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Arrest-Proof Yourself: An Ex-Cop Reveals How Easy It Is for Anyone to Get Arrested, How Even a Single Arrest Could Ruin Your Life, and What to Do If the Police Get in Your Face by Dale Carson and Wes Denham

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Main point: If cops can’t see you, they can’t arrest you!

Written by criminal defence attorney who worked previously as a cop and an FBI agent. Aims to reduce chance of you getting arrested based on American police system. One of the points is that now that police have electronic records a minor misdemeanour which you may have been charged with, then charges dropped this can follow you all your life as opposed to paper which may actually go away, particularly if you moved state. Book contains stories about peoples lives being ruined by being arrested, even though not charged. Never, under any circumstance, touch a police officer, even if the cop deserves it. You then pay a lot of lawyer fees, may get unfairly dismissed from your job, employer will cover their tracks and if you sue for unfair dismal get larger lawyer fees.

Jail is where you are held prior to trial, prison is where you serve your sentence.

Suggests for petty crime they should be given a citation rather than jail prior to a trial. Unless flight risk or threat to the community.

In Florida, officers cite someone for a misdemeanour, they write a ticket, take an electronic photo, and get a thumbprint. Then the person is released instead of going to jail. Offenders have to then show up in front of a judge on their own and get their sentence. Since they have not been jailed and had their funds extracted by attorneys and bondmen, they are more able to pay fines, court costs, and restitution

Avoid getting arrested in the first place, if you are doing well you have a lot to lose, remember if the cops can’t see you they can’t arrest you.

If being arrested remember

  1. You owe no duty to the police to help them arrest you or increase the charges against you by confessing, acting out, or responding to inciters
  2. You do not cease to be a citizen or to have rights even if you did the crime and are clearly guilty.

Most arrests have avoidable add-on charges—fleeing, resisting arrest, and battery on a law enforcement officer. These have the potential to upgrade misdemeanours to felonies which then result in long sentences and high legal fees, scoring them more points.

It is an important thing to understand is that almost all police effort is put into hunting and arresting people. Cops are visual predators who drive around in cars and score points by making arrests, the higher points they score the more likely they are to get promoted and respect from their peers. Therefore they may opt for a car with five men in it as there are potentially more people to charge with drug possession. 

On a quite day cops may start pulling over cars that were the same make and model as the number one most stolen car of that year.  Simply by driving behind the car, putting the lights and with a single honk they can identify if it is a trouble maker.  If the car is being driven by a citizen, they would just pull over and cop car would pass them by.  If driven by a car thief they’d floor the gas and a chase would occur.  

Most arrests occur in cars, carrying drugs in cars and on your person is the single largest cause of arrests in America so keep your drugs at home.

Be polite to cops, say your name and basic info then be quite.

Suggests the major reason someone gets arrested as ‘cluelessness’. Cluelessness is behavioural rather than racial or ethnic. Suggests people change behaviour on holiday so rich people who often would do things in private then do it in public then get arrested and book thrown at them.

If you are in the unfortunate position of a cop be polite and keep the conversation as short as possible.  Lose the attitude When you’re upset, you’re vulnerable because your emotions are raging and you can’t think clearly. Cops will take advantage of this, intensify routine questioning, and then search you and your vehicle. They may use inciters, such as whispered insults or a quick poke with the baton. If they’re successful in provoking you, they can upgrade a simple inquiry, traffic ticket, or misdemeanour into a felony bust. This scores more points for the cops. For you it doubles your legal fees, sends your bail amount soaring, and guarantees a stretch in the pen. It also puts a serious crime header on your National Crime Information Center information, so you can count on a lifetime of tough police scrutiny.

Don’t be clueless – if you have to attend for a court appearance or pay a fine do this.  Keep your car tax and insured and don’t lend it to your friends unless they are a named driver on your insurance.

Has an interesting concept of a card that you would show cops, with required information which may say to the cops that you in essence have good connections and a lawyer so they may leave you alone. 

Suggests if police speak to you

 ​» Stand straight.

» Grip your hands to your trouser legs. Do not put your hands into your pockets, as this can be interpreted as an attempt to reach for a weapon. Do not raise your arms, as this is considered resisting arrest in many states.

» Close your eyes and mouth to minimize spit ingestion.

» Be absolutely silent. Don’t react. Don’t let the cop know he’s getting to you.

» Hang in there until the cop runs out of breath and stops yelling.

They may whisper insults to get you provoked or hit you. If they hit you the only defence is to drop to the ground in a foetal ball position. This will protect you from resisting and battery charges if witnesses and cameras are present, and it will protect your body even if they aren’t.

Really you have got nothing to gain by interacting with them, so behave politely for a few minutes.  Give your real name, not a nickname.  If you give a nickname they then will come and talk to you if / when another crime is committed by someone with the same nickname such as ‘Bones’.

VISIBILITY. Cops first have to see you to stop and arrest you, so when will they arrest you do they see you:

  1. If they can see you
  2. If you meet a crook profile
  3. If you are out of place – incongruity

Clueless people smoke and carry dope on the street, where cops can see them, stop them, and search them. Savvy people do their drugs in their homes or fenced backyards, and the cops drive by without stopping ​because they can’t see them.  Same about may crimes, white colour criminal could be writing anything on the computer, the cop behind may see them but have no idea what they are doing, whereas someone who is carrying stolen goods may

These things will get the cops attention:

Carrying pry bars and hammers without a toolbox or work clothes

Running on the street and not wearing running clothes and shoes

Being under 16 and on the streets during school hours

Crouching in bushes

Carrying a box or TV or pillow case full of stuff

Having socks on your hands

This is also why you don’t want to speak to cops – they take down your details then if a crime occurs with someone matching your description they will come and question you. 

Incongruity

The difference between ordinary people and cops is that police officers don’t have to imagine what’s going on; they can find out. They’re curious predators, trained and paid to be nosy.  If you don’t fit with what they expect to see they will ask what you are doing. 

Car driving slowly by million-dollar homes

Man in suit strolling along loading docks at midnight with no ships at the docks

Very expensive car driving in a poor neighbourhood

Woman in evening gown walking alone on a dirt road

Wearing winter clothes when it is very warm outside

None these activities are not illegal, just unusual. They make curious cops want to stop the people involved and find out more.

If you see a cop or a car going past what do you do:  Answer : nothing.

Police are visual predators. Any sudden change in motion, speed, direction, or behaviour immediately attracts their attention. It’s an incongruity. Whatever you were doing before the police appeared, keep doing it, unless illegal.  So don’t see them then turn around and change direction or start running away.

If however you encounter an active crime scene you should change direction, turn around, cross the street, or do whatever it takes to get out of there. There is nothing to gain, they often look at people who are standing to see if they are the murders returning to the scene, or perhaps even worse you could then get seen talking to the cops and then the real criminals may think you are a grass!  In these situations the cops expect you to clear the area.

When cops say, “Hey you, c’mere.” You respond, “Officer, have I done something wrong?” When cops ask, “Why are you hiding?” You respond, “Because I’m afraid of police.”

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