All week long, I’ve been covering the story of Barry Cooper’s Never Get Busted Again video and of the reactions to it from various places, especially the folks at the Flex Your Rights Foundation. The difference in approach is fascinating.
I didn’t say much about it in my review, but Barry Cooper is fun to watch. When he’s talking about claims that drug dealers sell to children, just his face and the tone of his voice as he says “that’s BULLcrap” makes me smile every time. The folks at Flex Your Rights are more staid and professional.
In part, that’s because everything at Flex Your Rights is couched in terms of protecting your legal rights during an encounter with police. It’s all legal advice. Cooper, on the other hand, is very blunt about the fact that he’s explaining how to smuggle drugs.
Cooper tells you where to hide your stash, and how to keep the cops from finding it. Over at Flex Your Rights, they don’t use words like “stash” or even “drugs.” When discussing consent to search, they refer repeatedly to your “private items.”
The most serious difference shows up in the dispute over the consent to search issue. Simplifying greatly, the Flex Your Rights folks say you should never consent to a search, whereas Barry Cooper says you might as well, because the cops will just do an illegal search anyway.
In other words, the liberal ACLU-types are assuming that police officers will be professional and respectful of your rights. The ex-cop, on the other hand, is assuming that the cops will act like thugs.
Amusing. But also sad.
Thanks, Mark. I’m glad we come across as “staid and professional.”
But I’d like to comment on this:
“In other words, the liberal ACLU-types are assuming that police officers will be professional and respectful of your rights. The ex-cop, on the other hand, is assuming that the cops will act like thugs.”
I hope FYR’s materials don’t give the impression that we think asserting your rights is a walk in the park. But it can’t be overstated that waiving your rights is a self-defeating and ironic reaction to perceptions of widespread police misconduct.
There’s a reason that police vigorously seek to obtain consent.