One night, Heather and I were returning from our community theatre after a night of play practice, and it was late. To get home we had to drive through a DUI checkpoint. As we stopped and answered questions, the officer wanted to look in the trunk. It felt terribly invasive. It was terribly invasive. For a few days later I felt dirty, like I'd been violated. I wish I'd said "No, you may not look in the trunk", but I didn't know my rights, or what the consequences could be. That was then.
Now, I'm better informed, thanks to "You and the Police!" by Boston T. Party..
Boston T. Party (obviously not his real name) has written extensively on many subjects, but most frequently, he writes about liberty. As I am a libertarian (small L) I find these topics to be interesting to me. I bought it to learn how to talk my way out of speeding tickets, but I learned a whole lot more.
What's Good?
In "You and the Police!" Boston talks about the myriad different types of encounters someone may have with the police: traffic stops, detentions, arrests, search warrants (of your home, car, and work). Most importantly though, he describes in detail what the average person's rights are during each of these types of encounters. He also coaches the reader on what they should say and do to make sure the situation doesn't get worse, minimize the amount of trouble they can get into, all the while preserving their dignity and freedom.
The book is entertaining, easy to follow, and easy to use as a reference to look things up. I will say that I sometimes scratched my head at the mention of him carrying around a tape recorder all the time, but apparently a lot of libertarians do, for the precise reason of recording conversations with authority. I don't do that, but if you so choose, more power to you.
Most importantly though, is the fact that Boston doesn't advocate breaking the law, or being disrespectful to the police. He expresses the hope that we are all moral individuals, but recognizes that we all, at some point, run into the police, even when we are moral. This is important for me because I believe that sworn peace officers (Constables, Sherriff's, etc) do have a valuable place in helping keep society civil. I get annoyed when I read things about the police in general, and the author uses too broad a stroke when painting the entire lot as "jack-booted thugs".
What's Bad?
Not much. It's a thin book, and there's a lot of material that he couldn't cover. Boston acknowledges that he is only skimming the surface of the material, and that the reader will need to do further research on their own for their particular area.
Also, the book is getting a little dated. It's about 6 or 7 years old and could really use an update, especially given the changes in police powers since 9/11, the passing of the Patriot Act, and the creation of the Dept. of Homeland Security. I hope he does in fact update the book, as I would love to read what he says about current events.
But those two issues are very minor, considering how poor the book could have been. Boston succeeds in making an informative book entertaining, easy to read, and leaves you with a working knowledge on how to handle yourself later.
I guarantee that if I had read it before that late night DUI check I would have handled the situation differently. I hope you get the book and educate yourself as well.
Where Can I Get It?
Well, you can buy it from Amazon.com or you can buy it from Javelin Press directly.
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