Quote from: dolphinspeak on May 01, 2012, 08:00 pmQuote from: vlad1m1r on May 01, 2012, 04:53 amI am actually in the process of writing a guide for people living in the UK for dealing with the Police.I'm very, very, very interested in reading this. It's easy to find information about dealing with the police as US citizen but there isn't as much as information from a UK perspective. It's especially confusing because Scotland and Wales have devolved governments so some UK laws and procedures are slightly different depending on which side of the border you are standing. For example, I've heard that in Scotland MDMA possession is *always* prosecuted whereas in England you might get off with a caution and I have no idea if that's true. If you know anything about the discrepancies between the different UK countries' laws and could include it in your guide it would definitely be one of the most valuable texts for UK users of SR.Hi dolphinspeak,Thanks for your interest, I am still preparing the material for this guide, which I will produce in written form on here but probably also put on my Youtube channel in a "Bitesize" format - you're absolutely right in saying that this is a topic Americans often talk about - it seems they're much more engaged politically than we are in Britain and more concerned with Civil Rights.The reason I am doing this is partly because as you say, the advice given is different depending on whether you live in Scotland or England & Wales. The focus is going to be on modern "interview" i.e interrogation methods employed by Police in the UK. I have managed to get hold of a training manual for Police Officers written by a Professor Eric Shepherd who literally wrote the book on the new model they have for interviewing whereby the emphasis is now on what's called the "Conversation Management Approach". Very briefly, this involves establishing a rapport with a suspect so that they'll be more likely to open up, using open ended questions.If you believe what you read on the Internet, as soon as you're arrested the Police will drag you into a cell and say something along the lines of:"Your mate in the cell's told us everything, so get in that interview room and sign the confession statement now you little bastard or we'll lock you up and throw away the key!!"This is silly and dangerous advice, you're much more likely to have a member of CID come up to you and say,"Hi, my name is Dave Jones, I'm the CID officer in charge of your case. Before we get started I'm just going to get myself a coffee, we can fix pretty much any drink you want, shall I get you something?"This is partly so they can establish a rapport with you but also so they can monitor your behaviour and responses when answering a question truthfully. Once again, the advice on most UK civil rights websites seems to think that the Police are interested in getting a confession from you - in actual fact in the absence of a confession, lies are more useful to them. They already know the truth (or at least think they do!) and so are interested in hearing your account of events. Obviously if you tell them anything which they can prove to be untrue, this can go badly for you at court, which is why on the balance of probabilities it's in your best interests to remain silent.I say "balance of probabilities" as since 1994, the Right to Silence has been watered down slightly as evidenced through the Caution given to suspects in England and Wales which will be along these lines."You do not have to say anything but it may harm your defence if, when questioned, you do not mention something which you later rely on in court."The law was changed at the request of the Police who said that too many suspects were simply remaining silent on arrest, knowing they had everything to lose by talking and nothing to gain. Now in England and Wales there is a small, theoretical risk that if you do refuse to answer questions it may harm your defence. I say theoretical because what it really means is :IF you are arrested AND you refuse to answer questions on interview AND there was enough evidence to charge you anyway AND the CPS (not the Police!) decide you're to be charged AND the case goes to court AND you plead Not Guilty AND you choose to present evidence in your defence THEN the Prosecution MAY cross examine you and ask why you didn't mention it before.There's no doubt it's a risk but there's a much greater one of accidentally incriminating yourself in some way by answering questions or innocently saying something which the Police believe they can prove is untrue. There are also a number of exceptions to the above rule where what is called "adverse inferences" cannot be drawn from your silence e.g if you simply sit in your cell and refuse to go into the interview room. (Further reading : http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/a_to_c/adverse_inferences/)Once again I'll go into more detail in my guide but as you'll see from the above link, most people believe that they can get around this problem by asking for a Solicitor and then saying in court they remained silent on legal advice. Although you should always ask for a Solicitor and they will most probably advise you not to answer any questions, a jury is allowed to decide for themselves whether you did so because you were innocent or because you were trying to hide the truth.My point quite simply is that you're much less likely to end up in front of a jury in the first place if you refuse to cooperate with the Police interview!Anyway, I'll put it all in the guide, just bear in mind that the Police have been specifically trained in interrogation techniques to establish a relationship with you that will make you more likely to be forthcoming. Your only real defence under the circumstances is to say nothing. V.