Guide To Common Police Tricks | Basics

1. HAVE YOU HAD ANYTHING TO DRINK TONIGHT?
Cops can try a bunch of various tricks and techniques into getting you to incriminate yourself whether its during a random stop on the street or if you’ve been pulled over whilst driving. The very innocuous sounding question, “have you had anything to drink tonight?” is probably one of the most common. Even if you have had a glass of wine with dinner, or a beer after leaving work you should absolutely never answer this question. A cop will look for any opening they can so by answering this question with an affirmative or possibly lying to them will not lead to a happy outcome. Your absolute best bet answer is to simply reply, “Respectfully officer, I don’t have to answer that.”
2. NOT ANSWERING IS SUSPICIOUS, WHY ARE YOU RESISTING?
By now most people now the best advice when confronted by police is to remain silent and or just request a lawyer if they are being detained/arrested. This kind of behaviour though is not exactly appreciated by the police. They will often try to provoke or intimidate you into answering their questions with the hopes of you incriminating yourself. For example they might claim that you not answering their questions is suspicious and ask why are you resisting them? Well stay calm and just tell them “I’m not resisting, respectfully, I don’t have to answer anything.”
3. IF YOU HAVE NOTHING TO HIDE, YOU DON’T MIND IF I LOOK AROUND
Police officers will often pull the whole “if you ain’t got anything to hide, you shouldn’t mind if we look around?” line. Don’t be swayed -- more often than not it’s just a psychological trick to make you feel like you have to let them search you or your property. Actually, unless the police have strong evidence, aka probable cause, that you are involved in some criminal activity then they NEED your permission to perform any searches. The 4th Amendment to the constitution is the federal legislation that protects citizens against unreasonable searches and seizures. Just remember that unless you are crossing a border checkpoint or entering a secure area like an airport you can refuse random police searches. Even if the police disregard your rights and find something illegal in your possession, your initial refusal might end up protecting you in court.
4. IF YOU REFUSE A SEARCH, I’LL HAVE TO CALL A K-9 UNIT
Some officers will go onto claim that they will ‘have’ to call a K-9 unit if you refuse to let them search your vehicle. Regardless of how they phrase their question, they are attempting to intimidate you into giving them permission for their search! Try and remember to not get flustered and state clearly and politely that you refuse to allow a search or for a K-9 unit inspection and then ask if you are free to go!
5. THEY WILL TRY TO GET YOU TO USE A BREATHALYZER
We’ve all probably been there, late night driving home and you see the police checkpoints all set up where they are breathalysing everyone they encounter. It’s quite common for people to think they don’t have a choice when confronted with a breathalyzer but that’s actually not true at all. You are legally within your rights to refuse to take a breathalyzer test. That being said it’s not a get out of jail free card. If you refuse to take the test then you will automatically receive an irreversible suspension of your driver’s license or even face some jail time. Depending on the jurisdiction, your refusal could also be used against you in any future trial. More than half of all states have the legal authority to enact no-refusal DUI enforcement initiatives. As of 2015, more than half of all states have the legal authority to force you to take the test if they provide a warrant, but not all of them actually enforce this power.
Another important thing to remember about breathalyzers is that they are usually calibrated to the “average” person, which means many factors could cause a false positive result. Some of these factors include, having a smaller lung capacity, diabetes, acid reflux, and being on a low-carb diet among others.
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