Students learn 10 rules for dealing with police

West Virginia University students had the opportunity to learn more about interacting with law enforcement at the showing of the movie "Ten Rules for Dealing with Police," presented by Students for a Sensible Drug Policy on Tuesday.

The movie, narrated by William "Billy" Murphy, a former Baltimore judge and criminal defense attorney, covered everything from how to react when getting pulled over by police to the rights a citizen has concerning searches and seizures.

The film uses different scenarios to illustrate the 10 rules, which include always remaining cool and calm and also that you have the right to remain silent, the right to refuse searches and the right to refuse police entry into your house if they do not have a search warrant.

Justin Lawrence, a graduate student in business management and a member of SSDP since its founding in 2009, said the movie was very informative.

"It's great for students to be able to see things like that, especially at a school like WVU where there's the reputation for partying," he said. "It's important to know your rights."

Matt Harris, a sophomore political science and multidisciplinary studies major, said he had a "bad experience" with police last year when he marched in a pride parade in Pittsburgh, and the marchers were confronted by police with pepper spray.

This is why Harris, who also has experience in politics and worked with the West Virginia Libertarian party, came out to support the movie and SSDP.

"I think the movie had a lot of solid, fact-based stuff, and it really laid down the facts of how people need to deal with a stressful situation involving police," he said.

The movie stressed that people should stand up for their rights while remaining respectful toward the police officers.

It warned that a single bad move, such as touching a police officer, could end with an arrest.

Drew Stromberg, a senior business major and founder and president of SSDP, said he thought it was important to educate students on their rights.

"It's information that everyone should have because a lot of people will have an encounter with police at some point, and you can get into trouble if you don't know your rights."