Why You Should Never Talk to the Police

By: Lawrence Gridin · April 16, 2009 · Filed Under Civil Rights, Criminal Law · 25 Comments 

Moin A. Yahya, Associate Professor of Law at U. Alberta has posted a couple of interesting videos on why criminal suspects should never talk to the police.

Most experienced defence lawyers will tell you that the first words out of their mouth when they get the 3AM phone call from the jail are: “don’t say anything!”

But for some reason, criminally accused often don’t seem to get it.

The videos feature a professor of law (formerly a defence lawyer) as well as a police officer explaining why suspects would do well to heed the advice and exercise their right to remain silent.

Though the videos are reflective of American law, the principles are largely applicable here in Canada. Though we do not have a 5th Amendment, Canadians have long had a right to silence which is now constitutionally entrenched in s. 7 of the Charter (see R. v. Singh, 2007 SCC 48 for a discussion).

And now, without further ado, here is why you ought not to speak to the police:

If you have limited time, I’d suggest skipping forward to 8:20, where the professor discusses the “top 10 reasons why you should never speak to the police.”

[YouTube clips reposted from U. Alberta's Law Faculty Blog]

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