You were recently pulled over for a minor traffic violation. The officer walked up to your vehicle, stated they smelled the odor of marijuana and asked if you had been smoking. You responded that you hadn’t. The officer asked if you have any marijuana on you and you again responded in the negative. The officer then asked if you could step out of the vehicle and if they could check you for weapons. When doing so, they found a small baggie of marijuana in your pocket. It was more than 4.5 grams of marijuana—meaning a criminal misdemeanor. After lecturing you, the investigating officer let you go and gave you their card with the instruction to call them and cooperate within 5 days or else you would be receiving a citation in the mail.
Should you call the officer and cooperate?
The short answer here is the typical one: it depends. What matters is what is meant by the term “cooperate”. The officer might want enough information to lead to an arrest, a warrant, a charge, a conviction, or even three convictions. The key here is determining what amount of cooperation would be necessary to result in no charges for you. If cooperation means multiple arrests, then you might not want to comply as word will likely get around that you were involved in other busts before you are able to successfully set up a third individual. Not to mention, you may be putting yourself at risk. The safest avenue is to allow an attorney to negotiate what cooperation may look like. Snitching on individuals is a dangerous game and should not be taken lightly. Please consider all of the ramifications and consult with an attorney before you unintentionally place yourself in a vulnerable position.