COPS SHOULD STOP OBTAINING FALSE CONFESSIONS WITH LIES & FALSE INFORMATION IN INTERROGATIONS

Across American police officers routinely lie during interrogations  in order to bully suspects into making damning admissions. The sordid goal is not to find the truth, but to find further evidence to guilt. 

Officer Pinocchio lies to suspects.

For example, officers may lie about forensic evidence, asking why fingerprints match the suspect even when no fingerprint evidence exists. 
Officers may indicate that a nonexistent eye witness identifies the defendant or that a co-defendant admits everything and implicates the defendant. This use of false information to ensnare defendants is perfectly legal in most of the United States, yet it is also known to be one of the causes for the high incidence of false confessions.


In many other countries lying to a suspect would be viewed as police misconduct. And when viewed in it's entirety it's not much different than the evidence used in Soviet show trials or what might be expected from totalitarian regimes bent on maintaining power. 

In England, the birthplace of our common law, the government has restricted officers from using false information to lure confessions. The focus of British law enforcement investigations is to find the truth, not to merely obtain a confession. The British found that lying to defendants merely increased the chances of a false confession. 

Instead of lying about facts or playing good cop/bad cop as American interrogators are prone to do, British interrogations seek to find out from the suspect what happened. As the suspect tells the story the officers look for any inconsistencies. If there are inconsistencies, then the interrogation moves forward in an effort to find truth rather than merely find more evidence to convict. Evidence in British criminal cases is gathered and deployed to find the truth of what occurred rather than basing an investigation upon preconceived notions of guilt.

It's about more than a suspect or target of an investigation merely trying to avoid arrest and prosecution. As a defense attorney and former prosecutor in Tampa Bay, Florida I've witnessed many officers freely admit under oath to lying to suspects in an effort to snare a fast confession. One wonders why any juror or judge would believe anything any officer might say after make such a damning admission. Yet what a lying officer is really saying is he's willing to lie to subvert the legal system. Any police officer willing to lie should find another job instead of bending the framework of truth in the criminal justice system.

HOW DAY LIGHT SAVINGS TIME ACTUALLY REDUCES VIOLENT CRIME

That hour you lost in sleep last night might just be worth it, because a study establishes that the extra hour of daylight results in a reduction in violent crime. In fact the crime reduction during that hour of light rather than darkness is significant especially for major violent crimes such as robbery, murder and rape.

Harold Lloyd Fights Daylight Savings Time

For example, during that well lit extra hour of sunshine there's a reduction in robbery by 51%, murder by 48% and sexual battery by 56%. Could it be that just like us, criminals miss the extra hour of sleep and so slough off their important work habits during during that lonely hour? No, say our hard-hearted scientist, it's simply that criminals are more likely to do their work at night while cloaked in darkness.

According to the study Under the Cover of Darkness: Using Daylight Savings Time to measure how ambient light influences criminal behavior, which ferreted out other variables, it is the light itself that reduces the crime rate. Light increases the likelihood of being caught thereby increasing the expected cost of the crime. The study further shows that Daylight Savings saves over half a billion dollars a year in social costs due to reduced crime. And it suggests that it would be a wise investment to improve night time lighting with more street lights.

Since Florida is known as the Sunshine State one would think crime would not even exist here in Tampa Bay. Nor would one readily believe that beach blanket crime could occur on our sunny beaches during tourist season, yet it does and in broad daylight too. Perhaps the problem is that the street lights are turned off during the day.

Anyway, soon we'll recover our lost sleep. Till then my recommendation for our somnolent Congress is to take that hour away on Monday rather than ruining the weekends by stealing the hour on Sunday. Perhaps the findings of another crime study finding that more iphone muggings occur on Mondays than any other day of the week will help our cause. By reducing the number of hours on Monday crime would be reduced as well.

FLORIDA MISCONDUCT: LARGO COPS FAIL TO OBTAIN SEARCH WARRANTS BEFORE BREAKING INTO HOMES

The Largo Police Department grudgingly apologized for breaking into a home that officers falsely believed was occupied by vagrants. The officers busted down the front door and confronted the law abiding occupants with weapons to investigate the heinous crime of a possible trespassing charge. 

Damn, forgot the Search Warrant again!

It's very lucky for everyone involved that on one was shot, because  the manner in which the officers gained entry was closer to a home invasion than to what one would expect from qualified police officers. Under Florida's stand your ground law those within the house would clearly have a right to defend themselves from what they believed to be a home invasion. If there had been a shooting, how would the police have explained their obvious disregard of the law and sheer laziness in not first securing a search warrant on the house? 

Also, since anyone in Florida can resist an unlawful arrest in Florida as long as no force or violence is used, there would be incentive on the part of the police officers to find a reason or excuse to be there by looking for any unlawful acts. That's why properly prepared search warrants actually help the police by solidifying the reason they need to go into a home and delineating before a judge or magistrate the evidence of unlawful misconduct the police possess.

Despite an apology to the men living in the home, the Police Department made it clear that it believed it did not really need a search warrant under the circumstances because of the exigent circumstances exception for search warrants. The fact is that investigation of a possible trespass with no other information nor suspicion of wrong doing nor immediate necessity for officer or citizen safety is legally insufficient. If the the leaders of the Largo Police Department don't understand criminal law, how can the investigating officers be expected to carry out their obligations under the law?

But the police do know what the law entails, they just don't want the aggravation that comes with respecting search warrant requirements. The truth is that in Tampa Bay, Florida many police departments have made a mockery of the fourth amendment search warrant requirements by using inappropriate tactics such as secret videos, while other officers have committed crimes without being prosecuted. If the police officers knew they should have obtained a search warrant then they were committing at least a trespass and possibly a burglary.

The Largo Police Department routinely and habitually violates the rights of it's citizens. Those in a leadership position should be punished or new leaders found who will obey our constitution even if they don't believe in it. 

COUNTRY CLUB GOLF BETS BECOME FOCUS OF CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION

Is golf a game of skill or a game of chance? Having played too many rounds of golf I grudgingly admit that skill may be involved. And if on the witness stand, hand trembling on Bible, I would admit to losing more on the golf course from errant unfound golf balls blitzing into water holes, trees, berms, bushes, golf carts and on one occasion an unfortunate man's head, than I've ever lost thru miscalculating my bets. Most golfers would probably agree.

Golfers have a long tormented tradition of making and taking bets while playing. In fact the reason there are handicaps is to facilitate fair bets between players of differing skills.

Into the Trap

Florida on the other hand has a long tradition of making private acts of sportsmanship criminal. For example, a few years ago in Clearwater, Florida a friendly small stake poker game being played by retirees was raided by the police. The Poker Five became a nation symbol of Florida's law enforcement's absurd priorities and abuse of criminal law. 

The Florida legislature responded by making a specific exception to the gambling laws for poker games with small incremental betting, since poker is after all a game of skill, unless you've just won the pot from me, then poker is damned ugly game of chance which should be outlawed. Yet despite that law found at Florida Statutes 849, the Largo Police Department recently folded a Texas Hold'em Poker game by arresting folks who were playing for prizes.

So why are Tampa Bay, Florida police officers wasting their time investigating a Tarpon Springs golf course? The Tarpon Springs police department says their investigation of a possible 'gambling house' is necessary and proper under Florida law. 

The truth is they clearly need to refocus their investigations on actual violations of Florida law. At least they haven't arrested anyone yet. The prosecutors at the State Attorney's Office should immediately shut down this investigation and let these duffers play.

WHAT TO DO IF YOU'VE BEEN FALSELY ARRESTED

When Florida law enforcement officers make a mistaken arrest it's important to take immediate steps to win back your freedom, your reputation and your future. Here are the critical steps you should take to regain control of your life.

1. Preserve evidence. If there is video, audio or other evidence of the incident be sure to keep the original and make copies. Any discrepancies between the police reports or officer testimony and tangible evidence helps to weaken the state's case against you.

Find Evidence of Innocence

2. Preserve witnesses. In a recent felony Battery on a Police Officer case that I handled a cab driver observed an officer from the St. Petersburg Police Department push my client's head into the  pavement, which was far different than the officer's false allegation that my client had tried to take his badge. Finding this witness and exploiting his damaging testimony resulted in the case being dismissed (no filed) by the Pinellas County State Attorney's Office in Clearwater.

3. Find corroborating details. Once in an alleged grand theft and burglary case that I handled the defendant happened to have a time dated ATM withdrawal slip which placed him far from the scene of the crime at the time the crime was committed. Had he not had that evidence of a corroborating detail he likely would have been convicted of the crime. Further, I've often encountered situation in allegations of misconduct or violations of probations where traffic ticket, pay stubs, work records or business records readily establish that my client is innocent.

4. Find computer, social media or smart phone trails. Most of our lives are now being tracked in countless ways by our computers, social media, smart phones and apps. Within the search structure and query system lay clues that may convict on exonerate you. It's essential to have computer experts search the content of your devices in search of helpful evidence.

5. Think outside the box. Think of everything that may possibly help you by retracing your steps that day. Place everything that happened on a flow chart by writing every down event and nonevent that occurred that day chronologically. Then fill in the details of each event. You will find further supporting evidence of innocence. 


If you've been falsely arrested in Clearwater, St. Petersburg or Tampa you should hire the best possible lawyer to ensure that these steps will be followed and that you're provided with an excellent defense. 

WHY EVERY PROSECUTOR SHOULD SPEND TIME IN JAIL LEARNING ABOUT HUMANITY, HUMILITY & FAIRNESS

Prosecutors would benefit from spending time in the slammer just as judges should spend time in the jail. Time in jail could humanize prosecutors and help them understand that defendants are not much different from anyone else. 

While the prosecutor sits in his small jail cell waiting for his beans and stale bread, he could while away the hours listening to cellmates complain of improper police conduct, lack of proper medical care in jail, lack of reasonable jail security and the fact that Florida jails and prisons have become profit mills run by private entities. 

Would it change the prosecutor's outlook on life? Did time in prison change Nelson Mandela, Solzhenitsyn or Mahatma Gandhi?

Prosecutor: Go to Jail

 Every defense lawyer has come across prosecutors who are as thick as bricks in say, treating first time non-violent offenders as if each represented the case of the century. Part of the problem is immaturity, after all many prosecutors are young attorneys in their first job and really are afraid to be anything but tough because they're not brave enough to argue for compassion. And mixed with this is a powerful self righteousness among many in law enforcement which is a byproduct of the convenient but delusional belief that they're some breed of avenging angels.

When I was a prosecutor years ago in Tampa Bay, Florida I found that many of the lawyers in the office became intoxicated with the power they were given. It started at the top because the chief prosecutor failed to instill a value system of justice and purpose in the prosecuting attorneys instead dictating a tunnel vision  persuading prosecutors to reject any view of innocence despite evidence to the contrary.

He failed to teach them that the true aim of good prosecutors should not be finding ways to win the most jail time but in finding the best possible solutions for victims and defendants effectively addressing the underlying reasons for the misconduct. No wonder the very man that the chief prosecutor trusted to watch over Clearwater prosecutors in drug trafficking cases turned out to be a criminal himself when it was revealed that he traded in sexual favors from defendants facing minimum mandatory prison sentences for reduced prison time corrupting prosecutors and himself.

Some time spent in jail away from the rest of us would give prosecutors a little humility. It's not unusual for prosecutors to be recent law school graduates, since being a prosecutor confers upon a rookie lawyer immediate trial experience laced with firm knowledge of the criminal justice system. Some prosecutors benefit from the confidence that winning many easy slam-dunk trial brings, while other prosecutors are crippled later in their careers by that early overconfidence and lack of hard work. 

A strong defense demands hard work. A strong prosecution demands hard work from law enforcement early in investigation all the way to an arrest, but despite what one might think, not from the prosecutor despite what one would think when hearing a typical prosecutor presenting a case. So a little jail time, say a rainy weekend in jail, might be just enough to bring prosecutors some much needed humility.

Also, time spent in jail would help prosecutors understand what it really means to spend time there. It would help them to properly evaluate which defendants should be best punished with something other than jail. You want my client to spend ten years in jail away from his family for a nonviolent crime such as grand theft. Fine, spend a weekend there yourself first, then let's talk about your experience and if it's really the best thing for my client.

Finally, under the law prosecutors are held to a much higher standard than other attorneys. They are sworn to seek justice, not just a guilty verdict. Yet many prosecutors few their job as trying to get the toughest sentence possible. Clearly many prosecutors would benefit from the renewal of a true sense of fair play and justice by learning what jail really entails, making it less casual and more difficult to send others to prison because of the knowledge of what wasted time in prison really means.