Hard agree here. I've had two run ins with the police (in the UK - I made a mistake driving and was pulled over, and the other was just wrong place wrong time) and in both cases just being civil removed me from the situation in less than 15 minutes. If I had started parroting the "I refuse to speak to the police" line in either scenario it would have been a whole whole lot worse.
Aggravatingly, in the US, even the most routine traffic stop frequently runs considerably more than 15 minutes. I don't know precisely what's going on. They take your driver's license and registration back to their car, presumably to run it through some kind of database.
Does that take 20 minutes? I dunno. Or maybe they're doing paperwork, or playing solitaire, or maybe just wasting your time because they can. The process is incredibly opaque. Even if it's necessary, it's unclear why, and I've never had a traffic stop that didn't feel abusive.
I'm always super placating about it in an attempt to keep it from getting even worse. Fortunately, it has only happened a very small number of times -- all of which were for minor violations that could easily have been "Hey, I saw you do X. Don't do that again." (Which actually did happen once -- for failing to turn my lights on in the daytime. Which was written on a sign. Presumably about some kind of visibility, I guess. But at least they didn't fine me over it, or take up more than 5 minutes.)
Having worked with some law enforcement records software I can say that "paperwork" (which now involves filling out electronic forms) and waiting for state database queries to come back are definitely a time suck. The officers who I know would like the process to be faster as well. Being stopped on the roadside is a dangerous situation that nobody wants to be in longer than necessary.
Not sure where you live but 15 minutes is way long for a traffic stop. I was in a traffic accident and it took 15 minutes for the police to do everything he needed including an automated print out with my court date (hit someone at low speed from behind). Same deal when I was speeding, less than 10 mins with a full print out with pay X fine or appear on Y date. All automated.
The pot brothers at law made a video of how they got a guy off at a weed distribution plant because he kept his mouth shut. The prosecutor couldn't prove he was an employee, customer touring, or what. All because they shut up and didnt say anything.
I had two police officers at my door a couple of years ago, turns out my neighbour had died and they wondered if I'd heard anything or not heard anything from him.
Apparently the correct advice is to refuse to say anything without a lawyer, which I'm certain would be the end of the matter. I wonder if it's lawyers (paid $500/hour or whatever) who suggest that advice.
I am pretty sure it is lawyers who are suggesting the advice but not sure if that makes it based out of greed.
If you look at it from a lawyer's perspective: The majority of my clients who speak to the police(either before or after employing me) have a large amount of trouble. So therefore it is ill advised to speak to the police.
What they are missing: All the people who spoke with police and had no problems.
The guys a lawyer yeah, but the advice isn’t to offer the cop a chance to talk with you with a lawyer; it’s to avoid talking to cops at all. Then if the cops try to force an interview anyway, that’s where the “without a lawyer” comes in; if they’re arresting you then they should have other PC and you’ll be needing a lawyer anyway.
And the whole point is that even in your case, it’s not directly beneficial to you to answer even innocuous questions about your neighbor’s death; at best it doesn’t change any suspicions on you, but at worst there is a chance that your answers could make you a person of interest when you weren’t one before.
If you have a disfunctional police force that may be the case, but when I cold shoulder my local pc (who I've spoken to a couple of times at parish council meetings about speeding issues in the village), that's clearly going to be increasing suspicions on me.
Your claim "not directly beneficial to you" is also odd. Not talking to the police and thus not finding out there's a murderer around?
Maybe it's different in third world countries where the police don't care about the public and are just a law to themselves, that's certainly not the case where I live.
