The police couldn't creatively turn a five-minute interaction into my day/week/month getting wrecked? You can be held for ~2 days without charges being filed, right?

If they wanted to do that, your chances of "I talk, and it screws me" are pretty high anyway.

Also, don't take my word for it - here's a US police officer saying the same thing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-7o9xYp7eE (skip to the second half)

He wouldn't talk to police.

Losing days is better than losing decades.