I’ve stated the title to this post on this blog several times and posted videos proving it each time. Here it is again:

If a cop comes up to you, and demands your ID, do you know whether you are within your rights to not show it? If you don’t know, you could assume that you have to, because the cop is telling you what to do, and you just assume the cop is telling the truth. They’re willing to bluff you (lie), and you have to be willing to call their bluff. You know a cop is lying because his lips are moving. Bluffing in a game of poker is acceptable, because that’s part of the game you agree to play. Cops should be fired for bluffing.

Cop worshipers will say the purpose of police is to protect your rights. Obviously, they’re completely wrong. If they were there to protect your rights, they’d inform you of your rights and verify that you actually want to give up your rights before you did so.

Of course, the obvious question is what would any of these guys’ IDs tell the cops? The cops just want to run their IDs to see of they have a warrant out for their arrest. They want to bluff and intimidate them into leaving.

At one point when I was doing evangelism in Canon, people were calling the cops on us every time we went. One moronic bunch of cops came within a hair of arresting us for disorderly conduct. After getting a lawyer to write a letter to the city council, attorney, chief of police, the police chief issued a notice to the 911 dispatchers not to send police unless the caller alleged an actual crime. They wouldn’t send police if the callers were only saying that there’s guys on the sidewalk talking to people and handing out tracts. That’s the only way to protect people’s rights–is for cops not to show up if there’s no report of an actual crime.