Commandment I: úùÄ=BE AWARE OF THE RULES=Äùú Nobody can know it all, but a general familiarity with basic practical considerations should precede the operation of any business or profession. A doctor or lawyer wouldn't hang out his shingle without first having prepared himself through the appropriate program of study. Nether should anyone presume to conduct an illegal enterprise without first educating himself in the technicalities of the field. Learning through error may be a fine method for the aspiring artist, but it's far too costly for the would-be outlaw. A. A general knowledge of criminal procedure is useful for anyone who may become a "guest" of the system. An example of how this kind of knowledge can be practically applied is evident in the case of a warranted search. The magistrate who issues a warrant has no business participating in the search. Therefore, you should always take down the names of everyone present during a police search. Bystanders can be used later as witnesses to any constitutional violations, and if the magistrate's name shows up on the list, the warrant becomes invalid. B. Know the state and federal laws concerning your particular type of business in michigan, for example, there's a mandatory life sentence for possession of schedule 2 drugs in quantities exceeding 650 grams the sensible cocaine dealer there would avoid the risk of incurring this maximum penalty by simply making it a policy to never handle more than a pound at a time. At $300,000 a pound, nobody but a large-scale importer would ever need to have more than that on hand anyway. Commandment II: úùÄ=DON'T ATTRACT ATTENTION=Äùú Many people get into trouble with the law because they have an emotional hunger for self-esteem which they try to feed by showing the world what bad-asses they are. For them crime is a macho trip, and some of them aren't truly satisfied until they do get caught. Many others, whose sole motive for breaking the law is profit, make an attempt to be inconspicuous, but botch it through carelessness and alack of perception. What both these classes of people have in common is there tendency to attract the attention of the police, something which is avoidable if a person will just think ahead and use common sense. A. Avoid conforming to profiles. Whatever you're up to, a police inquiry isn't likely to do you any good. Since they often use police profiles as a means of selecting likely candidates for inquiry, you should make a studied effort to avoid conforming to the indicia as much as possible. B. Avoid evoking attention or suspicion in general. For example: 1. Don't be a walking social statement. If you're proud to be a member of some special interest or minority group, that's terrific, but leave the costume, song and dance at home. Bikers, cholos, gays, nazis, and other such groups all have outspoken enemies who occasionally want to start something. Ordinary, dull, everyday people have no such problems. Look ordinary, and do yourself a favor. 2. Don't be abrasive, belligerent, or weird. 3. Don't make wisecracks to the police. 4. Don't do things in public that are dead giveaways of criminal activity (e.g. sniffing the merchandise during a drug transaction). 5. Don't place incriminating items where they can be seen. 6. Don't drive erratically C. Maintain an attitude of legitimacy. 1. Be sincerely convincing in everything you say and do. 2. If you're singled out for inquiry by the police, a. be confident. b. be politely indignant - not because you "know your rights" (which suggests a criminal background), but because you've "done nothing wrong" (which suggests a legitimate citizen who's unaccustomed to being bothered by the police). Commandment III: úùÄ=KEEP QUIET=Äùú A. Don't disclose information to anyone unless he has a specific "need to know." This is standard policy for intelligence organizations, and while your secrets may not be as big as those of the CIA, they're every bit as important to you. 1. That includes the people closest to you - your family and trusted friends (particularly in times of stress, e.g. when you're in jail). 2. Be particularly cautious in so-called "privileged" relationships, such as: a. the doctor patient relationship i. Never give a physician or psychotherapist information or admissions pertaining to a crime. ii. Be advised that doctors are generally required by state law to report all gunshot wounds the the police. b. The attorney-client relationship i. Never tell a lawyer anything that he doesn't need to know to defend your present case. ii. never tell a lawyer about your plans concerning a future illegal activity. 3. Regard business associates and casual acquaintances presumptively as undercover police a. Take precautions to assure that they aren't "wired" during a transaction. b. Avoid conducting transactions in places that might be bugged (especially a hotel, jail, or the other person's place). 4. Don't talk to police. In the words of justice jackson, "any lawyer worth his salt will tell the suspect in no uncertain terms to make no statement to police under any circumstances." Be rude, but no matter what they do or say, don't provide them with your words; they'll find a way to use them against you. The kinds of volunteered statements which must especially be guarded against include: a. pleasantries and chit-chat. b. admissions of one's knowledge about facts in a crime. c. admissions of one's awareness of his rights and responsibilities. d. remarks which are prompted by ego or emotion. 5. When dialogue with police is unavoidable: a. Always have a solid, irrefutable cover story prepared, right down to the minutiae. For example, if you give the telephone number and address of a friend's house instead of your own when you call in your airline reservation, be prepared to give a plausible explanation of why, in case the cops check it out later. Surprises are only fun at christmas and birthdays. b. Don't tell a lie which can be refuted by checking c. Be especially wary of private-duty police, foreign police, probation and parole officers, and other "irregulars." 6. Avoid giving the police and information about your car or where you're staying. a. Have your car key made so that it doesn't show what type of car it goes to. b. Don't carry your hotel key around with you; leave it at the hotel desk. c. Don't tell the police you have a car if your arrested. Don't tell them what type it is or where it's located if they ask. d. Don't tell the police which hotel your using. B. Don't engage in conspiratorial dialogue over the telephone. Unless your using code words which are totally meaningless to the uninformed listener, it isn't safe to use the telephone for secret conversations. Merely couching your words so as to hint at what you're trying to say without coming right out and saying it doesn't fool anybody; if your partner can understand it, so can the cops who are listening in. C. Take a firm defensive stand as soon as you suspect that an adversary situation exists. 1. Once the police have decided to arrest you, don't go into explanations in an attempt to change their minds. You won't prevent the arrest, and your statements could hurt you later. 2. Don't wait for them to read you your rights after they arrest you; announce your own Miranda rights to the police. University of Michigan Law Professor Yale Kamisar recommends something like this: I believe I have a perfectly good defense, but I want to talk to my lawyer about it first. I understand that I have a right to remain silent, and a right to discuss my situation with a lawyer before saying anything to the authorities, and I intend to do just that. I intend to exercise my constitutional rights. Nothing personal, you understand. If you're slick enough to do this, the cops won't be able to impeach you later with your post-arrest silence. 3. Invoke silence by demanding counsel, and do so again every time they give the miranda warnings. 4. Never waive your silence thereafter. Pay no attention to their innuendos and threats. Ignore their offers of leniency. Turn a deaf ear even to an emergency plea for your help. The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose, and if you let his entreaties loosen your tongue you'll be sorry. D. Avoid becoming a grand jury witness. 1. If you anticipate that you may be useful as a witness, both you and your associates may be better off if you can't be located when the subpoena comes out. 2. If you are subpoenaed, seek to have yourself declared incompetent to testify. 3. If you're forced to testify, invoke the Fifth Amendment right to silence to every question beyond your name, no matter how harmless. Don't answer even one question, because doing so will be a waiver of your right to be silent. If you persist with your silence, they'll be forced to grant you immunity from the use of your testimony. 4. If you're granted immunity, find as soon as possible some clue which suggests that an illegal wire tap might have occurred, and make the allegation. Refuse to give further testimony on that basis. 5. Be taciturn and as unhelpful as possible. Commandment IV: úùÄ=DON'T CONSENT=Äùú A. Don't let people into your home (or other parts of your property) unless you summon them yourself for a specific reason. When you do bring a stranger in, such as for repair work, be extremely cautious to patrol the place ahead of time in order to remove anything that may be incriminating or suspicious, and accompany him at all times while he's there. A strict closed- door policy is only necessary if you're into some type of crime, but you must realize that any crime at all places you in this category. Smoking a little weed or having a few eagle feathers on your wall might seem inconsequential and harmless enough from your point of view, but they are crimes. Even if the fruits of your particular brand of mischief aren't the sorts of things that you display in plain view, it's still possible that some unforeseen item that's lying around can tie you in - something that an undercover cop would recognize immediately. People who dabble in crime simply can't afford to lead a happy-go-lucky lifestyle. B. Never consent to a search. If the cops have a warrant, or if they have the legal justification based on one of the exceptions to the warrant requirement, they'll do their search without your consent. If they don't have such justification, don't give it to them - not for a search of your person, your baggage, your car, your house - not for anything. C. Never consent to being detained. 1. Do not accompany the police if they ask you to go with them somewhere. Insist on an arrest warrant (which will be useful to you for evidentiary purposes later). Force them to resort to physical restraint (arrest) in order to move you anywhere. 2. As soon as you've met their initial inquiry with the barest minimum of information, seek to leave. If they won't let you leave at first, keep trying to leave until they are forced to either arrest you or let you go. 3. If police inquiry occurs as you're about to make a flight, and there's any possibility of incriminating evidence being discovered, abort your trip and leave the airport immediately. 4. If the police are detaining anything that belongs to you, announce that you will return for it later, but don't wait for it. D. Never consent to having your property detained. 1. Don't voluntarily give them anything; force them to seize whatever they wish to detain. 2. If your ID is shaky, if it doesn't match your ticket, or if it's good but you know that there is incriminating evidence in your luggage, do not show the ID or admit even having it with you. E. Avoid conferring your automatic consent. 1. Beware of the automatic consent which is inherent in government contracts, the operation of governmentally regulated businesses, and passage through governmental reservations. 2. Don't share a place with another person if you can't sustain a police search of it. 3. Don't place your confidential property into the hands (or car, or house) of another person. F. Instruct your family and friends not to grant consent for intrusions of your property; but don't rely heavily upon their compliance. Commandment V: úùÄ=TRUST ONLY WHAT YOU CONTROL=Äùú A. For privacy from police intrusion, rely upon your home more than your person: your person more than your luggage; and your luggage more than your car. B. For privacy in your buildings, rely upon living areas more than nonliving areas; nonpublic or infrequently visited areas more than public or heavily visited areas; and interior more than exterior areas. C. For privacy concerning your identity: 1. Never transport illegal items without using an alternate identity, in case you're forced to leave the parcel behind. 2. Avoid conducting illegal transactions under your real identity and address, in case your partners prove to be untrustworthy. 3. For alternate identity, use only solid (verifiable, state- issued) ID and plausible address and telephone references (ones which won't lead to a vacant lot or a bewildered occupant when checked out). 4. Never have more than one set of ID in your possession (including your car) at one time. D. Always carry ample cash on your person to cover emergency expenses for which a check isn't accepted (car towing and impoundment fees, bail bondsman fee, etc). Carry it on your person, not in your baggage or car, where it might become unavailable. E. To assure the maximum legal right of privacy in your car, maintain complete control of it, take precautions to prevent intrusions into it, and be present to object if the police need to search it. Commandment VI: úùÄ=DON'T TRUST THE PRIVACY OF ANYTHING=Äùú úùÄ=WHICH IS ACCESSIBLE TO THE PUBLIC =Äùú A. Be aware that cars, luggage and lockers which are in public locations are vulnerable to dog-sniffing inspection B. Be aware that cars on public highways are vulnerable to electronic monitoring. C. Don't give your private papers even a limited showing. D. Don't put anything private into the garbage. E. Don't keep a stolen car if its VIN number (serial number) is visible from the outside of the vehicle. F. Never leave contraband in the same container in which it was delivered. Customs, postal or delivery service employees may well have had a preview of it. G. Avoid engaging in illegal activities while under official scrutiny (e.g. investigation, bail, probation, etc). Commandment VII: úùÄ=BE WARY OF EVERYONE=Äùú A. Be alert to any possible indications of treachery in lovers and friends. B. Don't deal with anyone whom you haven't independently checked out. C. Be Supremely cautious of a deal where a third party shows up on the scene - particularly one who presumes to be a big shot or high-roller type. D. Be triply cautious if you're new to the business or to the locality, and therefore unfamiliar with the people. E. Don't accept favors from the police, and don't do them any. Commandment VIII: úùÄ=DON'T GIVE THE POLICE AN OPENING=Äùú Unless they have independent reason to believe that you're guilty of some crime, the cops won't ordinarily have occasion to pry into your affairs. There are, however, a number of situations which give them such an opportunity; avoid them if at all possible. A. Avoid letting petty offenses go unresolved until they eventuate into outstanding warrants. Nobody likes to pay parking tickets, but they can hurt you a lot more if you let them pile up until they mature into an arrest warrant that might come at a disastrous time. The same holds true for court orders. B. Avoid providing an exception to the warrant requirement. 1. Try to keep incriminating evidence where it won't be exposed because of a fire, medical emergency, burglary, etc. 2. As much as possible, avoid keeping incriminating evidence in a vehicle. 3. If you suspect that you're being watched, if you're about to be arrested, or if you've just been arrested don't go to a place where there might be incriminating evidence. (e.g. your house or car). 4. Don't keep incriminating evidence within the confines of a business which is heavily regulated by the government (e.g. mines, gun dealerships, liquor establishments, pharmacies, etc). 5. If an alternative exists, avoid entering zones of government domination where both discretion and frequency of search and seizure is heightened. Examples of places to avoid include: a. military reservations b. prison grounds c. busy border-crossing areas d. Customs checkpoints e. fixed Border Patrol checkpoints f. agricultural inspection checkpoints g. roadblocks for checking on licensing and registration, drunk drivers, and manhunts Different types of governmental control areas pose varying levels of intrusion. The sort of reception that you can expect at a licensing and registration checkpoint, for example, should be minimal: Uniformed cops are supposed to make the inquiries, and only if they have reasonable suspicion of a crime are they entitled to order people from their cars or ask for consent to search. The narks and the sniff dogs aren't even supposed to be brought out where the motorists are unless they have probable cause. On the other hand, the Bureau of Customs has a virtually unlimited level of discretion to search and detain people who enter their domain. If you can't withstand a search or inquiry, and you aren't sure exactly what kind of show they're running up ahead, your safest move is to discreetly pull off the road and find another direction to take. C. Don't give the police grounds to suspect that you might be in possession of either a weapon or contraband. If you're accustomed to putting on the gangster act, swallow your pride for a little while and try to look harmless while there are police around. Unless you enjoy the frisk, you really don't want to convince them that you're a "bad dude." D. Don't violate vehicular laws. Because of automobile administrative regulations, traffic laws, and parking ordinances, police are successful in bringing about the unexpected arrest of more outlaws than by any other mechanism in their repertoire. These laws form a net in which fugitives, illegal aliens, drug dealers, thieves, republicans - every imaginable type of crook - can be caught. Not withstanding all the rhetoric about highway death tolls, the government would certainly want to keep these laws intact even if all vehicles were accident-proof; they're too good a pretext for catching people who are wanted for other reasons. Be sure, therefore, that you: 1. carry a valid driver's license. 2. carry a valid automobile registration. 3. have no mechanical violations on your vehicle (e.g. broken lights, bad muffler, excessive exhaust, etc). 4. obey the rules of safe driving. 5. don't have the smell of alcohol or marijuana in the car 6. park only in legal places during allowable times. don't forget that parking meters expire, and certain legal parking spots on the street become tow-away zones during rush hours. Commandment IX: úùÄ=DON'T LEAVE THE POLICE A HANDLE=Äùú Once the cops do become interested in you, it's still possible to frustrate much of their endeavors if you've taken certain routine precautions in advance. Without that one good handle on you - something to open the door for them - they'll often have to let you slip through their fingers. A. Watch out for your personal property. 1. Don't leave your confidential property in the hands of somebody whom you know to be a likely candidate for search and seizure. 2. Don't abandon your confidential property when the police have custody of it. Demand a search warrant, and promise to return for it later. 3. Always try to have a local friend to call upon for favors wherever you go. a. If you're arrested away from your dwelling, have a friend pick up your car before it's impounded. Speed is vital in order to accomplish this before the cops can figure out where your car is, or before it's impounded for a parking violation. b. if you're arrested in a town where you have a hotel room, have a friend go over and pick up your belongings from the room before the police get their hands on them. 4. Register your car in the name of somebody else who will not be locatable by police. This reduces your status to that of borrower rather than owner of the car, and thereby allows you to legitimately deny knowledge of anything which might turn up from a search of the trunk (provided that you haven't left your fingerprints or other trademarks in there). It also prevents the cops from locating your car after they've arrested you, since they'll be trying to look up the registration file on a car registered in your name. 5. Don't carry weapons or contraband inside the passenger compartment of a car or the back of a camper. 6. If somebody should carry a weapon or contraband into the passenger compartment, be sure that he gets out of the car with it promptly in the event that the car is stopped by police. 7. Always keep weapons and contraband: a. locked in the trunk. b. additionally locked inside a container. Keep the key to the container well hidden in the trunk rather that on your person, thus forcing the police to damage the container in order to open it. 8. Keep drugs and explosives in hermetically sealed containers whenever transporting them so that a dog sniff cannot identify them. The outside of the containers must be washed clean, too, since any trace will alert the dogs. 9. Park away from your property whenever there's contraband in your car. This prevents it from falling within the reach of a warranted search of the house, in case that should occur. Don't make a routine habit of parking at a distance, however, or the cops might think to specify your car in their warrant. B. Don't give them an excuse to detain or arrest you. 1. Don't go near your place if the cops are already there searching it, since that would entitle them to detain you as the occupant. 2. don't resist and illegitimate arrest. You'll beat it in court if the arrest is improper, but you'll make it legitimate if you resist. 3. Avoid associating yourself with a person or thing for which you know that the police have probable cause to make a seizure. Probable cause is highly contagious. Commandment X: úùÄ=GET A LAWYER=Äùú Even if you know a considerable amount of law yourself, and are unwilling to completely trust your fate to the care of a shyster, you should always have one representing you from the earliest stages of a criminal beef, because: A. A lawyer can check out and challenge a complaint, a warrant, and the affidavit supporting the warrant. As a defendant representing himself, you can't effectively do any of this. This simple expedient shouldn't be overlooked, because it might get you released immediately and cause the entire case to be dismissed. B. A lawyer can investigate the facts of your case to develop grounds for a defense. You can't investigate anything from a jail cell. C. A lawyer knows what to watch out for to protect your interests from prejudice during pretrial proceedings D. A lawyer knows trial and appeal procedure; he knows what to object to and when to do it so that it will be timely and effective. Chief justice Earl Warren once said in this regard that "the jury system... becomes a trap for the layman because he is utterly without the ability to make it serve the ends of justice.: This is the proper job for a lawyer... E. A lawyer can negotiate deals with the prosecution more safely and effectively than you can. You risk making evidentiary admissions every time you open your mouth in front of a prosecutor, a risk which doesn't exist if your mouthpiece does the talking. As an objective, experienced professional, the lawyer is also more likely to get you a better deal on a plea bargain than anything you'd be likely to swing yourself. You can't make a deal with the devil, but a lawyer certainly can (probably because they're so closely related) F. You should have legal counsel if you're subpoenaed as a witness before a grand jury, even though you aren't charged with anything. There's a good possibility that you soon might be. G. Always be aware of the details of your case and of everything your lawyer does (and doesn't do) in representing you, particularly if he's a public defender. Don't hesitate to speak up to the court if you suspect that he's screwing up; it's your case, and if you lose, it'll be you who goes to prison, not the lawyer... Your chances of staying out of jail would be greatly increased if you lived these 10 commandments every day. Look for my files on making your own professional lock tools PLT. Eddie The Wire