Featured Articles
with Police Magazine
October 18, 2004
Old cops know "stuff"
by Roy Huntington
I was recently asked by a young man who was about to be hired by a police agency to give him “some advice,” as he said, “so I don’t get killed or anything.”
I wasn’t sure about the “or anything” part, but the “get killed” part I could help with. So I made up this list. I take little credit for most of it and gladly give due to those hundreds of street- and battle-weary cohorts who I’ve worked around. Their collective experience amounts to thousands of “street years.”
Don’t Believe Them
Probably the single most important thing I recall from all my years is that people lie. Grandmas, that “nice kid down the block,” wives, husbands, sisters, brothers, neighbors, store owners, delivery men, waitresses, garbage men, doctors, lawyers (of course), witnesses, and even suspects, they all lie.
Not all the time, not even most of the time, but just about the time you want to believe somebody, you’ll find out they’re lying and be very disappointed.
Crooks always lie. Always. And they’ll look you right in the eye when they do it, and smile, and be all serious and such, and you’ll be tempted to believe them. Don’t believe them. Ever.