Long, but interesting videos

The law professor and then the cop both say the same thing. Never talk to cops.

 

I have to admit, from growing up in the 60s and 70s and being a "hippie" I NEVER would talk to the police!

 

Yeah, I wasn't so smart when I was about 16. Remember in the olden days when credit cards had pressure carbons that had to be run through that little hand machine? I was working in a retail store and unbeknownst to anyone, one of my co-workers was purposely running 2 carbons at once. Then his buddies would come in and buy goods and they would sign the secret extra carbon. They were ripping off the store for quite a bit of money. No one was going to know for weeks when credit card bills came out.

On several occasions in the past, I saw managers sign the bottom of the credit card slips if a customer forgot to sign. Other times, managers had me sign if one was found when closing out the drawer. On one occasion, I found one when closing out the drawer. I signed it and didn't think twice about it. Unfortunately, this time was at the same time my co-worker and his buddies were stealing and committing credit card fraud as described above.

Well, the CC statements started going to customers who were now complaining. A cop came in and all employees who worked in Cameras and Electronics had to fill out a special form to test our handwriting. I filled it out and didn't think anything of it. 4 or 5 days later when I got to work, there was a cop waiting for me. He got in my face and said, "You're one dumb blankety, blank, blank. You didn't even attempt to change your handwriting on the test. Not only that, you didn't even attempt to change your handwriting on the credit card slip"
After showing me a credit card slip he asked, "Is this your handwriting?"
"Yes, but let me explain....."
"So, you admit freely that you signed this credit card"
"Yes, but let me explain....."
"You are in serious trouble you worthless thief!!! You better tell me who you are working with"
"Sir, I don't even understand what you're asking me nor why you're yelling at me"
"You worthless thief, if you don't start talking and telling me who your partners are, you're going to spend Christmas and New Years in jail. If we can't find your partners, we are going to blame you for every single fraudulent credit card transaction you blankety, blank, blank, blank and you'll stay in jail for a long time".
"Sir, I didn't even know about any fraudulent credit card transactions until 30 seconds ago. I don't have any partners. I still don't fully know what you're talking about".
"You just admitted in front of me and Officer XYZ that you signed that credit card slip. You're guilty. You're going to jail. All of the other fake sales had different handwriting from yours. None of them matched any other employees with the exception of one. If you don't tell me who your partners are, you're taking the fall for all of them".
"Sir, I promise you I've never done any fake credit card sales. Yes, I did sign that one carbon but let me explain".
"I don't want to hear any of your lies you @##$$%^. All I want to hear from you are the names of your partners in crime".
This went on for a long time. A REAL LONG TIME. After several hours, they brought all my managers in. They were informed that I wouldn't talk about my partners but they had their criminal.
My managers looked at the cops and said, "You have the wrong person. Curt stole nothing". The cops were very perplexed and told them, "He admitted his guilt. We're going to arrest him". I then looked to my managers and said, "I just signed the credit card slip when closing out the drawer like you've all had me do before. I didn't steal anything. I PROMISE". My managers told the cops, "See, we told you that you had the wrong person".

When the cops left, I promised to my managers again that I didn't steal anything and they responded, "We know Curt. We weren't going to let them arrest you". Even though I was 16 and a male, I had to run to the bathroom because I was close to breaking into tears.

I will never talk to cops again. They didn't want my explanation about why my signature was on that carbon. They had their confession and that's all they wanted.

PS....about 20 years later I was out and about and saw Detective Ganiger again. I kid you not, my heart rate went so high I don't know how it didn't explode and I wanted to throw up.

BTW, the other employee whose name was on one of the slips was guilty. Him and his buddies all went to jail. They managed to get about $50 grand worth of goods out of the store. The higher sales weren't noticed by the store because it was Holiday Season.

 

I also have experience w/ cops that have to do with this, but I was cuffed and questioned before they read me my rights. As soon as the false charges were dropped, I started contemplating if I should follow through with making a case against all 7 officers or just say screw it and move on. I have decided to say screw it, but I have not moved on yet.

I grew up in a smallish town and was on a first name basis with almost all the officers. When I went away to college I would hear horror stories about false arrests and officers treating civilians awfully. I would tell the people who told me these stories that I have found that as long as you treat them with respect they will treat you with respect. I have since changed my mind...

Nor will I.

 

Try if you can move on if you can. To any LEO's I apologize. However, I view every cop as an enemy unless I've met that particular cop and they've proven to me otherwise. I have other reasons. When I broke my whole body when I accidentally locked myself out of my own house, I had cops kicking me, hitting me, and dragging me across my back yard with me screaming, "DON'T MOVE ME!!! DON'T MOVE ME!!!" I had a blown out knee, broken tailbone, broken back, broken clavicle, and broken wrist. The cops decided I needed broken ribs and a dislocated shoulder as well. Even after they pulled my wallet and found out it was my house, one particular cop was continuing to scream obscenities at me because I was a #$$%%^ catburglar. He was very colorfully telling me what he was going to do to me once it was only me and him after the hospital released me. The other cops saved my life (so there are still good cops out there) and their Captain came up and 'grounded him'. He said, you #$$%^ go sit in my squad car and shut your mouth. Here's the thing that's scary. My house was in a upper-middle-class section of town. It wasn't like I was in a poor section with drugs and such.

 

I was confronted when I broke in to my own car once. I locked my keys in my car, but left my sunroof open by accident. I tried getting into the car when I realized I didn't close it. Then realized my keys were in the ignition. I obviously climbed through the sunroof. This all took place withing 30seconds of my pulling in to the spot. I never left my car, but the cops assumed I was breaking in to a car.

Cops don't care about the truth. just like speeding tickets, they have a quota for arrests. I am sure of it.

 

15, in June it will be 16 years ago talking to the police resulted in 180 days of county jail for me on a first time offense DUI. I live in a small town and know the officer. After giving me the field test and determining I was too drunk to be driving he said "Mike, I'm gonna need you to turn around and put your hands on your head". "Why" "You're under under arrest for driving while intoxicated" "I'm not going to jail Jesse" With that he knew me well enough that he was already on his radio and me being the big dumb cowboy advanced on him with a stiff right hook. By the time it was over there where 3 city cops, both sherrif's deputy's and a highway patrolman on the scene. I'd been maced and clubbed and hog tied with zipcord. When they unloaded me onto the floor of the station garage I was asked if I'd calmed down. Of course I said yes. My feet were cut loose and cuffs replaced the cords on my wrists. I was granted a request to wash my eyes out..they loosed one hand, cuffing my left to my belt on my right hip and had me kneel on the floor while running a garden hose on my head. When my vision returned well enough to see detail I looked over my shoulder and saw Jesse holding the hose. My anger boiled again and I came straight up with a crushing blow that knocked the cop out cold. Of course that was the end of it because the other 4 immediately dog piled me. I was dragged to a holding cell where I sat for 5 days before being arraigned. The Judge also knew me and was a rodeo fan. He could have sent me to the state pen but chose to drop the assault and give me the max sentence for 1st offense instead.
I nearly lost my wife and kids. My career was gone, I couldn't compete so of course didn't get the points necessary to keep my PRCA card and when I got out I had to go into the work force and decided it would be best if I left the cowboy lifestyle behind. I never took a drink again either, so far.
That was my only run in with the law, now I don't put myself in a situation where I have to talk to the popo.

 

morals of the story.

#1 don’t drink and drive.

#2 NEVER hit a cop.

#3 don’t mess with a drunk cowboy.

 

i see a couple of you had a bad experience with law enforcement, where as I have had alot of shinnanigans.... and been caught.. ive never had a bad experience. Though I full agree with the video. I volunteer for the local PD and am looking to get on with the County as a reserve deputy, its always tough to know who is lying nd who is. With the sheer volume of venom out there for officers and deputies they are forced into an advisarial position alot of the time. Billings is lucky to have a really good pd that weeds out the bad apple, but like everything in life sometimes there are people who shouldn't be working in that field. False statements or even true statement that can be refuted often take the place of good forensics that lead to eople being falsely incriminated. If ever you are a 'person of intrest' in a criminal preceding, as long as there are no statements often forensics alone will need to be used to convict you, and being innocent you wont be linked in most instances. Science doesnt lie in my opinion so let that be your truth.

 

I think what needs to be pointed out here is the psyche of 90% of those who want to be a police officer. I have done research on this and the conclusion of my study is that those who want to be police officers are basically insecure individuals who have an enormous ego, and once put in the position of power, although a small amount, become arrogant to the point of delusion. People are people. No one is superior to anyone else, but, when the officer gets his "big opportunity" to "strut his stuff" look out! The ego inflates, all his insecurity wells up and he is going to make sure you know he is "the boss". I left out female officers here on purpose as they don't carry the macho ego men display. To further prove the insecurity aspect, did ever notice that cops hang with cops? I know several cops and they all hang around together. This re-assures them and they feel empowered by one another. I really started to research this because with every job or profession there is an underlying or ulterior motive for an individual to be in that job or profession. When looking at cops, I found the pay to be lacking (90% of the time). So what draws them? Then you look at the job itself and, as far as physical labor, that is lacking, leisure time is great so when they get their chance to exercise authority they are usually over zealous. When observing their personalities, the inevitable observation is that of arrogance and smugness. This reason alone is enough to avoid a conversation with them, they are not capable nor willing to be normal.