If you are in a public area or have permission from the owner of the establishment, then know that you are always allowed to film a police officer.

Police officers in many regions wear body cameras since the public are permitted to be aware of what they are doing.

An officer is not allowed to ask you not to film them as they are working.

You are also allowed to make the public aware of the behaviour of a certain officer.

There is a saying that goes “innocent until proven guilty”, but police around the world will take the opposite approach.

They will assume you are guilty until and unless you are able to prove your innocence.

This why it is suggested that you speak with a lawyer first before telling the police anything.

If you don’t want the police to have your DNA on file, do not accept anything from an officer, not even a cup of coffee.

Cops are legally able to trick you into giving them your DNA samples for them to use later on.

This is useful when interacting with the police, since you should have the right to your own genetic information.

Watch what you say when speaking with a police officer. Everything you say is on the record and they can legally use anything you say against you.

For those in certain jobs, if they tell you something is off the record, then you can trust them.

For cops, they can say this regardless of what they will do with the information you gave them.

Once you bring stuff out to be collected by the trucks, those items no longer belong to you.

That means the police can go through your rubbish to find evidence or anything else they need.

This may not affect your life, but it’s still good to know what your own trash could potentially be used for.

If you find yourself in a police station, there is nothing legally keeping you there, not unless you’ve been arrested or are being detained.

If you are in there for any other reason, police officers are not allowed to keep you against your will.

You haven’t done anything wrong as far as they know, so they are not legally allowed to force you to stay in the building.

Have you ever given your DNA to those companies which tell you about your genetic makeup and background?

Yes, the police are legally allowed to access those records.

They can legally approach these companies for your DNA to see if it matches evidence, without your knowledge.

Remember this next time you think of getting one of those kits.

That phone is exclusively yours, and yours alone, even when it comes to the police. You need to give them express permission, even if you are in custody.

The only other way to look at your personal device is if the cops have a warrant to do so.

But that requires reason to believe you have something suspicious on your phone.

You can probably just say no too.

If you filmed or photographed an officer in public, and you are allowed to, no officer is permitted to force you to delete the footage.

If they have a warrant, then it’s different.

But if the reason for them not wanting you to have the footage is because they want you to have not filmed them, then this goes against their protocol.

If you leave your bag somewhere, then the police have the right to search it.

Abandoned property can be treated as suspicious, which gives cops the right to look through it.

The law states that if a person leaves property unattended, then they forego their privacy rights to that property.

Besides, if they wanted to hide anything, they’d keep it close to them.

If you are being detained and interrogated in a police station, the police do have to read you your rights before they interrogate you.

But if you are being questioned outside, or without being formally detained, they do not have to do this for you.

So you should be extra cautious of what you tell cops outside of a formal interrogation.

When they have a warrant to enter and/or search your home, cops are still required to knock in most instances.

The exception is if knocking will ruin their purpose for entering a home and may endanger themselves or others.

You have no reason to worry about the police bursting into your home, not unless they have legal grounds to do so.

The police cannot just have anyone pull their car over while driving, unless there is a proper reason to do so.

It’s either a suspected reason, an evident error, or even a safety issue with your driving.

You are allowed to ask them what reason they had for pulling you over, and if they cannot answer, they legally have to let you go.

A cop on highway patrol does not need actual proof that you were driving too fast.

They can just tell you that they believe you were driving too fast based on how they saw you drive by.

While it can be obvious that a car is going too fast, the rule may seem a little unjust if it’s only by a few miles per hour.

If you are on the phone with the police in any capacity, you are being recorded. This is for a variety of reasons, so you must remain cautious throughout the call.

The officer on the other end may put you on hold, but the call is still being recorded so they may hear anything you say in the interim.

It’s common for cops to claim that things will be a lot easier, or that they will take it easy towards you if you just confess.

This is a total ruse just to get a confession out of you.

If you have information or you really are guilty, then you should confess, but that doesn’t mean you should believe every word they say.

The “good cop” technique is really just a technique. Just because they act all chill like they’re your buddy doesn’t mean that they are.

The police are taught to behave this way so as to extract information out of people.

You are more likely to tell them things if they are relatable and friendly.

No matter what they ask you, you always have the option to not respond.

This seems wild, and even incredibly frustrating for the officer in question, but they cannot force you to respond.

Their frustration is not your fault either, and you always have the right not to answer questions.

Freedom of speech includes the freedom not to speak should you choose.

There are places where you have to carry identification at all times because you have to provide ID if an officer asks for it.

However, there are places around the world, and even several US states, who do not have this requirement.

Do research for each location, because if an officer asks for your ID on the street, you have no obligation to provide one on the spot.

Coercing a person into speaking is manipulative and can even lead to false results since the person being questioned feels like they have no other option but to respond.

An officer will not be that worried about this as they are trained in how to coerce people they are interrogating.

It’s all fun and games until the cops show up, and that’s not even always the fault of the responding officer.

Many cops claim that the uniform does a lot of their work for them.

If they turn up after a call regarding a disruptive party, people will sober up and quiet down once they see the uniform.

Not surprising, but really good to know.

You don’t need to mention the first excuse that comes to mind.

Cops have heard it all before. “I thought it was free!” Right. “I’m not drunk!”

Those basic lies are things cops have heard many times before so you’re not about to fool them with the same ones.

They may not say anything, but whatever you say won’t shock them.

For police officers, it is actually difficult to maintain friendships they had before.

Everyone who isn’t a cop becomes cautious of their behaviour around them.

People feel like they have to be extra law-abiding and so don’t want to do the drunken nights out or crazy adventures with them anymore.

If the cops have a warrant to enter or search your home, or even look at your phone, you have the right to look at that warrant.

They are not allowed to hold information from you.

Ask the officer claiming they have a warrant if you can have a look.

Legally they have to show it to you, and if they cannot prove it, they are not allowed to do what they are there for.

A common misconception is that people are more likely to be given tickets at the end of the month since cops have to meet their quotas.

But quotas for speeding tickets are illegal in most states and still barely exist in the others.

Police officers don’t exactly enjoy giving tickets, so you won’t get a ticket on the 29th.

When someone gets into a car crash, the first instinct is to call the cops. If someone is hurt, calling multiple emergency services is the first thing you should do.

But if no one was hurt in the collision, you don’t have to call the police.

It’s up to the owners of the vehicles if they’d like law enforcement to get involved.

When you are pulled over for suspected DUI, the apprehending officer may ask you to do different field tests to prove that you are not drunk.

People may not know this, but you do not have to walk along a line or stand on one leg.

These field tests are known to be inaccurate, plus they can be used against you in court.

Though if you do not agree to the field tests, you may have to do a blood test.

So it’s your choice, but at least a blood test promises better accuracy.

In the US, it is against the law for an officer to arrest someone out of mere suspicion. They need to have an actual reason for doing so.

However, if cops in most European nations view you as suspicious, then they can arrest you.

It is up to the cops to judge what that means.

So what happened to innocent until proven guilty?

To become a police officer in the United States, being a resident or holding a green card is not enough.

You have to be a fully fledged citizen of the nation. This is not a secret, but not a lot of people realize this.

If you want to apply but don’t have that citizenship, you’ll have to think again.