Arrest-Proof Yourself (2 page)

THE MAGIC WORDS

RESPECTFUL WAYS TO REFUSE ANSWERING QUESTIONS

INDEX

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Carson, Dale C.

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 / Dale C. Carson and Wes Denham.

p. cm.

ISBN-13: 978-1-55652-637-4 ISBN-10: 1-55652-637-7

1. Arrest. 2. Detention of persons. I. Denham, Wes. II. Title. HV8080.A6C38 2006 363.2’32—dc22

2006017597

All photographs courtesy of Dale Carson or

Wes Denham unless otherwise noted.

Cover design: Emily Brackett, Visible Logic

Front cover image: Howard Berman/The Image Bank/Getty Images Interior design: Sarah Olson

© 2007 by Dale C. Carson and Sam Wesley Denham III

All rights reserved

Published by Chicago Review Press, Incorporated

814 North Franklin Street

Chicago, Illinois 60610

ISBN-13: 978-1-55652-637-4

ISBN-10: 1-55652-637-7

Printed in the United States of America

5 4 3 2 1

To the thousands of young men in jail for petty offenses.

It’s not right.

It’s not just.

America can do better.

DISCLAIMER: Laws vary from state to state. Find a competent attorney in your state and rely on his or her advice first.

INTRODUCTION | TALKING SHOP WITH AN OLD COP

Y
ou’ve heard about how-to books? This is a how-not-to book—how not to get arrested and tossed into jail for petty and avoidable offenses of the sort that fill every jail in the United States. The title,
Arrest-Proof Yourself
, is hype, since no one, not even the president, is arrest
proof
. What this book does is make you arrest
resistant
.

This book is for people who are not career criminals. It’s not about how to beat the system, but about how to avoid letting the system roll over you and ruin your life in ways that may not become apparent until years after an arrest. For career criminals, arrest is inevitable. For people with lapses in judgment, bad manners, a taste for marijuana, and no knowledge of how the criminal justice system operates, arrest is not inevitable, it’s optional. That’s right—optional.

Far too many black Americans, Hispanics, and poor whites think that arrest and prison are just going to happen—that resistance, as they say, is futile. They think the system is rigged against them. Get over this attitude. By understanding cops and the criminal justice system, you can make choices and adapt your behavior—especially in the presence of police—to minimize your chances of getting arrested. Even if you’re not the most upstanding citizen, you can take charge and stay out of the system long enough to give yourself a second chance.

Clear your brain of thoughts about victimhood, racism, social ills, poverty, etc. Those things are not going away. This book is not about saving society; it’s about saving
you
when you’re standing in front of a police officer who is wearing a blue uniform and a gun. It’s about your choices—how you can act, speak, and behave in order not to get arrested. The police officer can choose to arrest you or not arrest you. You can choose to act in ways that will encourage the police to let you go or, better yet, to not stop and question you at all.

This book uses the word
you
to mean “the person most likely to get arrested.” If you’re a parent,
you
generally means your kids.

“Who, me?” you say.

Yes, you! Changes in law enforcement technique and doctrine that have occurred over the last few years mean that police are making more arrests than ever. You are more likely to get busted today than in the past.

“But I’m a good guy,” you protest. If you’re a parent, you may say, “I have nice kids. Why should I worry about them getting arrested?”

No matter how upstanding you are, you are likely to have encounters with police that can result in arrest. Here’s why:

A law enforcement doctrine called proactive policing has spread across the land. It calls for zero tolerance of petty offenses, including such things as jaywalking, loitering, and drinking a beer on the street. Proactive policing has reduced crime—no question—but to do so it requires huge numbers of arrests of petty offenders who in years past would never have seen the inside of a jail.

The volume of arrests has caused a boom in jail and court construction and the creation of a criminal justice system that employs hundreds of thousands and requires ever more arrests to justify its existence.

The near universal installation of computers in police cruisers, and their ability to access law enforcement databases instantly, allows police to make more arrests for what I call administrative crimes. These are failure to maintain tags, licenses, and car insurance; outstanding arrest warrants; driving with suspended licenses; failure to appear at court hearings; and violation of probation and parole. None of these crimes involves theft, violence, or injury. They are not offenses against people but against the state. In the past, paper records made arrests for these crimes difficult, especially when the offender moved to another state. With the advent of computers, the jails are stuffed with people guilty of not paying fees, not doing paperwork, not showing up in court, and in general thumbing their noses at the system.

People are shocked to discover that they can be arrested for things they didn’t even know were illegal. For example, millions of parents chauffeuring the kids in the van or SUV don’t realize that the stimulants and antidepressants prescribed for hyperactive children are scheduled narcotics. Kids carry these pills around in their pockets and book bags. The pills scatter inside the vehicle and can get Mom busted if she cannot produce a written prescription during a routine traffic stop.

Dope, my friends, let’s talk about dope. The magic herb is everywhere, as are the powders and crystals that bliss out millions every day. America may be becoming more tolerant of drugs, but cops, courts, and legislatures are not. Almost any quantity of a controlled substance can get you arrested in most states. Most people have no idea how serious drug possession is.

People have worse manners than in the past. Whether this is due to less effective parenting, a decline in church attendance, increased use of drugs, disorder at public schools, or the pervasive influence of TV shows where everyone is “in your face” is a topic best left to the talk shows. All I know for a fact is that people don’t know how to behave. They act out in front of cops and get busted for being obnoxious.

NEWS FLASH FOR AMERICAN WOMEN

Ladies, you, yes you, are paying for a major portion of the American criminal justice system. The system is not funded exclusively by that perennially overburdened group, the taxpayers. A big chunk of system funding comes from defendants’ families. By and large this means women are paying thousands of dollars to get the men they love legal representation, reduced sentences, and freedom. Women pay the lawyers, women pay the bail bonds, women pay the drug court costs, and women pay the probation fees. When men get arrested, women get poor.

Every day, at the courts, in attorneys’ offices, and in probation departments, one sees a stream of women clutching money orders funded by mortgaging their homes and liquidating their savings. Often it’s more than one woman. It’s mom, sister, aunt, and cousin who have cleaned themselves out to get their man out of jail. Money that would have funded a new home or car, an education, or a retirement is swallowed up in an instant by the financial black hole that is the criminal justice system.