Comment Re:The answer nobody likes... (Score 2) 286
> Under no circumstances should you trust a cop, EVEN if you are innocent
That is only true for things worth hiring a lawyer over. As long as your confident your being hassled over a minor violation not worth a lawyers time, you might as well try the cheapest easiest time to present your case. Talk the cop out of the ticket, you don't have to try and talk the judge out of it, or get a lawyer involved. Anything under a few hundred dollars, no jail...
This does mean you have to recognize, and shut your mouth when being talked into something. Hard to recognize signs like, anytime a cops asks the same question twice... And even then, it can be very helpful to get on the record what other people did, to the officer right then. Don't answer questions at the scene of a accident... about what you did, they can't be used to help you in court. But it is very helpful if you can get a cop asking the right questions of other people. IE bashed a mugger, or saw a mugger bashed, you don't just claim the fifth and sit in the car while him and his buddies walk away, you tell the police I saw a knife in his pocket, and he ran after me... When the cop asks what you did, that's where you change the subject to what they did, and refuse to talk about that.