Well, one of two things happens. Either he arrests me, or he lets me go. Assuming he's basically an honest cop, not out to frame me, he must know that at this point he's quite probably going to end up with no evidence that would stand up in court, and maybe a suit for wrongful arrest - bad for the department.
So - what do *you* think might happen next? I just don't go for the "you've got nothing to hide, so you might as well cooperate" argument. The bill of rights is there for the benefit of everybody, not just the guilty. That's why I kept two of San Jose's finest (albeit only the animal control division) on my doorstep when they came round investigate a complaint (basically a nuisance complaint filed by an illegal worker to get back at her employer, who ran the cleaning service we were using). They wanted to come inside and take a look around, but I wasn't going to invite them in. On Sun, Oct 23, 2005 at 07:08:53PM -0700, Shel Belinkoff wrote: > So how do you think that would play out? Cop wants to see the pics, you > tell him he'll have to come up with some legal entitlement before that > happens, and that you want to run it past a lawyer first, in any case. Now > there you are, on the street. What do you think the cop might say, or what > do you think might happen next? > > Shel > > > > > [Original Message] > > From: John Francis > > > I think it's a hard line to draw as to just how cooperative to be. > > > > My gut feel is that I would draw the line at showing the contents > > of the camera. I'd try and explain that I wouldn't mind showing > > the picture to Ted/Joe/whatever his name is as a person, but as > > a duly empowered officer of the law enforcement community he'd > > have to come up with some legal entitlement before that happened, > > and I'd want to run it past a lawyer first, in any case. >
