[Rick Lee]

On a rare occasion, I took one of Fastpat's reading suggestions and bought "You & The Police" by Boston T. Party. Love that name! It's an interesting and quick, though not very well edited, read on how to minimize your contact with police and how to behave when it's inevitable. One of my favorite phrases so far is what to say when a cop asks what's in your trunk or briefcase - "lawful personal property". The book is a good reminder of how far our Bill of Rights has been eroded over the years and is likely to get more so in the coming years. While I've never been asked by a cop if he could search my car, I knew even before this book to never ever consent to a search. The book also tells you how to distance yourself from searchable areas before a cop can ask or have any kind of reasonable articulable suspicion or probable cause.

I'll finish the book tonight. I hope it addresses how one should answer that common cop question, "Is there anything in your car I should know about?". I don't know how to say it without irritating the cop, but I think it's never a cop's business what I have in my car. Check this book out.