Arrest-Proof Yourself
by Dale C. Carson, Wes Denham · first published 2007
83% recommend17% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Written by a former police officer, it explains how ordinary people get arrested, how even one arrest can cause lasting harm, and what practical steps to take when police approach. Useful for anyone.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
This essential “how not to” guide explains how to act and what to say in the presence of police to minimize the chances of being arrested and to avoid add-on charges—which can often lead to permanent disqualification from jobs, financing, and education. Citizens can learn how to avoid arrest both on the street and when pulled over in a vehicle and are alerted to basic tricks cops use to get people to incriminate themselves. Sprinkled with absurdity and humor, this urgent, eye-opening book is a guide to criminal justice for all Americans.
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…is not measured on the number of arrests, but on the lack of crime. This is in contrast to the US, where a cop's career prospects largely depend on his arrest record. To see where this has led, read Arrest-Proof Yourself by Dale C. Carson. (By the way, I don't actually live in the US, so if you want to tell me I'm an idiot and I don't know what I'm talking about I'll have no comeback.)
on “Peelian Principles” ↗…be prosecuted for recording the public activities of law enforcement officers. It is also unusual for such a prosecution to be possible. After edit: Another HN thread a while back recommended the book 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 http://www.amazon.com/Arrest-Proof-Yourself-Ex-Cop-Reveals-A...…
on “Growing Number of Prosecutions for Videotaping the Police” ↗…be layoffs in many police departments and courthouses, and that wouldn't do. (For more on this theme, about how the police-judicial system (my words of art) need a steady diet of "the clueless", read 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 (http://www.amazon.com/Arrest-Proof-Yourself-Ex-Cop-Reveals-A...)
on “Man compelled by police to undergo surgical procedure to "search for drugs"” ↗…when a truck starts ramming against a police vehicle without stopping, they make it stop. When the police officer’s life could pretty much be in danger, they’ll kill you. Duh. BTW: http://www.amazon.com/Arrest-Proof-Yourself-Ex-Cop-Reveals-A...
on “Iowa police kill son whose father only wanted to ‘teach him a lesson’” ↗Yes, from everything I've read, e.g. there's been some recent leaks about the NYPD, and I highly recommend this classic (or its first edition, haven't read the second): http://www.amazon.com/Arrest-Proof-Yourself-Dale-C-Carson/dp... (which Amazon says is the #1 best seller in "Consumer Law Business Law", which I believe).
on “The Common Cure for Heroin Addiction Is Also a Magnet for Police Harassment” ↗…like to call the police-judicial complex. This book's underlying thesis is that too avoid unthinkable layoffs, the complex needs a steady diet of "the clueless" to keep running at it's current tempo: Arrest-Proof Yourself (https://www.amazon.com/Arrest-Proof-Yourself-Dale-C-Carson/d...) I haven't read the 2nd edition I linked to, but I can't recommend the 1st highly enough in every respect, theory to practice.
on “How an accused drug dealer revealed Jacksonville's facial recognition network” ↗Highly recommended reading in conjunction with this article: http://www.amazon.com/Arrest-Proof-Yourself-Ex-Cop-Reveals-A... E.g. note the item on page two of the Village Voice article on "points".
on “The NYPD Tapes” ↗Also highly recommended, since at times there's more to all this than just not talking when you don't have to: http://www.amazon.com/Arrest-Proof-Yourself-Ex-Cop-Reveals-A...
on “Don't Talk to the Cops” ↗I'd like to see a comprehensive breakdown of exactly what you should do in real situations when approached by cops. I just read a very helpful book about that, 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 R. Dale Carson, http://www.amazon.com/Arrest-Proof-Yourself-Ex-Cop-Reveals-A...…
on “Don't Talk to the Cops” ↗The other excellent resource I've found is the book 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 (http://www.amazon.com/Arrest-Proof-Yourself-Ex-Cop-Reveals-A...),…
on “AusCERT arrest - yes, "arrest"” ↗An end of month bump doesn't really surprise me... for an ex-cop's viewpoint into how police officers operate, Dale Carson's book (Arrest-Proof Yourself) is an illustrative read.
on “Do the police give more tickets at the end of the month to meet quotas?” ↗…good thesis on what drives this, an explanation for why you can have a dramatic drop in national crime rates without layoffs in what I've taken to calling the police-judicial complex, read this book, 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 (http://www.amazon.com/Arrest-Proof-Yourself-Ex-Cop-Reveals-A...),…
on “Bottled-water purchase leads to night in jail for U.Va. student” ↗…forces and judicial systems, in most places those would have significantly downsized if they'd followed the sharp decrease in crime over the last couple of decades or so. You might want to check out Arrest Proof Yourself (http://www.amazon.com/Arrest-Proof-Yourself-Ex-Cop-Reveals-A...): it presents a thesis that what I've taken to calling the police-judicial complex needs a steady diet of the "clueless" to keep all those…
on “Zero Tolerance Policies Put Students In The Hands Of Bad Cops” ↗…problems with their equipment loadout (it's too much like mine!), it's the attitudes, it's their actions, in too many localities their arrest quotas (see the very highly recommended http://www.amazon.com/Arrest-Proof-Yourself-Dale-C-Carson/dp...). The equipment has no agency.
on “New Style of Police Training Aims to Produce Guardians, Not Warriors” ↗…alone killed, is a very unlikely outcome (although a lot more likely for your dogs, if you have any), but there are so many bad outcomes calling the police should still be avoided. You might want to read 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; I did after a cop in my fairly small home city…
on “Man shoots downs neighbor’s hexacopter” ↗