With college Spring Breaks taking place across the U.S., many of America’s young people (who are our future) will experience the annual rite of passage of being detained by the cops. The best way to avoid law enforcement (although not foolproof) is to not break the law to begin with. Nevertheless, the as the sun rises in the morning, Spring Break is Spring Break, so I give the following commandments for not getting arrested.  These also work at other times of the year, as well:

COMMANDMENT NO. 1:  DO NOT FAIL THE ATTITUDE TEST WITH THE COP
Never, ever be confrontational or disrespectful to a cop when detained, even if you think the cop is wrong or acting rudely.  The difference between annoying and irritating most people and annoying and irritating a cop is simple:  when a cop is fed up with you, he can arrest you.  Cops are human.  If you you catch one at the end of a long, tiring, and frustrating shift and you are viewed as being disrespectful, your chances of getting arrested go up exponentially.  I have lost track of how many roadside videos I have watched where the person being detained might have walked away free if they had just been polite, instead of going to jail for something relatively minor.  Manners can go a long way.

COMMANDMENT NO 2:  DO NOT LIE ABOUT YOUR IDENTITY OR AGE
In many jurisdictions, lying to a cop about your name or age when you have been lawfully detained is a jailable offense.  Unfortunately, most of the people I see get arrested for failure to identify are people who are trying to talk themselves out of a citation or ticket.  The getting caught lying to a cop about identity or age is almost always far more serious than the offense these folks were trying to avoid in the first place.

COMMANDMENT NO. 3:  DO NOT CLAIM OWNERSHIP OF ANYTHING THAT DOES NOT BELONG TO YOU.
Chivalry is not dead.  I know this because, at least once a month, a young man comes into my office who was arrested because he claimed ownership of marijuana that belonged to his girlfriend or his buddy, because he didn’t want to see that person get arrested.  And usually, by the time the case gets filed in court, the girlfriend or buddy is now an ex-girlfriend or ex-buddy and Mr. Noble is stuck holding the bag (excuse the pun).  Of course, I could explain to the prosecutor that the this young man with a heart of gold simply lied to the arresting officer, but in Texas, making a false report to a peace office is often far more serious than the offense my client is actually charged with.  You claim it, its yours.

COMMANDMENT NO. 4:  DO NOT CONSENT TO A SEARCH
If a cop already has probable cause to believe you are possession of drugs or other contraband, he doesn’t need to ask for your consent to search the place where he believes the item is located.  If he asks you for consent, it means one of two things:  either he doesn’t have probable cause and he’s going on a fishing expedition, or he’s doing CYA in case his reason for searching is later found to be lacking.  Never convert a bad search into a good search by giving consent.

COMMANDMENT NO. 5:  DO NOT RUN OR HIDE FROM THE COP
Again, I have lost track of how many people I have seen arrested for fleeing or hiding from a cop over minor stuff  — traffic tickets, minor in possession of alcohol, etc.  Running from the cop will not only get you arrested, it can get you seriously injured, and buy you a lousy criminal record to boot.  Ironically, I have represented many people in evading cases who would not have been convicted, or even arrested, for the offense for which the cop wanted to detain.  Needless to say, if you flee, the cop will assume you are guilty of more than just running.  (Also, don’t judge a book by its cover.  That cop may appear to have eaten too many donuts, but I guarantee you he is almost always faster than he looks –  and has backup.  You are likely to lose the foot race.)

COMMANDMENT NO. 6:     DO NOT REFUSE TO SIGN THE CITATION
If a cop asks you to sign a citation or ticket, it’s not an admission of guilt.  You can always go to court and fight the charge.  However, I have seen many cases where cops decided to take someone into custody after the person refused to sign a citation for a relatively minor offense (See Commandment No. 1).

COMMANDMENT NO 7:  DO NOT DRIVE LIKE AN IDIOT
The vast majority of arrests in the U.S. arise out  traffic stops.  A cop stops someone for, say, speeding, and then discovers marijuana or other drugs, open warrants, that the person has been drinking, etc.  Don’t draw attention to yourself or give the cops a reason to stop you to begin with.

COMMANDMENT NO. 8:  DO NOT KEEP ILLEGAL ITEMS IN THE INTERIOR OF YOUR VEHICLE
Rule of thumb — keep your illegal stuff at home.  But if you feel compelled to travel with it, keep it in your trunk.  If your car is stopped for a traffic violation and the cop sees (or smells) even the slightest sign of illegal activity, expect a detention and search.  If he can’t see it in plain view or smell it, the chances of a search and arrest drop significantly.

COMMANDMENT NO. 9:  DO NOT PUT YOUR HANDS IN YOUR POCKETS (OR THE GLOVE BOX, ETC.)
Back in ancient times, when I was a prosecutor, I always told the cops the same thing:  when in doubt, search.  I would rather go to your suppression hearing than go to your funeral.  Cops are killed during routine traffic stops every year, and cops are understandably cautious when detaining someone (especially at night).  When you nervously put you hands on or near your pockets, or you dig around in your car’s glove box before you are asked to do so, cops start getting nervous about whether or not you have a weapon, or something else you shouldn’t possess.  If you act this way, you are begging for a search.  Don’t reach for anything unless the cop asks you to do so and keep your hands in plain view.

COMMANDMENT NO. 10:  DO NOT INTERFERE WITH A COP DETAINING ANOTHER PERSON
If a cop is questioning your friend or relative and asks you to stand off to the side, stand off to the side.  If you start to approach the cop, begin yelling at the cop, or (God forbid)  touch the cop, you will be viewed as confrontational and potentially violent and will be treated as such (See Commandments 1 and 9).

BONUS COMMANDMENT:  BE SAFE
Have fun, but not too much.  Live to a ripe old age so that you can pay the attorney’s fees for your children after they get busted at Spring Break.

I recently had a couple of people coming into my office for occupational driver’s licenses who were surprised when they received driver’s license suspensions due to drug  convictions.  One guy had gotten a Class B Misdemeanor Possession of Marijuana conviction, and the other had been conviction of Possession of Controlled Substance  (cocaine).  I had not represented either of these guys in their respective drug cases.

When each guy was in court entering his guilty plea to a drug conviction, neither the courts admonished them, nor did their attorneys warn them, that they could receive  an automatic driver’s license suspension for being convicted of a drug offense.  They did not find out about the driver’s license consequences until they received the  suspension notices from DPS in the mail.

Unfortunately for them, if you are convicted of a drug offense in Texas, you receive an automatic suspension of your driver’s license  — even if you weren’t driving a car at  the time you were arrested.  Generally, the  suspension is for six (6) months, but if you are under 21 years of age, its a year.  And unfortunately, courts are not legally  required to warn you of these potential driver’s license consequences when you enter a plea.  For those of you on deferred adjudication of a drug offense, if your deferred  adjudication probation is later adjudicated/revoked, then the suspension kicks in at that point.

Before you consider entering into a deal in a drug case, always ask about, and consider, the potential driver’s license consequences.  If doesn’t necessarily mean that you  still won’t wind up deciding to take the deal, but at least you’ll be prepared to make arrangements to drive for work, school, etc.

You’ve just been accused of possession of controlled substance, and, not only did you not possess the drugs in question, but you also don’t even do drugs.  What should you do?  The first thing I would suggest (after speaking with a lawyer) is going to to a walk-up medical clinic and getting a hair follicle test.  We have had several clients that have used the results of hair follicle tests to get drug cases dismissed.  These are the same clinics that many employers send their employees to in order to get drug- tested.  Many of these clinics will do a drug test for anyone who requests one at a pretty reasonable price.  Why a hair follicle test? Because a hair follicle test, as opposed to a urinalysis, can often go back for several months, which insures that it covers the day on which you were arrested.  Even though you, technically, do not have to have actually consumed the illegal drug in question to be guilty of possession, most people who possess a drug also use it.  So evidence that you have not used a particular drug for several months prior to the date of arrest is pretty persuasive evidence for many prosecutors that a case should be dismissed.  Now, if God forbid, the test comes up positive, you are not obligated to reveal the results to the prosecution.  Only you and your lawyer need know.  So there really is not a down side to having the test done.

There must be a misprint in this morning’s New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung.  Someone is actually making a reasonable proposal  having to do with law enforcement on the  Comal and Guadalupe Rivers.  State Rep Doug Miller is introducing legislation that would change some criminal trespassing cases from Class B Misdemeanors to Class C
Misdemeanors.  This is being proposed in response to the number of arrests made every summer on the Comal and Guadalupe.  Most of the property along these two rivers is private, and when tubers get out of the river at places not open to the public (to rearrange clothing, grab a drink, wait for friends who are upriver, etc.) they may be committing criminal trespass.  At the moment, Criminal Trespass is a Class B Misdemeanor, which means it carries a potential jail sentence of up to 180 days, or supervised probation of up to two years (not to mention that is can leave a permanent mark on  someone’s criminal record).  Changing some Criminal Trespass cases to Class C Misdemeanors would lower the potential punishment to a fine of $500.00, essentially making the offense the legal equivalent of a traffic ticket.  Not only would this make life easier for the people being charged (most of whom weren’t trying to harm anyone) but also make life easier for local law enforcement.  Police now spend countless hours making arrests for Criminal Trespass on the rivers every summer — which includes the time not only to take a person into custody, but also to transport the person to jail, book them, generate a police report, and take the person in front a magistrate to set bail.  Taking these people to jail also takes up badly in needed bed space in a jail that is often bulging at the seams during the summer.  Allowing a Criminal Trespass to be a Class C misdemeanor in some circumstances would give cops greatly leeway to simply issue a citation to someone rather than making a full-blown arrest.  Like I said, this makes a lot of sense, so I’m not holding my breath on this actually getting passed in the Texas Legislature.  But I will cross my fingers and keep you posted as this bill is considered.