THE LAW AND YOU
BY Bones
I hope that you are all as well as can be expected and are all up and running. This is the second installment of the Law and You and I am going to talk about your rights. There are several kinds of rights the most important of which is YOUR RIGHTS. They are the most important because they are YOURS. Of all the rights that you have the one that you will be most familiar with are the Miranda rights, not because I think you have all been busted but anyone that has ever watched a cop show has heard the speech that starts with "You have the right to remain silent. If you give up the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.” We will take that statement and look at it to try and interpret its meaning.
The Miranda rule was developed to protect the individual's Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. The Miranda warning ensures that people in custody realize they do not have to talk to the police. If the Miranda warning is not given before questioning, or if police continue to question a suspect after he or she indicates in any manner a desire to remain silent, statements by the suspect generally are inadmissible at trial—they should not be used against the suspect.
We all know that all law enforcement just love bikers and they are especially fond of the riders like me that wear Colors and belong to a MOTORCYCLE CLUB, (not gang). We also know that everything that you will be told by the arresting officer at the time of the stop will be the truth as they would never think of leading you to believe that something like searching your bike is their right, alright, enough with the fairytales. For some reason law enforcement has a real problem with the motorcycle population in the U.S., and my own personal belief is that we represent the last culture that won’t just rollover and take what they are dishing out and that makes them nervous.
The first portion of the Miranda rights to me is the most important and should be to you as well. It guarantees you the right to remain silent and I strongly suggest that you use that right. In a normal traffic stop you are not under arrest but you are being detained and being cited for breaking a traffic law or equipment violation. You will not be read your rights at a traffic stop unless you are to be placed under arrest and then it will be a crap shoot whether or not the cop reads them to you. Regardless if you are being arrested or not when coming in contact with law enforcement remember this right.
The Miranda rights come in effect the minute you are ordered to pull over not after the cop decides to read them to you. You are not required to answer any questions that may be asked of you. Most times you will be asked where you have been or where you are going in an attempt to gain information as to where you and your friends hang out and to determine if you might be under the influence of drugs or alcohol or both. For some reason the cops think we are all on both because we ride motorcycles.
I suggest that the only conversation that you have with the cop is “am I under arrest?” and “can I leave”. Keep your mouth shut, be polite, (a simple yes or no will do, save the sir for the judge) and above all make sure that your license, registration insurance are current and readily available so you don’t have to fumble through your wallet. You don’t want to be there any longer than you have to.
I hope this clears up the first of the Miranda rights for you and the next time you encounter the local cop he will figure out that you have a grip on what your rights are and you plan to exercise your rights.
IF YOU HAVE TO BREAK THE LAW ONLY BREAK ONE AT A TIME
BONES
