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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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About Us
Image from 10 Rules for Dealign with Police
Our YouTube channel has surpassed 31 million views!
Flex Your Rights (Flex) is a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit launched in 2002. As a civil liberties organization, we are laser-focused on improving the constitutional literacy of all Americans. To accomplish this, we create and distribute the most compelling, trustworthy, and practical know-your-rights media content in the universe.
Success Online & On the Streets
The Flex Your Rights YouTube channel has surpassed 35 million views and 125 thousand subscribers. Our original articles are regularly featured in popular blogs including The Huffington Post, Reason Magazine, AlterNet, and Gizmodo.
And in addition to changing individual lives for the better, our work fights injustices and disparities in the criminal justice system by…
•Building better case law by packing courts with more sympathetic and intelligent plaintiffs
•Empowering community activists push back against unjust stop-and-frisks and other invasive police practices, and
•Influencing entire police departments to respect citizens’ constitutional rights
Constitutional Literacy Toolkit
In addition to our comprehensive web-based resources, we’ve produced and distributed more than 35 thousand copies of our original DVDs. Both titles are regularly screened in hundreds of college and high school classrooms. They are also embraced by police instructors, student and community activists, lawyers, and concerned parents.
•10 Rules for Dealing with Police
Our newest 40-minute DVD is the most sophisticated and entertaining movie of its kind. Narrated by the legendary trial lawyer William “Billy” Murphy, Jr. (from HBO’s The Wire), this multi-language (English, Spanish, and Arabic) resource provides proven survival strategies for dealing with racial profiling and police abuse.
•BUSTED: The Citizen’s Guide to Surviving Police Encounters
Our first DVD, BUSTED has become a cult classic. Humor and helpful tips combine to make this video a must-see for Bill of Rights lovers. Narrated by retired ACLU director Ira Glasser, BUSTED realistically depicts the pressure and confusion of common police situations.
Current Video Projects
We are currently working to complete the budget for our next feature film, Jury Duty: What the Government Doesn’t Want You to Know.
Board of Advisors
Deborah Peterson Small, Esq.
Eric E. Sterling, Esq.
Ira Glasser
Jon Katz, Esq.
Judge William “Billy” Murphy, Jr.
Norm Stamper, Ph.D.
Ronald E. Hampton
Stanford “Neill” Franklin
Timothy Lynch
Board of Directors
Chad Thevenot
David Borden
Kris Lotlikar
Marisa Garcia
Paul Bennett
Staff
Scott Morgan, Associate Director
Steve Silverman, Executive Director
Help us get Flex Your Rights materials into every high school and library in The United States!
Flex Your Rights Foundation is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charitable foundation (EIN: 32-0022088). Your support helps us continue providing the most accurate and up-to-date know-your-rights information for teachers, professors, police academies, youth groups, town hall meetings and beyond! |
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Sat Oct 11, 2014 7:06 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Police at my door: what should I do?
Don’t be intimidated by police at your door. These rules will help protect your rights and improve your odds of avoiding a home search.
No Warrant, No Search!
The Supreme Court has ruled that the home is entitled to maximum search protection. Even if they have probable cause to believe something illegal is going on inside your home, the 4th Amendment requires police to get a signed search warrant from a judge to legally enter and search.
Clip from the DVD, 10 Rules for Dealing with Police
The major exception to the search warrant requirement is where consent is given to an officer’s request to enter. If, for example, an officer is legally invited into your home, any illegal items that are out in the open – or in “plain view” — can be seized as evidence, which can lead to an arrest. That being the case, it’s always wise to keep any private items that you don’t want others to see out of view of your entrance area.
Don’t Let Them Inside
It’s a good safety habit to determine who is at your door before opening it. If after looking out the window, through your peephole, or asking “Who is it?” you find police at your door, you have several options that may help keep them from unexpectedly entering.
1). If you’re concerned they might try to force an entry, you may greet them outside after exiting through another door.
2). You may speak with officers through the opening protected by your chain lock.
3). If police come to your door and you don’t require their help, you may simply decline to answer the door at all. Unless they have a warrant, they will eventually leave.
Determine the Reason for the Visit
While you might not be pleased to have police at your door, it’s wise to treat them as you would any other unexpected visitor. Calmly and respectfully ask, “How can I help you?”
In many cases, an officer’s visit will have little to do with you or be something you can easy fix. For example, an officer may be seeking information about a crime committed in your neighborhood. Or she might be responding to a noise complaint. If so, it’s wise to apologize for the inconvenience, then turn down the music or bring in your barking dog from the backyard.
In other instances, an officer might want to investigate activities taking place in your home and ask to enter. You might even be a suspect in a criminal investigation. In such a case you should remain silent — except to say “Officer, I can’t let you inside without a search warrant.” Following such an encounter, you should immediately contact a lawyer before speaking to police again.
Educate Friends & Family
As is often the case, a naïve friend, family member, or roommate may invite police into your home. They too should be aware of their right to refuse police entry. |
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Sat Oct 11, 2014 7:10 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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When can police search your car?
While police generally need a warrant to search you or your property — during a traffic stop, police only need probable cause to legally search your vehicle. Probable cause means police must have some facts or evidence to believe you’re involved in criminal activity.
In other words, an officer’s hunch without evidence of illegal activity is not enough to legally search your car. Before searching, he must observe something real. Common examples of probable cause include the sight or smell of contraband in plain view or plain smell, or an admission of guilt for a specific crime. The presentation of any of these facts would allow an officer to perform a search and make an arrest.
Be aware that minor traffic violations (e.g. speeding, broken tail-light, or expired registration) are not considered probable cause.
Okay. So how can I keep police from searching my car?
Simply understanding the legal definition of probable cause probably won’t be enough to prepare you for the pressure and confusion of a real police encounter.
Most police are able to exploit a major loophole to the probable cause search requirement. But by following these basic rules, you’ll be better able to prevent police from tricking you into giving up your your constitutional rights. You’ll also improve your odds of driving away safely.
Always Be Calm & Cool
If police flag you down, pull over immediately, turn off your car, and place your hands on the wheel. Police like to see your hands for their own safety — so wait until they request your paperwork before reaching for it. At night, it’s also a good idea to turn on the dome light, so the officer can see you’re not armed.
Always greet policemen and policewomen as “Officer”. For example, you may start off with “Good afternoon, Officer. How’s it going today?” Under no circumstances should you ever talk back, raise your voice, or use profanity with a police officer. Being hostile with police is stupid and dangerous. You can’t win that game.
If the officer writes you a ticket, accept it quietly and never complain. Listen to any instruction on paying the fine or contesting the ticket, and drive away slowly.
Remain Silent: What You Don’t Say Can’t Hurt You
Police may try to get you to admit to having broken a law. For example, an officer may ask, “Do you know how fast you were going?”
You may assert your 5th Amendment protection against self-incrimination by refusing to admit you might have broken a law. As such, the best answer to that and similar questions is “No, Officer.”
Because anything you say can and will be used against you in court, the less you say the better. You also don’t want to announce to police that you know your rights. They’ll take that as a challenge. Just keep quiet and calm.
You Have the Right to Refuse Search Requests
Police may order the driver and any passengers out of the vehicle. If this happens, step out of the car. If they have reasonable suspicion to detain you, police may frisk the outside of your clothing to check for weapons, but only if they have a basis for suspecting you’re armed.
If police detain and frisk you, you have the right to clearly state your refusal to consent to the search. For example, you may say “Officer, I’m not resisting. I do not consent to this search.” But you should only verbally refuse. Never physically resist. Just touching an officer could get you tasered or beaten. You could also get a felony charge for assaulting a police officer.
Whether they frisk you or not, police may ask you a series of questions. They will probably include something like “You don’t mind if I have a look in your car?” Beware of that question: It’s the legal loophole that the officer wants to snare you in. (It might even sound like a command, but it’s technically a request.)
In response to such request, you may politely decline by saying “Officer, I know you’re just doing your job, but I don’t consent to searches.” Some officers may use their authority to make you feel obligated to prove your innocence by asking “What do you have to hide?” Don’t fall for such tricks. If necessary, repeat your refusal.
Remember: The 4th Amendment protects your right to refuse search requests, but it doesn’t require police to tell you about your right to refuse. In fact, consenting to searches automatically makes them legal in the eyes of the law. So if you’re pulled over, don’t try to figure out whether or not the officer has probable cause to legally search you. You always have the right to refuse searches.
Refusing a search request is not an admission of guilt and does not give the officer the legal right to search or detain you. In fact, most avoidable police searches don’t occur because police have probable cause. They occur because people get tricked or intimidated into consenting to search requests.
If police search your car and find illegal items despite your refusal, your lawyer can file a motion to suppress — or throw out — the evidence in court. If the judge agrees that the officer’s search violated the 4th Amendment’s probable cause requirements, she’ll grant the motion. Unless the prosecution has other evidence, your charges would be dismissed.
Determine if You’re Free to Go
Unless you’re detained or arrested, you may terminate the encounter anytime. But don’t wait for the officer to dismiss you. Ask if you’re free to go.
For example, if an officer threatens to call in a K-9 unit if you refuse a search, you should ask “Officer, are you detaining me, or am I free to go?”
Not only can this line can help withdraw you from an encounter, it also deflects any of the officer’s probing questions or threats. So if an officer says “If you cooperate with me, everything will go easy for you.” You may respond by saying either “Officer, I don’t consent to any searches” or “Officer, am I free to go?”
If the officer lets you leave, do so immediately. If the officer’s answer is unclear, or if he asks additional questions, persist by repeating “Officer, am I free to go?”
Ask for a Lawyer
If you are not free to go, you are being detained. The officer might have some reason to suspect you of a crime, and you may be arrested.
In such a situation, your magic words are “I’m going to remain silent. I would like to see a lawyer.” These magic words are like a legal condom. They’re your best protection if you’re under arrest.
Never rely on police to inform you of your right to remain silent and see a lawyer. Repeat the magic words as necessary, but say no more. Remember that anything you say can and will be used against you in court.
Related articles
•Police Searching for Bank Robber Stop All Cars at Intersection, Handcuff Drivers, Search Cars (volokh.com)
•Mapp v. Ohio: The Exclusionary Rule (www.flexyourrights.org) |
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Sat Oct 11, 2014 7:15 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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What are the rights of passengers during a traffic stop?
Image from BUSTED: The Citizen’s Guide to Surviving Police Encounters
Traffic stops typically occur as a result of suspected moving violations committed by the driver of the vehicle. Passengers cannot be held responsible for the driver’s conduct and are generally free to leave, unless police become suspicious of them during the course of the stop.
Unfortunately, this happens frequently and the amount of evidence required to detain passengers is minimal. For this reason, passengers must remember to refuse search requests and refrain from answering questions without an attorney present. Police who suspect criminal activity will often separate the occupants of an automobile and question them separately. If their stories differ, this could lead officers to claim that they have probable cause to prolong the detention or conduct a search.
As with any other brief detention, the best way to handle this situation is to determine if you can leave by asking “Officer, are you detaining me, or am I free to go?” |
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Sat Oct 11, 2014 7:18 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Flex Your Rights - Official Site
www.flexyourrights.org
Official site
Flex Your Rights is an educational nonprofit dedicated to educating the public about understanding their rights during encounters with law enforcement.
Traffic Stop
Traffic Stop | Flex Your Rights. Help us get Flex Your Rights materials …
At Your Door
At Your Door | Flex Your Rights. Help us get Flex Your Rights materials …
Popular Myths
Popular Myths | Flex Your Rights. Help us get Flex Your Rights …
DHS Checkpoint Image
To learn more about how to flex your rights at DHS checkpoints, check …
I Fought The Law
If you haven’t seen it yet, you must watch the season premiere of The …
General Questions
General Questions | Flex Your Rights. Help us get Flex Your Rights …
.See results only from flexyourrights.org.
Flex Your Rights - YouTube
www.youtube.com/user/FlexYourRights
This vlog is for Flex Your Rights fans who aspire to be more intelligent know-your-rights advocates. Steve Silverman and Scott Morgan will address current events and ... |
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Sat Oct 11, 2014 7:21 am |
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twotap
F L I N T O I D
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| I have an idea. Don't be a thug, don't carry illegal firearms, don't commit felony's, don't act like and look like a thug and don't shoot at cops. You should have little to worry about visits from cops. |
_________________
"If you like your current healthcare you can keep it, Period"!!
Barack Hussein Obama--- multiple times. |
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Sat Oct 11, 2014 8:42 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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| That would be true if all police were honorable. While most are, there is a small number who are rogue cops. These rogue cops make the news but still keep their jobs after repeated incidents. That is why the FBI investigates police abuse and excessive force cases. Then, like the dog shooting in Flint, they sometimes raid the wrong house. |
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Mon Oct 13, 2014 8:03 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Mon Oct 13, 2014 8:35 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Cop Block
St. Louis Police Quickly Turn a Peaceful Protest into a Rights Violating Brutality Theatre
EXCLUSIVE: The police in St. Louis are at it again; pepper spraying peaceful demonstrators and the press. The Free Thought Project is in the thick of it. Stay informed and updated as this situation moves closer to the breaking point.
See the exclusive: http://tinyurl.com/nfr4795...
St. Louis Police Quickly Turn a Peaceful Protest into a Rights Violating Brutality Theatre
Despite the dozens of cameras pointed at them, St. Louis Police, dressed in full storm trooper gear, assaulted peaceful protesters and continued to pepper-spray...
thefreethoughtproject.com
· Share · 4,6396932,580 |
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Mon Oct 13, 2014 8:42 am |
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twotap
F L I N T O I D
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I believe its now the time for cops everywhere to quit putting their lives and jobs on the line when dealing with the subculture so prevalent in communities everywhere. Don't go looking for criminal activity, don't chase suspected felons, don't risk your life or the lives of others rushing to a crime scene involving the thug culture. Basically let them have at it and maybe show up to take a report or call for transport to remove what's left of some felony occurrence.
The only way to avoid the nonsense taking place in St Louis is to not involve yourself in activity's that give these looters and rioters the opportunity's they so love to use as excuses.
If they have crime problems let them handle them and when they and the likes of race baiters like Sharpton and Jackson as well as holder complain your not doing your job just remind them what happens when you indeed attempt to do your job. |
_________________
"If you like your current healthcare you can keep it, Period"!!
Barack Hussein Obama--- multiple times. |
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Mon Oct 13, 2014 9:48 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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During a recent interview by Kelly W. Patterson of Nevada Cop Block (NVCopBlock.org), the LVMPD was asked for a statement regarding the "Know Your Rights" flyers (available for download here: http://nvcopblock.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/KnowYourRightsNVCopBlock.jpg) that members of Nevada Cop Block have been handing out in downtown Las Vegas lately:
(via 8 News Now)
"We reached out to Metro Police, but they didn't have anyone available to talk about the alleged harassment...
The LVMPD Agrees That You Shouldn’t Talk to Them
About a month ago, in early September, I did an interview with Joe Bartels of “8 News Now,” the local CBS affiliate in Las Vegas. Although the interview actually went really well, once it was actually...
NVCopBlock.com |
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Wed Oct 15, 2014 1:02 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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COP Block
2 hrs ·
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Top Ten Reasons Why You Should Not Talk to the Police
All these reasons, whether you are guilty or innocent, whether you want to confess or want to exonerate yourself, whether you’re poorly educated or the most eloquent speaker in the world, you should NEVER, EVER, under any circumstances, give a statement to the
Learn more helpful tips: http://goo.gl/eRj8lI
...
See More
Top Ten Reasons Why You Should Not Talk to the Police
REASON #1: Talking to the police CANNOT help you. If the police are talking to you, it’s because they suspect you have committed a crime. If they have detained...
thefreethoughtproject.com |
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Fri Oct 17, 2014 12:51 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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You Don’t Have the Right to Remain Silent
The Supreme Court’s terrible—and dangerous—ruling this week on the Fifth Amendment.
By Brandon L. Garrett
On Monday, in a case called Salinas v. Texas that hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves, the Supreme Court held that you remain silent at your peril. The court said that this is true even before you’re arrested, when the police are just informally asking questions. The court’s move to cut off the right to remain silent is wrong and also dangerous—because it encourages the kind of high-pressure questioning that can elicit false confessions.
Here are the facts from Salinas: Two brothers were shot at home in Houston. There were no witnesses—only shotgun shell casings left at the scene. Genovevo Salinas had been at a party at that house the night before the shooting, and police invited him down to the station, where they talked for an hour. They did not arrest him or read him his Miranda warnings. Salinas agreed to give the police his shotgun for testing. Then the cops asked whether the gun would match the shells from the scene of the murder. According to the police, Salinas stopped talking, shuffled his feet, bit his lip, and started to tighten up.
At trial, Salinas did not testify, but prosecutors described his reportedly uncomfortable reaction to the question about his shotgun. Salinas argued this violated his Fifth Amendment rights: He had remained silent, and the Supreme Court had previously made clear that prosecutors can’t bring up a defendant’s refusal to answer the state’s questions. This time around, however, Justice Samuel Alito blithely responded that Salinas was “free to leave” and did not assert his right to remain silent. He was silent. But somehow, without a lawyer, and without being told his rights, he should have affirmatively “invoked” his right to not answer questions. Two other justices signed on to Alito’s opinion. Justice Clarence Thomas and Justice Antonin Scalia joined the judgment, but for a different reason; they think Salinas had no rights at all to invoke before his arrest (they also object to Miranda itself). The upshot is another terrible Roberts Court ruling on confessions. In 2010 the court held that a suspect did not sufficiently invoke the right to remain silent when he stubbornly refused to talk, after receiving his Miranda warnings, during two hours of questioning. Now people have to somehow invoke the right to remain silent even when they’re not formal suspects and they haven’t been heard the Miranda warnings. As Orin Kerr points out on the Volokh Conspiracy, this just isn’t realistic.
The court’s ruling in Salinas is all the more troubling because during such informal, undocumented, and unregulated questioning, there are special dangers that police may, intentionally or not, coax false confessions from innocent suspects. I have spent years studying cases of people exonerated by DNA testing. A large group of those innocent people falsely confessed—and many supposedly admitted their guilt even before any formal interrogation. Take the case of Nicholas Yarris, who was exonerated by DNA testing in 2003, after 20 years in prison. He had been convicted and sentenced to death in Pennsylvania for the murder of a woman found raped, beaten, and stabbed near her abandoned Chrysler Cordoba.
When informally questioned, police said, Yarris volunteered that he knew the victim had been raped, and that the victim’s Chrysler had a brown “landau” roof (a vinyl fake convertible look). That was a striking detail, especially since the police had kept it out of the press. No tape was made of the interrogation. The police didn’t even produce notes. And now that DNA has cleared Yarris, we know his confession was false, and that he must not have volunteered the fact about the car roof at all.
The Supreme Court’s decision in Salinas encourages the kind of loosey-goosey, and easily contaminated, police questioning that led to Yarris’ wrongful conviction. Salinas may very well have been guilty of the two murders. But in many cases, as in this one, there are no eyewitnesses and not much other evidence of guilt: That is why the police may desperately need a confession. And that makes it crucial for them to handle interrogations and confessions with the utmost care. The court appreciated none of the pressures police face, and how they can squeeze an innocent suspect. Alito and the other conservatives were not troubled that there was no video to confirm that Salinas was in fact uncomfortable as well as silent. If Salinas had answered the question by exclaiming that he was innocent, could police have reported that he sounded desperate and like a liar? The court’s new ruling puts the “defendant in an impossible predicament. He must either answer the question or remain silent,” Justice Stephen Breyer said in dissent (joined by the other three liberal-moderates). “If he answers the question, he may well reveal, for example, prejudicial facts, disreputable associates, or suspicious circumstances—even if he is innocent.” But if he doesn’t answer, at trial, police and prosecutors can now take advantage of his silence, or perhaps even of just pausing or fidgeting.
Questions first, rights later is the approach the court’s majority now endorses. And by giving the police more incentive to ask questions informally, the new ruling will also undermine the key reform that police have adopted to prevent false confessions: videotaping entire interrogations. Why not try to trap a suspect before the camera starts rolling? In only a few cases like Yarris’ will there be DNA to test. The likely result of the court’s embrace of shoddy interrogation tactics: more wrongful convictions.
Brandon L. Garrett is a professor of law at the University of Virginia School of Law who studies criminal procedure, civil rights, and wrongful convictions. His new book, Convicting the Innocent: Where Criminal Prosecutions Go Wrong, was published by Harvard University Press. |
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Fri Oct 17, 2014 12:57 pm |
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