Aurora PD

[Ronin13]

This is one of those things that people need to be careful with though...

The place to "fight this battle" isn't on the side of the road or during a situation. The place is in court. Just like a traffic ticket.. If you're getting a ticket you're getting a ticket. Arguing with the cop on the side of the road won't change that. You're gonna have to do it in court.

To make your life and the lives of the police you're dealing with easier... Fight the battle in court. Court is safe. No one is going to shoot you in court... No one is going to throw you on the ground in court...

Telling the cop to piss off (in a sence) during a high stress situation isn't going to go well for either person involved. Go with the flow, fight it out in court.

But this brings to the discussion now what's the difference between arguing with a cop and respectfully exercising your right to refuse consent to a warrantless search? Now I know you see what I'm getting at here, but if a cop is looking for a suspect we must stand by the motto of justice "innocent until PROVEN guilty" and the proof is in the pudding, they must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you're in the wrong. Simply saying (and I stress be respectful) "I refuse to give consent to any searches" is just you following the law and exercising your rights... what the LEO interprets that as is where we risk going into abuse of power or failure to do their job properly if it's construed as something it really isn't. Otherwise, they can feel free to move on and let me go about my business in peace.

[JM Ver. 2.0]

But this brings to the discussion now what's the difference between arguing with a cop and respectfully exercising your right to refuse consent to a warrantless search? Now I know you see what I'm getting at here, but if a cop is looking for a suspect we must stand by the motto of justice "innocent until PROVEN guilty" and the proof is in the pudding, they must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you're in the wrong. Simply saying (and I stress be respectful) "I refuse to give consent to any searches" is just you following the law and exercising your rights... what the LEO interprets that as is where we risk going into abuse of power or failure to do their job properly if it's construed as something it really isn't. Otherwise, they can feel free to move on and let me go about my business in peace.

Eh.. Depends on the situation.. Guns drawn, yelling "Get on the ground!"... I suggest you refrain from saying anything and get on the ground. That's just me though... I tend to do what ever the police ask me to do.. But, you all know what I do for work.. Granted, I did that even before I worked here.

I think there are few cops out there with the mindset of, "Let's go mess with people today." I think most of them are honest people and they're just doing their job. Choices have to be made and I'm sure most of them believe that, at the time, their choice is the right one. Mistakes happen though.

Just be glad this was a "harmless" mistake. When I say that I mean no one got hurt...