How to Deal with Cops: Q&A with Steve Silverman of Flex Your Rights

"Asserting your Constitutional rights is not a trick in any way," says Steve Silverman of the Flex Your Rights Foundation. "What the police officers do is a trick."

Silverman started Flex Your Rights in 2002 after spending years working with college students who lost scholarships because of minor drug busts. Since then the organization has produced two popular videos, Busted: The Citizen's Guide to Surviving Police Encounters and 10 Rules For Dealing with the Police, both of which have millions of views on YouTube and have been screened in classrooms and communities around the country.

Silverman sat down with Reason.tv's Tim Cavanaugh to discuss the best tactics to employ during a police encounter and to explain why it is in your best interest to refuse to consent to a search, even if you have nothing to hide.




Approximately 9 minutes.

Interview by Tim Cavanaugh. Shot by Hawk Jensen, Paul Detrick, and Austin Bragg. Edited by Zach Weissmueller.

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Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• ReasonTV
• Reason Magazine
• Libertarian
• Tim Cavanaugh
• Steve Silverman
• Drug Law
• Flex Your Rights
• Civil Liberties
• Nick Gillespie

[DumPlum7]

Three Cops Watched this and clicked the dislike button.

[doobersmanster]

The problem with the Police force today is that they are being trained as a Para-Military organizations instead of caring servants of the people that actually care about the people they serve..always refuse searches..these Police agencies are out of control and don't prosecute thier own and that cause dis-trust..and fear..and fear leads to horrible consequences..us against them attitude of the policeis going to lead to more fear..RIP Pastor Kreach...Spokane Wash Search pastor Kreach.

[MrGodTheFather]

The only crime listed in the constitution is "Treason".

[RyanJ504]

The lawyer sounds like Terrance Howard.

[goose1077]

@BirkinG1rl They are not the government. They can search your bags on their property. You always have the right to refuse search if you agree to leave though. They also have the right to not let you back in the store if you refuse.

[FoxeoGames]

@doobersmanster And please, don't go into all the complete bullshit of listing popularized incidents as if they are the norm. The media only shows you what is controversial, whatever riles you up and gets you to keep watching.

The news is entertainment. Officers doing their job properly is not entertaining, so they only show you the bad, and then you get the very mistaken impression that the bad is "all there is," or even a "significant portion." All bullshit

[FoxeoGames]

@doobersmanster Nearly everything you just said is absolutely untrue. Para-military? Only the academy structure, which disappears after you graduate from it. Only SWAT and equivalent teams perform any military-like behavior.

They don't care about the people? That's your opinion, and it's subjective.

They don't prosecute their own? What planet do you live on where in America police prosecute anything? The police cannot prosecute ANYONE for ANYTHING!

[akmrmike]

We don't have constitutional rights, The constitution limits government. Are you a People or a citizen?

[Configurez]

@DumPlum7 4(=

[SAMFlSHER40l7]

The police are there to do their job and protect society, but they are not supposed to unreasonably search people without evidence getting in pants or searching their car and possibly damaging any property in your car and won't be liable because you agreed to the search.

[zdrux]

@MountainManAaron That's fine, he'll have to say why he handcuffed you in court. At which point you can say you did not consent to a search.

[MountainManAaron]

I just said " I don't consent to searches " to an officer yesterday. within the next 2 seconds he had my hands behind my back being handcuffed