If cops demand something illegal, like ID or right to enter, etc.
You can ask if it's lawful, and point out it is not. BUT DO COMPLY
Fighting with cops gets you dead. Fight it in court.
And shut the fuck up and ask for that lawyer
What I mean by that is
Can I search your car?
No.
I just want to look then you can go.
No.
Well now i'm not asking get out of the car, we're searching it.
Do I have to comply
YES
(you know or think this is illegal)
Okay I am following your commands and exiting the car, you do not have permission
and during all that if they tell you to sit, sit. Etc. Fight it in court.
Your job, your ONLY job when encountering cops is to shut the fuck up and survive the encounter.
I decline based on my rights under the Fifth Amendment (or my right against self incrimination.) Several courts have ruled you must enunciate a protected right.
As Sir Mix-A-Lot put it in Once Time's Got No Case:
They stop ya, they cuff ya
They roll ya an' they rough ya
They ask what I do for a livin'
Should this information be givin'?
I know you’re coming from the best intentioned place, but even the fact that this is the advice infuriates me.
We won’t end the police by compliance.
They won’t go quietly into the night.
The part of revolution people need to accept is that people have to fight back.
Like actually fight fight.
I don't disagree, but I believe it's wise to choose one's battles.
I'm also speaking from a position of HUGE differential. I'm a sex worker and so IF cops know that, oof it's danger. But I present to the world as the cis white woman I am, it's assumed I'm het. I mean...privileged to the max.
So what I'm saying is the best way I see to go about a thing, sure as shit might not be from your POV, which is why I listen.
I think fighting back is essential contextually, but for most 1 on 1 interactions with cops it's shut up, comply when you must, survive the encounter.
I'm only speaking
to that tho, which maybe I should be way more clear about esp in these times.
When it comes to protests, or community issues, then we with fucking privilege need to USE IT. And get in their damn faces, etc.
But I am ALWAYS here to listen and learn. In these times, we all need to learn. 💕
I hear you 😤 I just want these one on ones to end. I wish more people could see a cop interaction and step in. Like 6 or 7 to one. I want these fuckers to be afraid to approach people. I want them reconsidering their life choices.
There’s no one who should feel in danger of a police interaction.
