Fuller Malarkey
Regular Member
To do as some might suggest, and consider them all bad, might be a self-fulfilling prophecy. It can set the tone of the encounter and that often puts a good outcome at a disadvantage.
Respectfully, this isn't putting much responsibility on the party initiating the encounter. If the tone becomes sour because I politely invoke my rights, am I responsible for the officer's reaction? Do we trade our rights for the hope of avoiding a beating? Or jail? Why aren't we confronting this possibility of beating or imprisonment, instead of forfeiting our rights under the disguise of "cooperation"?
Every defense attorney worth his or her oxygen will tell you to view all unsummoned police as an adversarial encounter. They can't all be wrong. "Polite" and "smart" have different definitions, but there is nothing precluding you from being both at the same time.