[Noisebridge-discuss] Citizen's Guide to Surviving Police Encounters

[Sai Emrys]

On Sun, Aug 16, 2009 at 8:35 PM, Tom Longson (nym)<tomlong at gmail.com> wrote:
> One trick is to tell 'em stories that don't go anywhere

Problem: while I'd find this hilarious, and I'd hope good-humored cops
would too, it is illegal in most states to lie to police, though it is
legal for them to lie to you (except about a couple key things, like
whether you're being detained / arrested / lawfully ordered). And it's
also illegal to intentionally get in the way of an investigation (e.g.
their interview of you). Doing so could get your ass arrested for
obstruction.

I think the advice Lawyers for Burners gives is to go for a respectful
but minimally cooperative tack, and not give anyone "reasonable
suspicion" to initiate potentially problematic nonconcensual searches.

But hey: if you manage to pull this off and NOT get arrested:
congrats, and I'd love to hear the story afterwards. :-)

- Sai

PS Those are called "shaggy dog" stories. Or for a more hackish
reference, "yak shaving". ;-)