"to protect and serve".... heh yeah, to protect their system of laws and serve only the system and their interests.

from what I gather, you can say that you're not comfortable answering questions without an attorney present... but it makes no sense to say that if it's for something like a minor traffic violation.

Depending on the state laws, a cop has the right to conduct an investigation and not cooperating can be considered as obstruction, which could be a misdemeanor. Not really sure if that's true but it sounds like it could happen. It's pretty fucked up though that it's ok for them to lie to you and trick you into admitting guilt. So it's always better to just say little or nothing at all.