- Always be calm and cool. Always control your words, tone of voice and body language.
- You have the right to remain silent. This is arguably one of your most important rights and often the least exercised. Do not talk.
- You have the right to refuse searches.
- You do not have to let police into your home without a search warrant.
- Police can lie to you. Do not be tricked or intimidated into waiving your rights.
- Determine if you are being detained by police or if you are free to leave.
- Do not expose yourself to police by being a public nuisance.
- Do not run from police.
- State your rights, but never touch police or physically resist.
- Report police misconduct.
These rules are taken from www.flexyourrights.org. They have an excellent 40-minute DVD entitled 10 Rules for Dealing with Police that can be viewed on YouTube. They also have a similar DVD entitled BUSTED: The Citizens Guide to surviving Police Encounters.