It’s good advice in general, but like all advice you need to understand the circumstances. I’ve had several circumstances in my life where talking to the police has avoided problems, not exacerbated them. These situations were where I was not a serious suspect, of course.
I was a lifeguard at a public beach when I was younger. A couple of fellow guards and I were smoking pot on the beach one day after hours. A police officer approached us and I left to meet him halfway. I explained that we were lifeguards there and we wanted to prevent the parties at the beach which resulted in broken bottles that we didn’t want to clean up the next day. If I didn’t speak to the officer and said nothing, we would have easily been charged ourselves.
On spring break once I was in a room of underage people drinking and smoking pot. I went on the ledge and made some noise: nothing obscene or ostentatious, but it was apparently enough to garner the attention of the police. When they came in the smoke and alcohol filled room, they asked who was outside on the ledge. I admitted it was me and promised not to engage in such activity again. The police accepted my apology and left, ignoring very obvious underage drinking and smoking violations.
I’ve had a few other similar situations in my past. My point is merely that forever refusing to speak to the police is not a good policy: take the situation into account.
I think the British Miranda warning is more appropriate than the American ones (where you basically say nothing to the police until you get a lawyer, which will be weeks after you are booked into the county jail).
“You do not have to say anything. But, it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence."
So the idea is you don’t have to talk to the police but if you don’t talk, it may end up hurting you if there are factors that gets you off as a suspect or mitigate the charge.
But since in the US the police seem hell bent on finding reasons to put people in jail (or at least that is how people perceive the police to be like), it’s no wonder people don’t want to say anything to them, thinking that saying anything would only hurt them.
In civil cases, you can be ordered to pay the court fees (訴訟費用, litigation expenses), but not the lawyers’ fees unless those are included in the 訴訟費用, which iirc can only happen when appealing to the Supreme Court (because having a lawyer is compulsory then).
Good news! The prosecutor was very annoyed at the neighbor. He said the case was a waste of his time, and that he has other more important cases waiting.
He warned the neighbor that we could sue them for wrongly accusing us. He urged them to sign a settlement agreement without compensation.
The neighbor had absolutely no proof of any of their claims, other than the fact my son pressed their doorbell.
It is a load lifted. My wife was more worried than I was. It was affecting her sleep and mood for two months. Having a stressed out partner puts a huge strain on the household.
The good thing is we learned a lot from the experience.
The prosecutor gave us some helpful tips. If you get a summons to appear before the prosecutor for a minor criminal charge, they won’t issue an arrest warrant until you fail to appear on the third summons. So you can waste the plaintiff’s resources by not appearing the first two times.
If you are falsely accused of a criminal charge, you can sue the plaintiff for all your damages. If my wife hadn’t of settled (without compensation), we could have sued them for all our expenses and damages.
We can’t because my wife signed the settlement agreement in the prosecutor’s office. However I can still sue them for defamation, which we have written proof and witnesses.
I was going to drop the defamation, until I heard what they said outside the prosecutor’s office. He said he wanted to get my son put in juvenile detention, and for him to have a permanent criminal record. That made my blood boil.
TBH, a 12 year old should know better than to ring people´s bells as a prank. Though I agree that the comment on juvenile detention is too much, and I understand that as a father you do feel hurt, in order to be safe in the future your kid must be made to understand that literally pushing people´s buttons leads to very undesirable ends and he should not prank strangers. Do not take it lightly. I told you guys about my friend whose kids liked to play ball in the courtyard of their building. Unfortunately, their goalpost was against someone´s wall and they felt it was like Pele practicing in terms of noise. They threatened the kids. The kids ran home… and were followed up by a group of mafia brothers armed with bats, ready to rumble. If it wasn´t that my pal´s next door neighbor was a bigger laota mafia boss, and told them to stand down, I don´t know how this would have ended for my friend.
So talk to your kid. Tell him to be careful, you do not really know how people will react to pranks here. There are many as seen that lack a sense of humor. And overall there is no patience to kids being kids.
Yes, they do gun for us being foreigners. So be extra careful and do not give them any opening. Try to build allies in the neighborhood with friendly people, you may need backup someday.
a 12 year old should be ringing peoples doorbells as a prank. i did way worse as a kid. got up to all kinds of mischief, my childhood was fantastic! kids here are fast tracked into a life of eternal homework. god forbid they have some fun!
It is a completely different thing to do pranks on people you know, rather than people who dislike you. What I fear is that he heard the adults talking about the problems with the people downstairs and decided to target them. That is a problem.
A child should not wander an apartment building alone. A child that is ringing doorbells instead of playing with friends is isolated and bored and frustrated. It is not the same as playing around. A child should not be mixed with adults problems.
its all part of it. you learn who not to mess with. people in your own building is a bad idea and i’m sure he has learned his lesson. you said a 12 year old should know better than doing pranks. sorry but thats just wrong, kids should be kids not homework slaves.
Agree on the no homework slaves, but unfortunately, the world of your childhood and mine is no more. It is too dangerous out there. And a 12 year old should know better. Nevertheless, my problem is with the implication: why mess with someone who already has a beef with your family? I think that is what upset the neighbor even more. While the noise complain was an accusation without any proof, the kid playing Chopsticks on their doorbell was caught on tape. They felt tit for tat, and went TUT.
Yes, as long as the father had a talk with him and let him understand that the family went through months of hell and further aggravation due to the escalation in hostilities he contributed to. And make sit clear that such behavior shall not be repeated. They can´t afford to repeat it. And I do not mean monetarily.
