Right to Remain Silent? Not in the Backseat of a Cop Car

Tuesday, September 03, 2013
(graphic: digarati)

If arrested and placed in the back of police car, anything said by a suspect can be used against them in court, including remarks captured on video. Numerous individuals in Florida have learned this lesson the hard way.

 

Miranda rights inform suspects that they don’t have to say anything to police after being apprehended. This applies not only in an interrogation room at a police station, but also in the rear of a cop car.

 

And yet, some individuals can’t seem to help themselves once inside a police cruiser.

 

“A suspected burglar in Delray Beach confessed to having drug paraphernalia, suspected burglars in Belle Glade discussed where they hid evidence and a drug suspect in Lake Worth gave up where he hid his stash,” wrote Brittany Shammas wrote of the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel.

 

What the gabbers didn’t realize is that some local law enforcement agencies use in-car cameras that switch on automatically, recording everything said in the back seat.

 

Marques Romo, the Delray Beach burglary suspect, was recorded saying: “I’m dead, bro. This is the first time I ever slipped up. ... Can you imagine if I had weed on me, I mean I have that f------ paraphernalia piece, bro.”

 

In some instances, the suspects knew the cops might be recording their conversation, and still they couldn’t keep quiet in the back seat.

 

After two teenagers were handcuffed on suspicion of committing a Belle Glade burglary, one suspect told the other to “be careful what you say in here,” noting “they have cameras.”

 

Still, David Lopez asked his alleged accomplice, “Where did you throw that book bag?”

 

“Right there in the bushes near the railroad tracks,” his 17-year-old friend, who was not identified because he’s a minor, replied.

 

“Aw, they found the bag!” Lopez said as deputies headed back to the car.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

To Learn More:

Cop-Car Cameras Capture Accidental Confessions (by Brittany Shammas, Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel)

Supreme Court Rules a Suspect’s Silence during Police Interrogation Can be Used against Him (by Noel Brinkerhoff and Danny Biederman, AllGov)

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