127

Suspects can refuse to provide phone passcodes to police, court rules (web.archive.org)

submitted 6 months ago by DougHolland@lemmy.world to c/thepoliceproblem@lemmy.world

12 comments fedilink hide all child comments

top 12 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[-] xantoxis@lemmy.world 24 points 6 months ago

Pretty sure this has always been the case. Giving up a piece of information like a password has always been considered self-incrimination and therefore is a violation of your rights.

This is why you should get rid of face unlock, body unlock, fingerprint unlock etc. on your phone and just use a passcode. The police can compel you to unlock your phone using those other methods, because those aren't information locked in your head.

[-] Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca 2 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

For finger print though what if you just use the wrong finger until it locks itself?

[-] xantoxis@lemmy.world 3 points 6 months ago

Might work. It's taking a gamble, though, and putting your phone in PIN mode is easy and can be done way in advance. I've been using a PIN unlock on my phone since I joined the protests in 2020.

[-] lea@feddit.de 2 points 6 months ago

Most Android phones usually allow you to require pin re-entry by clicking an open lock or a "Lockdown" button in shutdown menu. It seems for iOS it's Power + Volume Up/Down but I can't confirm this.

[-] xantoxis@lemmy.world 3 points 6 months ago

This is good info, but if you're putting yourself in a situation where you might get rounded up by cops (a protest, for example) you should not rely on being able to get to your phone quick enough to hit that.

[-] Crashumbc@lemmy.world 5 points 6 months ago

While I agree, if you're going to a situation like a protest, you should be using a burner phone anyway. And be expecting it to be seized.

[-] xantoxis@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago

Agree with this. Your burner phone still should be hard to unlock though, since it has contact info for your co-conspirators.

[-] stoy@lemmy.zip 10 points 6 months ago

Since this relates to laws, it should be noted that this is related to the US, and that other countries may treat the issue completely differently.

[-] sic_1@lemmy.world 3 points 6 months ago

It's like this with seized devices in Germany, too. The result is they keep it until you give up the PW.

[-] ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 6 months ago

Fine, keep it.

Me 30min later: "Hi yes I lost my phone and I need to replace it, do you sell unlocked google pixels at this store?"

[-] sic_1@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago

Yup, if you have the money to replace it that's fine but you'll still have lost most of the data on your phone.

[-] ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 6 months ago

Backups are important! I just wish I could remotely brick it.

this post was submitted on 16 Dec 2023

127 points (97.0% liked)

THE POLICE PROBLEM

2236 readers

58 users here now

The police problem is that police are policed by the police. Cops are accountable only to other cops, which is no accountability at all.

99.9999% of police brutality, corruption, and misconduct is never investigated, never punished, never makes the news, so it's not on this page.

When cops are caught breaking the law, they're investigated by other cops. Details are kept quiet, the officers' names are withheld from public knowledge, and what info is eventually released is only what police choose to release — often nothing at all.

When police are fired — which is all too rare — they leave with 'law enforcement experience' and can easily find work in another police department nearby. It's called "Wandering Cops."

When police testify under oath, they lie so frequently that cops themselves have a joking term for it: "testilying." Yet it's almost unheard of for police to be punished or prosecuted for perjury.

Cops can and do get away with lawlessness, because cops protect other cops. If they don't, they aren't cops for long.

The legal doctrine of "qualified immunity" renders police officers invulnerable to lawsuits for almost anything they do. In practice, getting past 'qualified immunity' is so unlikely, it makes headlines when it happens.

All this is a path to a police state.

In a free society, police must always be under serious and skeptical public oversight, with non-cops and non-cronies in charge, issuing genuine punishment when warranted.

Police who break the law must be prosecuted like anyone else, promptly fired if guilty, and barred from ever working in law-enforcement again.

That's the solution.

♦ ♦ ♦

Our definition of ‘cops’ is broad, and includes prison guards, probation officers, shitty DAs and judges, etc — anyone who has the authority to fuck over people’s lives, with minimal or no oversight.

♦ ♦ ♦

RULES

① Real-life decorum is expected. Please don't say things only a child or a jackass would say in person.

② If you're here to support the police, you're trolling. Please exercise your right to remain silent.

③ Saying ~~cops~~ ANYONE should be killed lowers the IQ in any conversation. They're about killing people; we're not.

④ Please don't dox or post calls for harassment, vigilantism, tar & feather attacks, etc.

Please also abide by the instance rules.

It you've been banned but don't know why, check the moderator's log. If you feel you didn't deserve it, hey, I'm new at this and maybe you're right. Send a cordial PM, for a second chance.

♦ ♦ ♦

ALLIES

• !abolition@slrpnk.net

• !acab@lemmygrad.ml

• r/ACAB

• r/BadCopNoDonut/

• Randy Balko

• The Civil Rights Lawyer

• The Honest Courtesan

• Identity Project

• MirandaWarning.org

♦ ♦ ♦