i am still here typing this. Of course, we're all a little afraid of the cops, and that's natural and healthy, but don't confuse your fellow radicals with "never talk to them". Also:

" Cops are the guardians of the state, and their purpose is to protect property and perpetuate oppression."

Yes, they are guardians of the state, and they do protect property...but "perpetuate oppression"? No, their whole game is to collect tax money in a way not so different from organized crime. Being a cop is a profession, if it weren't a profession, then there wouldn't be cops. Study the cops and the military before giving bad advice and lecturing. Not every cop and military person signs up to "perpetuate oppression", only the more sadistic and happier cops do that.

Collecting tax money (by the threat of force) sounds pretty oppressive to me...

"oppression" isn't much in the way of legal advice for anarchists. I don't see anarchists calling the IRS oppressive fascists, even though they have just as good of a reason to.

Also, the anti-cop "warriors" above say it "may" help to understand local laws, but reading up on the cops and the laws they pretend to enforce may be a lot more helpful than just shutting the fuck up and trusting people who write stuff like this.

oooh, in addition to being extremely polite do we also have to lick their boots? Or maybe drop your pants and twerk on their PIG genitals? Ooor, white-face yourself if you're Black or dress in Hugo Boss if you're poor when walking outside so they'll get less oppressive? But maybe... you shouldn't even live in the US if you're Black or poor, hey, Calvin?

OBEY.

Anon. My comments here are about group above lecturing people about what to do. I would rather all these OH SO POOR groups of people figure out how they should or shouldn't to the cops.

It's amazing to me...anti-oppression politics always just means "pay attention to me because I'm a fucking troll who doesn't want to empathize with anyone outside of these particular groups."

There was also an article on here a while ago about the problem, from a legal and social perspective, about the whole "don't talk" thing. You are fucking bigot. Stop pretending you are against racism b/c you love it.

Ah yeah, there was an article about stuff.

Every fucking lawyer in Muhrica will tell you to shut up in front of cops.So shut up and quit whining, or move back to 8kunt, you big whiny baby, and leave us totalitarian anarchists with our "racist!" hate toward the police.

And the fact you think they are says a lot about your anarchism. There are instances where people got reduced prison time for defending themselves in court, there is a sordid to listening to any legal advice. I have no interest in committing crimes to impress anarchists.

Also, never once did I say "people should talk to the cops." You are projecting your non-anarchist "radical activism" on to me.

What if I were to write an article explaining how lawyers are bad and you shouldn't talk to them ever? Would this be mutual aide for your oppressed comrades?

Be yourself, and make your own decisions. Stop trying to bully others into picking your side. The more you tell me I'm like a right wingers, the more I will embrace those "right wing" opinions.

think you flipped what you were arguing about to almost the exact opposite, without noticing, multiple times in this exchange?

Are better than comments by default, or at least it appears that way.

Sometimes not talking to the cops is an incentive for them to harrass you. Here's a real story: one time i was going for a walk in a small town, i hear angry screams from the west after i park. Later during the walk, a cop drives around near me to my left, rolls down the window, and says they got a call about some disturbance and ask if i heard anything. I lie and say "no", at which the cop defensively explains he is not out to get me after i give him lip about his harrassment, and then he leaves.

Now tell me: isn't there a chance that if i said nothing at all, the cop would have thought i had something to do with the call he got, and wouldn't have left me alone? I was glad that i didn't give him information and complained about the fact he was talking to me to begin with. The state can't always tell if you are lying. I'm glad I can refuse the opportunity to be a good citizen by not being helpful and submissive.

Can we PLEASE stop making this about you two and your problems and talk more about we Contemptuous ones?

Lumpys got a chip on his shoulder about cops cos they used to throw him out of train wagons when he was a hobo.

A lot of US cops view someone, especially a black person or poor person, that says nothing at all as suspicious. It's enough of a rationale to some of the cops to detain the black or poor person longer, cuffed, put in the wagon, beat up, tazed, shot or just killed. I mean, blacks and the poor can be shot, on camera, like 80 times for this reason and nothing can be done about it. Ideally it's best to not saying anything to them, but we don't all live on naïve planet. It's best to come up with a gameplan/strategy for dealing with cops when it's in your best interests. Some tactics are lying to them or try to manipulate them, like the post you're replying to says. I had hoped all advocates for blacks or the poor is aware of all that. It's unfortunate that you're not one of them. Like are you pretty sheltered or something?

Anyways. Could you explain why lying or trying to manipulate the cops is licking their boots? Thanks.
Toodles.

lying and trying to manipulate them can end up being way more dangerous than just saying nothing, dumbo. As they say when you get arrested, anything you say can be held against you in court, so from the moment you do get arrested (at least), it's foolhardy to say anything.

Of course if cops are bothering me around I'll be talking to them, usually *firmly* but politely showing them the way to fuck off, or try breaking their bullshit and "see how it flies in court". I wouldn't be hostile or non-cooperative with them unless there's a reason to protect myself or someone else from their "intervention", like not saying stuff about neighbors or something. In general it's also better to play dumb.

I knew this guy who swore and cussed and scowled at the police in a random police traffic stop and got himself locked up, and I used the Machiavellian method of diplomacy, -- Yes officer, no officer, thankyou very much officer, and just drove away. I AM AN ANARCH!

Isn't not talking to cops or giving them useless info via word vomit is a common understanding with anarchists?

Personally I find calmly asking them a bunch of questions and embracing my autism fully works the best. They get annoyed and usually give up trying to talk to me. My theory about why this occurs is the cops don't want face the task of having to face weaponized autism and someone using their tactics against them.

IMMA OVERWORKED UNDERPAID STRESSED OUT COP AND THIS AUTISTIC GUY WAS YAPPING ON AND ON AND ON AND IT SEEMED HE WAS PLAYING WITH ME LIKE SAVANTS ARE ACTUALLY VERY SMART AND CUNNING AND I'D HAD A HARD NIGHT THE BABY WAS CRYING AND I HAD VERY LITTLE SLEEP AND THIS AUTISTIC TIM WAS HIS NAME, YAPPING,,,,,,,AND I JUST SAID GO,,,,GET OUTTA MY SIGHT, AND I SAW THIS LITTLE,,, ,, 'HAHA I GOT HIM TRICKED THE DUMB COP',,, LOOK IN HIS EYES,,,,,,,,AND AS HE WALKED OFF HE LOOKED BACK AT ME AND REACHED FOR WHAT I THOUGHT WAS A GUN AND I PUT SIX .45 CALIBRE SLUGS INTO HIM,,,,,,,,,,,It was his phone he was reaching for,,,,,,,,,

1. why did you pull me over?

2. I'm not discussing my day.

3. am i being detained or am i free to go?

4. if detained, invoke the 5th.

5. shut the fuck up.

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