There is a thread in NVG Secret Service Agents came to my residence today. OP claims the agents were looking for info about his online transactions, he admitted to being an online player, gave him some 'advice'/'warnings' and then left him alone. Some posters are calling BS on the whole thing but I think his story sounds legit.

The thread has attracted the 'never talk to the police crowd' w/ that 'don't talk to the police video' that I'm not going to bother looking for.

I have taken the position that it's sometimes ok to talk to the police esp in this case where they have all the evidence they need if they want to arrest/prosecute him and have gone so far as to say that a person would have to be very socially awkward/inexperienced to not be able to tell the difference when it is ok to talk to the police and when not to.

As for me, I've been in 5 busts of illegal gambling joints and, errrr, 'massage' parlors, answered questions every time, no prob. I used to manage buildings in the South and West Bronx, there were many arsons over the years, the landlord is the first suspect (insurance money, ldo), junkies wanting to chase out all the tenants in order to be able to strip the buildings coming in second, I talked to the arson investigators every time, no prob. I talked bec I knew it would be no prob and not like a case where somebody got stabbed in a bar fight and I might've been involved. I use that just for an example.

So I said that I was going to make this thread and see what some real stories are out there if we can find any. Please share.

Not even a pig likes a grass.

howard/anyone else who would talk to the cops, you really need to watch this.

I used this hypothetical:

Police knock on your door and ask where you were between 10 and 2 hours ago. You were playing poker in a B&M during those hours. You ask why they're asking, they say 'John Doe was murdered during those hours and the neighbors heard you arguing with him last night.'

If it's me I answer: 'I was playing poker. Let's go and check the surveillance tapes RIGHT NOW!'

You want to say 'talk to my lawyer', fine, but I'm not taking the chance that they're gone by the thime that I need them.

isn't there some weird story about how some oot'er found a dead body and let himself be interrogated by cops?

I tend to agree w/ Howard that there are times when it is +EV to talk to the cops.

There are obviously times when it is suicidal.

Real story, not edited since I can't be charged with anything now anyways.

I was 18 at the time and my parents had gone overseas for 6 weeks. I decided that I didn't want to walk to work and instead took their car without letting them know. On my way home I rear ended some guy in a truck and he took off, called my parents when I got home and told them what happened. They said to just go report it so they could claim insurance.

Head down to the police station the next morning and ask to file an accident claim, write out everything that happened and the cop on duty says he needs to inspect the damage. so we go outside and he looks at the front bumper where there is a crystal clear imprint of this guy's trailer hitch on the bumper.

Go back inside and he immediately starts in on me saying how my statement is all bull**** and that no accident would happen the way I wrote it out. since my dad was the RO he starts saying that I'll be charged with theft for taking the car and starts demanding that I contact my parents right then (In Australia, zero chance of calling them then). Then, since the damage is "not consistent" with my story and I'm reporting it a day after it happened, he come to the conclusion that I was drunk the night before and I hit a car on my way home. He tries to get me to give him my DL again (lol, no chance of that) and that my "case" will be sent to the hit and run detectives and that as soon as they find the car I supposedly hit, I'll face a whole slew of criminal charges.

Then he offered me the chance to destroy my original statement and write another one. I just left.

It ended with me contacting the unit in charge of hit and run and seeing if he had indeed sent it over. They thought I was kidding and actually told me to contact the professional standards division. Filed my complaint, making sure to include his offer for me to rip up a sworn statement. I ended up getting an apology from his sergeant and he got a nice letter in his file.

Second time dealing with a police officer was much better. Got pulled over for speeding, at the time I did not have my seatbelt on, no mudflaps or fender flares on my truck and I had forgotten to put my new insurance slips in the truck. Walked away with a warning and 1 ticket for the speeding only. Guy was totally professional. Paid the ticket without fighting it and called his district office to commend him.

Basically my stance is this, start out as a dick and you'll get told to produce a warrant or talk to my lawyer. If you don't, I'll probably be more than happy to talk to you, provided I think the questions are reasonable. I have 2 HD cameras in my car and I have so far voluntarily turned over footage on one occasion, cop was nice and simply asked if I had caught anything that would help them. Made them a DVD and dropped it off the next day. If they had outright demanded all the footage, I probably would have told them to find a warrant and deleted it out of spite right when I got home.

meh. there were presumably dozens of people in the place who saw you there. the video doesn't really add anything to your alibi.

I hope that you're not serious.

Just in case you are do you really think that those witnesses are going to remember a damn thing however long it takes for you to go to trial? If you want witnesses you'd better get down to the poker room even faster than you'd go to look at the tapes.

I think the chances of someone remembering you, unless you are both regs, is pretty slim. Take into account that eyewitnesses are incredibly unreliable and easy to discredit and I'll take a video over a person any day. Hence the reasons for the cameras mentioned above.

Asking why is fine, but I wouldn't necessarily expect a straight answer. What happens when they say "Oh we're just looking for anyone that might have seen something at that time?"

That tells you nothing and you're being a little foolish to just start answering questions about your whereabouts unless you know what it is they are investigating.

Anytime a cop or detective starts asking me about my whereabouts I'm going to get a little suspicious of why especially if they just don't come out and tell me.

Of course you'd be suspicious but in my hypothetical you have an air-tight alibi (unless they are going to charge you w/ being in a poker room) and it will be the end of the matter for you once they look at the vids. It doesn't matter what it is the cops want.

Howard, just do yourself a favor and watch the damn video because it completely discredits any talk to the cops argument you've come up with.

The first thing would be to ask what they're inquiring about and why.

If they want to play games or get aggro, or some other TV cop nonsense, then there's no reason to be cooperative. Or, if there's even a hint it's something that could be potentially incriminating, like your financial transactions, same deal. Then there's the possibility they're completely lying to keep in the back of your mind.

Still, if they wanted something like my whereabouts at a certain time and I had a rock-solid & verifiable answer (in my case I often do), then I wouldn't have a problem assisting them in that particular regard. First so that they can "save the tapes," and second, so they can stop bothering me and go find the real killer or whatever.

In the case of the financial stuff like in the linked thread, I'd tell them something like:

"I haven't done anything wrong and would like to assist you, but if we're to the point where the Secret Service is investigating my transactions and throwing around terms like 'bank fraud' and 'money laundering,' there's no way I can answer your questions without an attorney."

I'd probably drop that I'm a poker player in hopes that they can work out the rest for themselves, but I wouldn't get too specific.

I watched the video the last time it was posted.

I have a different view. Especially the 'completely' part.

Pico River Sheriff's came asking questions about a GPS device that had my address on it. They first asked me if the GPS device belonged to me, I said no. They then asked me why my address is on the device, told them it must belong to someone I know obviously!(had just woken up to loud knocks at my door). They finally asked me if I knew XXXXX, said no and they left. Turns out it belonged to my SIL

Would anyone ask for a lawyer in this case?

They look at the vids, can't find you and assume you're lying.

Unless you have a habit of looking straight up at the camera the vids will never show your face. Even if you do look up many casinos have really crap systems.

It would have to be a world class stupid dumbass mother ****er to use a place w/ surveillance cameras as an alibi, ffs. Would they think that you are a world class stupid dumbass mother ****er? I'll take my chances w/ the casino system. There've been plenty of ppl sent off to jail from lousy convenience store systems, the casino has to be better.

Hey, I just thought of something! Casino Arizona's stingy poker comp system only pays 87.5 cents/hr on the player's card and that's w/ the food comp included but it's also good for supporting an alibi! I'm going to start using that in some of my jokes.

I don't normally watch YT vids people link to me that are longer than maybe 3m, but this one was really, really interesting. Thanks for posting it.

I am cutting and pasting and editing what I posted on the original thread....

I am in my 17th year as a criminal defence lawyer and couldn't count the number of times I've had to say to clients (who didn't contact me til it was too late) that if they hadn't allowed themselves to be interviewed, the Police/Prosecuting authorities would have no case against them. Many foolishly believed that by talking that it would result in no charges being laid. What I tell all clients, is don't talk to Police...if they're going to charge you, they're going to charge you anyway, and you're better off telling your story (which you will inevitably have to one day, either through your lawyer or by giving evidence) after knowing all the evidence the Police have against you, after receiving legal advice, and in a Court where you will have a lawyer representing your interests. Only fools don't follow that advice.

If you think only guilty people find themselves facing trials, you are seriously naive. Innocent people are routinely put on Trial for crimes they didn't commit, and their interviews are used against them. Innocent people have even confessed to crimes they didn't commit, for a variety of reasons. You can tell one small lie that you think has nothing to do with the crime and won't affect the investigation, or get one thing wrong, and it's compelling evidence against you, guilty or innocent.

yeah that was a good video, mostly common sense but still interesting

Howard,

I talked to cops in my two stupidest situations, one going ~130 and the other clearly driving drunk (my last time driving drunk). Both resulted in me getting let go. Happy to share more details on both.

I've talked my way out of 2 DWI's. Easily would have blown .20 on both occasions. It's good to be white and/or good looking(or just not a slob).

Yeah, a system that doesn't log you out until after something like 5 hours sounds like a rock solid alibi there, Howard.

If you trip up just once in your answers, the entire focus of the investigation shifts towards you. Something like, "Oh, yeah, it probably was 12:30 and not 1:00 when I left the house." Is enough for them to be willing to probe much deeper, and the more you flap your gums, the deeper you're digging yourself and CAZ cameras and not going to do **** for you.

Just like everyone else with a job, your job security relies on your performance, and an investigator's performance is built around arrests, not convictions. If they arrested you incorrectly and you get off at trial, it's because you beat the system, not that they made a mistake (that's not to say I'm saying that investigators aren't conscientious about finding the correct suspect).

Just look at the Norfolk Four. Even after the guy whose DNA matched AND he confessed AND he confessed he acted alone, the lead investigator still felt his arrests (and the subsequent convictions) were legitimate and that the true killer lied that he acted alone (despite no DNA present of the others).

Okay I have one.

I'm in college, living in a dorm, about 19 years old.

Man knocks on my door and identifies himself as a detective, shows me his badge, asks to come in and talk. He's in plain clothes. I had no idea why he was there or could want to talk to me. Zero clue.

Being young and maybe a little scared (first time being "interrogated") I say no problem.

He proceeds to pull out a plastic baggie from his pocket. Inside the baggie is my cell phone. My cell phone that I lost a few days before.

'Sweet! Someone found my phone!' I think.

He wants to talk about my phone. No, I don't know where it could have been found. If I knew that it wouldn't be lost, ldo.

Apparently it was found in a fenced off construction site - a construction site that yes, I did cut through just about every day because it was a good shortcut to the place my roommate and I liked to eat.

Oh and guess what Quady, the construction site was vandalized a few days ago.

*DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUUUUN*

Apparently Deputy Dawg thought that my cell phone was the big break in cracking the "who vandalized the construction site" caper.

After maybe a 5 minute conversation he believed that I had nothing to do with it, I got my phone back (sweet Nokia brick with a STL Cardinals plastic overlay!) and that was the last I heard from him.

A couple tactics I remember using in conversation:

He seemed to be trying to play good cop/bad cop by himself lol.

He told me straight up how he found me - found my mom under my contacts, called her, told her that he found the phone at the mall and asked how to get ahold of me, then he told me that he didn't tell my mom the real story of where my phone was found and made some comment about how I didn't have to tell her that he was really a cop and he was talking to me about a crime - I guess his intention here was to see how I would react to the thought of my parents finding out - would I be worried about that? Obv. since I had nothing to hide I immediately said that I'd call her first thing after he left to tell her the whole story (and I did).