Anyone, who has ever watched police shows on TV, knows that smart lawyers tell their clients to refuse to answer police officer’s questions. In real life, virtually all criminal defense attorneys give that same advice. Here are seven reasons why you should refuse to answer any questions from a police officer, if there is even a remote chance you might have committed a crime.

1. Any criminal lawyer will tell you that most people attempting to talk their way out of a police situation wind up confessing to a crime.

2. In my experience eighty percent of criminal defendants, viewing the police report in their case, look at quotes attributed to them and say to me: “I didn’t say that!” This may happen because the police officer misheard them, or wrote the report later and misremembered, or simply wrote down what he thought would most help the prosecution. I guarantee you that if all you say is: “I don’t want to talk without a lawyer”; then that is all the report will say. There will be no statements attributed to you, except that you wanted a lawyer.
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