Mike Partyka (@MichaelJPartyka)

My #rules for dealing with #police: 1) Always try to keep your hands where they can see them. 2) If you have anything in your hands, show it and explain it. 3) Be nice and polite. You might be the only nice and polite experience they have that day, and just being a refreshing change of pace could work well for you. 4) If you need to make any move in their presence, ask permission first, then move slowly. 5) If you get a chance, ask how their day is going. Showing you care about them may cause them to reciprocate. It shouldn't hurt, in any case. I haven't had any truly adversarial situations with cops beyond getting a ticket a couple of times, but if it ever does appear the police are not on your side, here are some additional rules: 6) If asked to identify yourself or leave your vehicle, do it. 7) If you are asked questions beyond mere self-identification, you do not have to answer and probably shouldn't answer because you don't know what mat come of it. Just say, "I'm sorry, I prefer not to respond," or something else polite but clear. 8] If asked whether a search can be done on your person or property, say politely, "I don't consent to any unwarranted searches." If they choose to search anyway even after you've made your lack of consent clear, let them. 9) If they are at your door and are asking you to open the door and/or come outside, politely ask to see a warrant, and if no warrant is presented, politely decline. 10) Try to record whatever you can. You might want a burner phone with you just for the sake of making such recordings, so if anyone takes it or damages it, you still have your main phone. The number one principle to obey is, "Swallow your pride, be deferential, and let the police have control." The police aren't there to do the just, proper, or righteous thing by you. They're there to take control of a situation that has gone out of control somehow. If you try to interfere with their control of the situation, you immediately put yourself in an adversarial relationship with them. As two Minneapolis citizens found out this week, being in an adversarial relationship with police can be the worst place imaginable.