You put a sticky note with the duress PIN on your phone. When detained, the officer notices a PIN in plain sight on the phone, enters it, and the phone wipes itself. You were never asked for a PIN.

Could you be charged with destruction of evidence?

> Could you be charged with destruction of evidence?

IANAL but I expect it depends on whether someone thinks they can prove your intent was specifically to disrupt a (legitimate) search.

To recycle a comment from 2 days ago, regarding why one might reasonably have the duress code written on the phone:

> "Your honor, I have the real pin memorized because I use it all the time, but since I can never use the duress code, I had to keep it somewhere handy."

> Or

> "Pickpocketing and phone-snatching is a real problem overseas, I put it there so that criminal would wipe the phone trying to get in, denying them access to things like my bank account."

> Heck, those aren't just plausible, they might be a good idea.

Bonus points if they ask if it unlocks the device and you say, "No it erases the data," with a straight face.