Busted: The Citizen's Guide to Surviving Police Encounters

Reviewed by Ariane Conrad Hyde
06.21.05

It’s one of the more important lines you might someday have to deliver: “I don’t consent to any searches.” Go ahead: try it out and make it your own. “I’m sorry, ma’am, but I’m afraid I don’t consent to searches.” If you don’t practice this sentence—an assertion of one of your most important rights under the Constitution—you might easily be overwhelmed in an encounter with law enforcement. This warning is offered by Ira Glasser, former longtime director of the ACLU, in the instructional video Busted: the Citizens’ Guide to Surviving Police Encounters.

Being approached or stopped by police is often stressful and confusing whether you’re breaking the law or not. A little bit of preparation now goes a long way toward keeping your rights intact in these situations. That’s the premise of this new video put out by public education group Flex Your Rights. On their website, FYR points out that we citizens are complicit in the recently hastened erosion of traditional constitutional rights, in part by permitting everyday abuses of police power. For example, most people, during the course of a traffic stop, are likely to waive their rights without even knowing it. And traffic stops comprise about 50% of all citizen-police encounters.

The video toggles between Glasser and dramatizations that cover three typical situations: police approaching your car, your person, and your home. Each of these scenarios is presented twice: first, the wrong way—how to get arrested. Then each scenario is repeated with the aid of Glasser’s steady, clear commentary, along with bold titles that emphasize the most salient points (never run away, use a peephole). This time, the citizens calmly, respectfully, and articulately express their rights, and no arrests are made.

In the traffic stop scene, after “Darrell” successfully evades a nosy officer by responding to intimidating questions with questions of his own (most importantly, “Am I free to go?”), Darrell’s friend gushes “That was like some Jedi mind trick!” (Darrell and his passengers have recently toked up, it could be noted.)

Indeed, while the citizens’ confident behavior seems provocative and almost foolhardy upon first viewing, after watching repeatedly—recommended by Glasser—you begin to imagine yourself holding your own if accosted in a similar way.

The disclaimer that opens the video points out that the law is complex and varies from state to state and county to county, and that, obviously, police misconduct exists, but familiarity with the content of this video is invaluable.

As Scott Fleming, a criminal defense lawyer based in the San Francisco Bay Area notes, “The police can always find legal and illegal ways to get around your constitutional rights, but even in the post-9/11 world, the advice offered by [Busted]—to never consent to a search and never to answer questions from the police—still stands as the best course of action in almost all situations.”

If the police do violate your rights—if an officer searches your car, person, or home after you have explicitly refused to consent to search—and you’re arrested, your lawyer can ask for the charges against you to be dismissed. (Provided that you present no lawful causes for search. Watch the video!)
As the Flex Your Rights site states: “Just as regular physical exercise strengthens muscles atrophied from underuse, innocent citizens must ‘flex’ their constitutional rights in order to keep them strong and secure.” Of course, guilty citizens could stand a little constitutional rights workout as well.

Copies of the video can be purchased online at www.aclu.org and www.flexyourrights.org for everyone you care about protecting. Rights mean nothing if you can’t exercise them.