Discussion on answer by Dale M: Can a parent insist that her child (teen) stop assisting police?

"For some groups, just don't call the police at all." Hmm. If you're black and you call the police, yes, I suppose the worst case is that the police are a bunch of racists and they beat you to death for no reason. But if you don't call the police, the worst case is that the criminal beats you to death for no reason. Yes, the police might turn out to be criminals. But you KNOW that the person breaking down the front door of your house is a criminal.

I was once suspected of a crime by the police and interrogated. So you can't say I live in some sheltered world. That said, this highly cynical view that the police are only interested in arresting somebody, anybody, guilty or not, is simply absurd. Are there cases where the police arrested an innocent person? Of course. Are there cases where the police violated the rights of innocent people? Of course. Yes, there are abuses and absolute horror stories out there.

But it's a long way from "I have here a list of cases where the police arrested an innocent person" to "the police don't care whether the person they arrest is guilty or not". By that reasoning, why would you hire a lawyer? Aren't all lawyers just in it for the money? And lawyers and judges are a small fraternity. They're probably all conspiring together, right?

"(and would be wise not to)" Why not? Isn't helping the police catch the bad guys a good thing to do? (Disclaimer: I did not read the book mentioned by the OP.)

@DaleM : if every witness thought like you, there would be much more crime, and the world would be a worse place to live in.

of course, if you're arrested for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or just interrogated for whatever reason, it makes perfect sense to use your right to remain silent. But in this case you suggested that one should never give any information to the police, not even as a volunteer witness (despite such witnesses having cleared many innocent suspects and caught many real criminals), and you augmented this by your extremely cynical view on the police in general. Which might be justified in some cases, but not all.

@DaleM I have been in the wrong place at the wrong time and there was a high cost involved. However, generalizing from a few specific instances to a universal is a known logical fallacy.

@DRF, yeah, because the last thing we needed on this post was race-baiting and political posturing. Someone just steals your car with your baby still inside, or is breaking down your door, or someone starts shooting people in the mall you are in, you won't call the police? Because there were one or two widely publicized events where the police made things worse, compared to orders of magnitude more occasions where the police saved lives and upheld order? If you think a complete lack of law enforcement would be better, why not move to Somalia or some other place with no effective government?