In NSW at least if your solicitor is present then you can not remain silent, you must answer. If your solicitor is not present then you have the right to remain silent. If you are innocent it may not mean much if they need a scapegoat. Depending on the circumstances the less you say to cops the better since it may come back to bite you.
I would really doubt this. As you say they would have surveillance from 6 months, possibly phone tap recordings. They would have observed any dealers coming and going and no doubt followed them back to their source. They have enough evidence it seems from what they found on the day and presumably from the investigation to form a case against the people they want at the brothel which was predominantly the owner. If they did not have substantial evidence both she and her male employee would have been granted bail and not kept locked up. That tells you all you need to know.
So if you were an occasional or even regular punter there I would not be concerned.
Also , stating what we all know I guess, they are still closed and there is no indicative opening date.
Anyone going to to that shop could be considered a potential buyer of drugs, and your intentions could be questioned.
If your wife found out you got sprung, what would you tell her? I was there for a fuck, or I was there picking us up some weed for tonight?
Weeds pretty passe. Its cheap and is a depressant not an excitant. Surely the only deal in town in selling cocaine or ice. Thats what has street cred. These are the main party drugs
Cocaine fries your nasal septum and triggers blocked arteries and heart attacks. Ive seen that happen.
Ice totally fries your brain, damaging your higher executive function and leaves you a vegetable
Specialists in the field know that drug decriminalisation is a stupid idea for these two most popular drugs
You can tell your wife you f-ked up your life as you are visited in the psychiatry unit, with the fan photo of Ben Cousins on your slimy wall. Your wife can tell your kids and family you are no long able to hold down a job and that you are a caved in f--k up loser
This is not quite correct.
You don't lose the right to remain silent, if a lawyer is there or not.
What changes is that if a lawyer shows up, the cops can tell you that if you don't say something right then and you later use at that at the trial to attempt to defend yourself, the Government/Prosecutor can tell a jury at an eventual trial that they are allowed to make a negative view of your failure to tell the cops in their interviews about whatever it was. In effect they get to tell the Jury that you're guilty until proven innocent than the other way around.
If your lawyer doesn't show up, then the cops can't do that and you can simply shut up and later on you can tell the cops or not, and then use it in a trial without the punishment of the Prosecutor telling the jury that you're an evil bad man for not telling the cops straight away about your defence.
The result is that lawyers no longer show up at the cop shop, and instead you wait until the cops release you to talk to the lawyer.
Another related law is that the Government changed so that you have to tell the cops any alibi you've given them over a month before the trial starts. Which means the cops can spend a month and a half picking things apart to make you look bad at the trial when you would otherwise have your lawyer show up at the trial and the first thing out of his mouth was "my client was at x location at x time, he is innocent".
At the end of the day, no matter what the cops say, if you're hauled into an interview room or worse, charged, then SHUT THE FUCK UP until they release you, then let a lawyer deal with everything. Cops do not give a shit about the truth of what you tell them once they target you, all they care about is putting you in prison.
Nothing you can say in an interview will help you avoid prison but anything you do say may end up putting you in one.
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Last edited by Forward Must Hang; 05-09-2021 at 12:36 AM. Reason: Gone
Thanks for the clarification, I really like this last bit !
Some info: https://nswcourts.com.au/articles/po...-is-exercised/
Simple rule: As long as punters arent ringing or texting ahead to book a WL and some drugs, they have nothing to fear. If they are in phone contact with dealers, they are implicated in the drug syndicates crimes
Police investigators love getting dealers contacts as a means of gauging the scale of thr business