Dec. 28, 2023

Living the dream with former deputy sheriff Alfred Anderson

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Join former deputy sheriff Alfred Anderson as he takes us through the murky waters of constitutional rights and police interactions. With his unique insider perspective, Anderson demystifies the legal jargon and empowers listeners with the knowledge to protect their civil liberties. Tune in for a masterclass in understanding the law.

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> Speaker A>Welcome, um, to the Living the Dream podcast with curveball. If you believe you can achieve cheat, cheat.

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> Speaker A>Welcome to the Living the Dream with curveball podcast, a, uh, show where I interview guests that teach, motivate, and inspire.

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> Speaker A>Today I am joined by former businessman, former police officer turned author, Alfred Anderson. Alfred started out as a businessman, then he became a police officer, and he is now an author. And what he's here to talk about today is how the public doesn't know their rights, their constitutional rights, and exactly how they need to be interacting with police officers. So he's going to give us some education on that from the experience of a police officer. So, Alfred, thank you so much for joining us today.

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> Speaker B>It's a pleasure being here with you. And, uh, it's always fun to kind of explain, from a deputy sheriff's point of view, the abysmal lack of understanding of the populace of their constitutional rights.

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> Speaker B>So that's what I really try to explain in my book, deputy know your rights.

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> Speaker A>Well, before we jump into that, let's go ahead and kind of give the listeners a little background on yourself.

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> Speaker B>Well, basically, uh, after years of being in business, I owned a number of businesses, sold them, and basically retired when I was about 40.

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> Speaker B>And, uh, I decided after maybe about a six month sabbatical, uh, I decided, hey, I can't just do nothing. So I always wanted to kind of explore either law or law enforcement.

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> Speaker B>And, uh, I decided in the end to, uh, after I have gone to the University of University of Colorado and a university in England, after five years, I decided that, uh, I don't think I want to go through three more years of education to be a lawyer. So I decided to go to the college of Southern Idaho in twin, uh, falls, Idaho, and study for a year to be a law enforcement officer.

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> Speaker B>And after that, I was hired on with a rural western Idaho department to be a deputy sheriff. And to say the least, it was probably the best career of my life because it was so enlightening and so instructive to me, uh, to exercise power, but in a way that was good for the people. And I live by the adage that humility is the power, that is the catalyst that makes power benevolent. In other words, if you're not humble and understanding where the power comes from, you basically tend to abuse the power.

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> Speaker B>And we're seeing so often now in common police stories that are abusing the citizens, and it's horrible. So I speak of that, uh, in my experiences through anecdotal stories in the book, but also to explain to the public how little they know of their constitutional rights, especially the fourth, fifth and second amendments, and how they should interact with the police. And it's important because, uh, the police abuse the citizens of their rights.

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> Speaker A>Well, explain to people who might not know what those three amendments are. You talked about the fourth, the fifth and the second. Go through each one of them and explain to the listeners what they are, who might not know.

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> Speaker B>Absolutely. The fourth amendment is probably, um, the second or third most important amendment of the first ten.

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> Speaker B>Uh, the fourth amendment basically explains your right against unreasonable search and seizure of your person, place, houses and effects without warrant by the government to take or search what you have.

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> Speaker B>Now, that's in a very much of a synopsis form, but basically it says, police, uh, officer, or any law enforcement officer must have probable cause to search or seize those things, your person, place, houses and effects, so on and so forth. So in other words, for instance, if I make a traffic stop, I have to have probable cause to make that stop.

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> Speaker B>In other words, a violation has occurred, whether it be speed, which is common, uh, uh, a taillight that doesn't function.

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> Speaker B>But I must have a violation of either traffic code or criminal code to stop that vehicle. I just simply can't, as a law enforcement officer, stop you without probable cause.

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> Speaker B>Now, what is probable cause?

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> Speaker B>Probable cause means that a crime has been committed or is about to be committed. In the case of traffic code, it just means a violation of the traffic code. But you have to substantiate that when you make that stop. I simply can't stop a vehicle because I want to. The color of the car, the color of the skin, uh, whatever it might be, I can't just stop you because I feel like it. No, I have to have probable cause. And that's important because it's a protection of the person or the citizen against unreasonable search and seizure. And that's what the fourth amendment is. Now, let's go to the fifth. So as soon as I stop you, you have a right to remain silent. Prince, the common Miranda recitation, uh, basically says, you have a right to remain silent.

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> Speaker B>Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law, so on and so forth, okay?

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> Speaker B>It means shut up, don't say anything.

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> Speaker B>In other words, if I come up to your car and I say, do you know how fast you were going, or have you had anything to drink, or is there anything in your car that is suspicious or I should know about you, just simply say, officer, I prefer not to answer your questions. And that's your right.

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> Speaker B>All you have to do, for instance, in a traffic stop is to provide your license, your registration, and your proof of insurance. That's state law on most states. I don't think there's a variance in any of the states on that matter.

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> Speaker B>So driving is not a right, it's a privilege granted by the state.

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> Speaker B>So when you take and you obtain a driver's license, you basically say that when you stop, you will produce those items. But beyond that, you don't have to answer any questions, and people simply don't know that. In other words, if I asked you if you had anything to drink, you just say, hey, I don't answer those questions because as soon as you say, I have had one drink or I have gone 1 mile over the speed limit, you have admitted to at least a violation of the traffic code or a possibility of DUI, and I can continue with my investigation. So in other words, people just don't know to keep their mouth shut. Just simply say, officer, I'm not going to answer those questions. And there are many examples in YouTube of people that videotape officer encounters, and they basically say those things, and then they're good educational videos because they basically stand their rights and say, uh, I'm not going to answer your questions, period. Produce your id.

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> Speaker A>Why?

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> Speaker B>What crime have I committed? Well, I want to see your id. No, you don't have to produce that id only when you're stopped on a traffic stop. But if you're stopped on a sidewalk, for instance, and an officer suspects you of something, but without reasonable, articulable suspicion that a crime has been committed or about to be committed, you don't have to say anything or produce anything. It's your right.

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> Speaker B>So that's the Fourth and Fifth Amendment in a nutshell.

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> Speaker B>The fifth Amendment produced the Miranda citation. You have the right to remain silent because Miranda versus Arizona, um, I forget his first name now as I think about it.

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> Speaker B>I knew it. It's in my book. But, uh, he just didn't know his rights, and so he was let off because the officer or the officers failed to inform him that he had the right to shut up. And that's the problem with most interactions with police officers. And we, as a police officer, we will push it. We definitely will push it. I pushed it. And, uh, as long as, uh, the citizen permits me to ask them questions and will answer, you know what? I'm going to push it because it's my job to find out, all right, what's going on. But as soon in my case, if someone said something and it never happened with me. Only one case where I ran up against an attorney did I have a problem.

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> Speaker A>So you say that you don't have to produce your id unless you're on a traffic stop, but if you don't produce the id, then, uh, what can the officer do?

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> Speaker A>Because they get pretty upset when you won't show them your id, even if you are, right.

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> Speaker B>Well, basically what a lot of times happens is if you resist them and you say, I'm not going to give you my id because, uh, what crime has been committed? You simply ask them, what crime has been committed. What probable cause do you have?

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> Speaker B>Well, I don't need one. I just want to see your id.

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> Speaker B>Well, there's only one instance that you have to do that, and it's called the Terry stop, and it was proved by the supreme Court. And it basically encompasses a situation where, uh, it's a dangerous situation for the officer. It's in a dark alley or something where crime is being committed or so on and so forth. At that point, he has a right to ask for that id. But 90% of the time, in a normal encounter on the street or wherever, you don't have to produce your id unless a crime has been committed. Or he says, hey, I want to see your id because of this reason that I think you have done something wrong. And so, uh, you're better off producing the id.

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> Speaker B>But in most cases, no, you don't have to. It's your right. You're a citizen and you have civil rights. Now let me give you good example of what happened to officers. And from my standpoint, many officers should be tried, as the officers were tried in the Los Angeles case against Rodney King. There are four officers that went to court in the state level and they were found not guilty. However, the federal court charged them with violation of civil rights against Rodney King, and two of them were found guilty and put in federal prisoners. And this is good in my standpoint, because too many officers are abusing the rights of the citizens. They're not respecting the civil rights that citizens have. And that's tragic, but it's born out of ignorance, ignorance on the general populace's, uh, knowledge. They're just not educated on what their civil rights really are. No course in the country, as far as I'm concerned, high school, college teaches what is so basic and what every citizen should know, the origin of the constitution, why it was formed in such a manner, and the rights.

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> Speaker B>The first ten amendments are so important.

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> Speaker B>And when Benjamin Franklin left the conventional congress in 1778, a woman stopped him on the street and asked him, what form of government have you given us, sir? And he replied, ma'am, a republic, if you can keep it.

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> Speaker A>Absolutely. So, tell us what we can do. Uh, uh, uh, how can people go to learn their rights and be up on the rights that you talk about so they will know them?

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> Speaker B>Well, I wrote a book, and, uh, I, uh, guess I'm obviously promoting what I wrote, but it's called deputy know your rights. And it's from a perspective of a former deputy sheriff. And I relay anecdotal stories and history of how these amendments were formed and the reason for them.

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> Speaker B>And it explains in a very common, uh, language what people should know, how they should interact with police. Now, for instance, does that mean you become, uh, angry with the police? No. Treat them with respect.

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> Speaker B>Be kind. Answer their questions. If they're general questions, where are you going today? How's it going for you today? But as soon as they begin to ask investigatorial questions such as that could possibly incriminate you, just simply say, I don't answer those questions.

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> Speaker B>Period. Now, let me give you a perfect example of how ignorant the population is on one amendment especially, and that's the second amendment. It's the one amendment that protects the whole document. And the second amendment says, the right to bear arms shall not be infringed. Now, what does that mean? You don't touch it, period.

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> Speaker B>Infringe is the latin word that says don't touch. You don't even go there, period. Now, why was that formed? Why was that put in the constitution or the first ten amendments?

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> Speaker B>It was not for self protection. It was not for hunting, as you commonly hear in the press.

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> Speaker B>It was about maintaining the power in the hands of the people against a tyrannical government, period. No other reason.

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> Speaker B>And I have numerous quotations from the founding fathers in my book that basically state that fact from the federalist papers.

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> Speaker B>George Washington, Thomas Edison, Benjamin Franklin. On and on it goes. They all stated that if the people lose that power, they'll be tenoring. And there's a common saying that says, when the government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. And that's why there's such an attempt by every congress in each state, California, New York, especially, no matter what the supreme Court or the appellate courts knock down these illegal, uh, laws that infringe the second amendment, they continue to try and take the arms from the people. And it's tragic, because they know as what happened in Germany, what happened in Russia, what happened in China, what happened in so many countries when they took the arms, they slaughtered the people.

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> Speaker B>And the government, under tyranny, has that control. And that's the tragedy. And why the founding fathers put that second amendment in there. It protects everything else.

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> Speaker B>So when the people have the power to thwart tyrannical government, then it stops that kind of illegal action that we so commonly see. And we're seeing great infringements right now of the first amendment. Freedom of speech. Uh, Owen Troyer from Infowars was put in jail under this January 6, because he spoke out truthfully. And they put him in jail for freedom, for his speech.

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> Speaker B>Where are we? Are we in Russia? Are we in Nazi Germany?

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> Speaker B>And that's what's happening. So many people are being imprisoned for what they say. And this is wrong, and it's tragic, but it's the calamity that is happening in our country today.

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> Speaker B>And the people still have the power via, uh, the arms, but whether they have the will or not, to exercise their constitutional rights, that's another question. And it takes education. It takes vigilance on the part of the populace. And that's what Benjamin Franklin said. If you can keep it, it takes vigilant on the part of the citizenry to exercise their rights.

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> Speaker A>Most definitely. And Owen Shroyer is now home.

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> Speaker B>Yes.

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> Speaker A>So tell us about your other book as.

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> Speaker B>Uh, that came. I wrote both books this year.

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> Speaker B>And, uh, the second book happened to be an inspiration or a spurring by my brother, and asked me if I had another book in me.

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> Speaker B>And, uh, I said, no.

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> Speaker B>Well, how about a novel? And I said, absolutely not. It just wasn't there. Because it took me four years to write the first book from my experiences as a deputy. And it kind of goes through becoming a deputy, being a deputy. And anecdotal stories. Well, this one, almost within a week of him asking was almost like an epiphany. And it just came to me, the whole story.

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> Speaker B>And it's called sasha, my guardian, sasquatch. And it involves sasquatches know, mythical, legendary creature that exist in the northern. All over the world, really bigfoot, yeti. Other countries have, uh, different names for them, but they are all over the world. And I, uh, just was intrigued by the whole concept of sasquatch. Because where I live in the northeast part of Washington, it's very common. It's a very kind of a festival of this creature. People celebrate sasquatch so on and so forth. And I thought of the story where a young deputy sheriff after four years of being a deputy, was elected. And he encounters this young female sasquatch up in the mountains looking for an illegal marijuana, uh, grove after he just was elected. And he finds that this sasquatch is entrapped and he releases it. And there's a bond created. Of course, that's the first chapter and it basically explains, kind of gets the reader involved in the whole story. But the sheriff is battling against a uh, mexican cartel bringing in illegals and drugs from Canada. And it's going on. This is truthful, um, and he's battling against this cartel. It's also a love story between himself and angelina. And uh, it involves the battle between their love story and their threats, uh, by the cartel. And it ends dramatically, uh, know, with them going after the cartel, the department and the whole state of washington trying to control this cartel. And in the end sasha saves him.

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> Speaker B>It's a good love story. It's a good story of intrigue, of criminal activity and I think the know and both of my books are available on Amazon and worldwide.

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> Speaker B>But uh, it's an interesting story because it brings in truthful events that are happening on the northern side.

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> Speaker B>Everybody focuses on the southern border. Yeah, it's happening, it's tragic, but it's also coming in from the north. And people don't realize, you know, when you live in the northern states, especially where I do in northeast Washington, you know, that these things are happening. And uh, so I wrote a story about that and uh, I think the reader would find it a very interesting read and fun read.

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> Speaker A>So tell us about any other upcoming projects that you're working on that people need to know about.

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> Speaker B>Nothing I don't want to write any more was, um. Believe it or not, I've thought about it and I don't necessarily because I think the story of Sasha is a very good story. Uh, I've been told it could be made into a movie we'll see.

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> Speaker B>But it's the type of story that you don't want to continue. It gets destroyed like so many sequels of movies and so on and so forth. So it would have to be something different. And for some reason, um, I'm amazed, uh, that I even got that far writing books because I never thought I had it in me. And it's been fun. Uh, the second book took me only a month and a half to write because the story, as I say, was almost like an epiphany. It was there.

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> Speaker B>I wrote the first chapter and then the last three chapters right away. And then I filled in the rest over the next month. But I would sit for 8 hours and literally write because there was no hesitation, there was no consideration of, okay, where do I go with the story? It was there, uh, I'm shocked myself from where it came from. It was as if God himself put a story in my head and says, hey, write this.

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> Speaker B>I said, okay.

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> Speaker B>But, um, I guess when you get the flavor of blood in your mouth, as far, so to speak, it's kind of fun. It just was enjoyable writing both books after I got into it.

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> Speaker B>But they're valuable stories that say something to the general public, especially deputy, because in my mind, the whole nation should read. It should be a book for every teenager to read in high school because it's interesting, it's anecdotal, but it's also extremely educative. And how to interact with the police. And when people know how to interact with the police, they're going to save themselves from a lot of troubles.

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> Speaker B>Don't admit to anything. Don't say anything. When they start asking you, do you have anything in your car? Have you had anything to drink tonight? You don't answer those questions. Don't say, oh, I had just one beer. No even go that far. Just say, I don't answer those questions. And, uh, they might say, well, what do you got afraid of? Hey, you simply reply, it's my fifth amendment right not to answer you. And generally speaking, most police officers are good people, I have to say.

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> Speaker B>They don't want to do anything that's wrong, that hurts the citizen, because the way I looked at it, and I became a deputy when I was 40 years old. I was quite old when I got into the profession, and it was so instructive. But like I wrote in the book, I had some of the shit kicked out of me. I was humbled by that time. When a person lives that many years and makes their mistakes, we realize that by the grace of God go I, whether it be a DUI. And I was very adept at arresting DUI, um, persons that were driving. That was my forte when I was a deputy. But I never criticized or judged the people.

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> Speaker B>I would always tell them, and they would be crying sometimes. I said, look, we've got a problem here. Let's go get it fixed down at the county seat and get this thing over with.

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> Speaker B>Now, what was my psychology in that? I said, we.

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> Speaker B>Let's. I didn't isolate them. I included myself. I became almost their advocate, and I never had to fight anybody when I arrested them because I would approach it humbly. But with respect, they were not guilty until they were proven guilty in a court of law. And so I treated them with respect, and I said, let's get this fixed.

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> Speaker B>And literally, they would go from someone ready to fight. And I arrested people out of San Quentin, felons. And they were literally, when I said it that way, they would lower their hands, put their hands behind their back, and let me cuff them. And it was just simple. A matter of respect, kindness to that individual, that citizen. It's my job. I'm a servant. I'm, um, not a lord.

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> Speaker B>I'm a servant as a deputy.

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> Speaker B>And that's the tragedy of a lot of police officers today, is they just are arrogant, condescending, and ignorant in many ways because they push to a point where they arrest people and then they're found that they were incorrect, false arrest, and they were sued.

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> Speaker B>And you can see it on YouTube all over the place. And I listen to a lot of the reports, know cities and counties are losing thousands, sometimes cases, millions of dollars because of poor actions, ignorant actions on the police, on the part of the police. And that's sad now, whether it be, and I would never want to work in the inner, uh, just that's a war zone. Where I worked in the rural part of Idaho was enough. I would not want to work in those inner cities because the hatred, the distrust, the animosity toward authority figures is just paramount. And I don't blame those people because they've been abused. And it's sad whether it be latino, black, chinese, whatever.

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> Speaker B>Inner cities are just absolute catastrophes already.

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> Speaker B>Uh, now I'm speaking Spanish. Sorry.

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> Speaker A>Well, tell us about, uh, any websites or contact info that you have so people can keep up with what you're up to.

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> Speaker B>Well, basically, I have a Facebook page, but it's under my name, Alfred Anderson. I don't put a lot of personal information on it, but I've got the books on there. Uh, I haven't done an actual. I've thought about doing a podcast myself on YouTube, but I don't have the time, I don't have the expertise in doing it well.

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> Speaker B>But, uh, I would advise people if they want to learn and read good books, interesting books. Uh, it's all available on Amazon under my name, Alfred Anderson. Under those titles, uh, two books. You can get them at hardcover, soft cover ebook, and now audiobook under deputy. And, uh, I can only say to the general listener that they're very important to read, at least the first book on deputy. And knowing what you were never taught as a citizen, never in the educational system did you hear what I present. And it's simple. I put it in anecdotal stories, but also the origins through many, many references, so on and so forth. And, uh, that's about the only site. I don't have an actual website where people can go to and monitor what I have to say. I'm not that verbose.

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> Speaker A>Uh, no problem. Ladies and gentlemen, please check out Alfred's books like he said, especially the first one. Follow Rate Review share this episode to as many people as possible as knowing our rights is very important and we all need to know them and be educated on them.

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> Speaker A>If you have any guests or suggestion topics, see Jackson 102. Ah@cox.net. Is the place to send them. As always, thank you for listening.

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> Speaker A>And Alfred, thank you so much for joining us today and sharing your expertise.

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> Speaker B>Well, it was definitely a pleasure, and that's my goal, is to try and help educate the general public.

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> Speaker B>So I would invite them. Please.

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> Speaker B>They're not expensive books. Even an ebook is$5, but you'll find it very educational.

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> Speaker A>For more information on the living the Dream podcast, visit www.djcurveball.com.

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> Speaker A>Until next time, stay focused on living the dream. Dream.