What would make cops want to search your vehicle?
 

I ask this because I had recently just gone through it (Sat night).

I was on my home at 1am in the morning on a 4 lane road (2 on each side) with a ditch separating oncoming traffic. There is no left turn on my street, so I have to go to the next left and make a quick U-turn...I saw there was no traffic and blew the traffic sign

Of course, I got pulled over by two cops (2 squad cars). One took my driver's license and the other immediately asked if I had any weapons (I had none). I didn't even had the chance to get my registration or insurance. They then asked me to get out of the car, searched me, then proceeded to search my car.

What I found odd was the officer didn't even look in my trunk (he looked everywhere else).

Anyway, they thanked me for having a clean car (I was driving an old Corolla) and sent me on my way without a ticket.

I'm glad it turned out the way it did, but I'm just wondering about the reason for the search. Is it just so that the other officer had something to do while I was pulled over?

Probably the fact that is was 1:00 am. They know that this is when the all the riff raf is out.
Don't we now have the right to refuse a search of our vehicle if they do not have probable cause?

Because they can.... and get away with it no matter what you say.

Where are you from? That seems pretty crazy to me! They shouldn't be able to search your car without plausible reason.

They don't need a reason if you give them permission.

I don't remember if I gave them permission or not, to be quite honest...I might have, but it totally caught me off guard that it's a bit of a blur.

I do remember him asking me to step out of the car.

Courtesy of some document ratified in the 18th century.

Just say no, they have no right to search unless they have a warrant. Unless they believe it has evidence from a crime.

Always refuse the search if they do not have probable cause...

Btw, a crackpipe in the open ashtray is probable cause....

If you & your car are clean, let em search and be on you way as a cooperative citizen. It is way faster and you did not get a ticket because you were cooperative.

You can refuse the search and I would bet you would have have gotten a ticket for the turn.

A sore subject with me. Though I've never been asked if they could search my car. If they did it without your consent, you need to raise hell with their supervisor and find out what their PC was. Minus PC and your consent, I'd be looking into a civil rights complaint.

I've been pulled over twice recently and immediately told the cops where my gun was. I've probably been pulled over while carrying 10-15 times. They never seem to care and just write me for speeding. Obviously, the late night stop is just a pretext for fishing for something else, not cracking down on traffic law scofflaws.

Very bad advice. Why not let them into your house to make sure you're clean too? How about a phone tap? I mean, hey, you have nothing to hide, right?

Look up that old thread about what people here have found in their own cars that belonged to the previous owners or their kids' friends and then tell me you know a cop will buy that story WHEN he finds it in your car.

I KNOW what is in my car, and sure as heck know what is NOT in my cars. I have never used drugs, and I don't drink and drive. My car is clean.

One of my friends refused a simple search on principal. The cops looked over his car and found one tire was at the wear limit, and one bulb on a side marker was out. He got two tickets for that, plus the speeding ticket was for 11 MPH over so that was bumped up reckless driving. He was on the side of the road for a LONG time and received a bunch of EXPENSIVE tickets. He had nothing at all to hide. He probably would have been issued a ticket for 9 over and been on his way but he did not get his car searched!

See there's the problem.

Most people that get pulled over and have nothing to hide will comply when asked.

People with something to hide will try to decline. Then the cops will invent probable cause, "I smelled marijuana, subject seemed intoxicated etc...." or they'll detain the individual till a K9 can get there and walk around the car hoping for a positive hit which gives them probable cause.

So the police are conditioned that refusal means you have something to hide.

They want to search your car because it's more exciting to find drugs or somethng else that it is to write a traffic ticket.

It's important to know your rights at a police stop, but it's also important to realize that if you decide to push it and play, you need to commit and be prepared to be on the side of the road for A LONG TIME.

In your situation, since you were in that adrenaline nervous mode, it's possible you said yes to the search and didn't realize.


One of the "know your rights" suggestions about being pulled out of the car is: When you're asked to exit the car, take your keys out and exit the car, and lock the door behind you. It forces the cop to ask for consent to search again, or to ask the first time if he hasn't already. If he asks you "why did you do that", you tell him it's just habit.

Total sheeple mentality. Go along, go along. Let the state have their way with you. Yoh papuhs pleeze.

Exactly.

I'd rather get a ticket for not being cooperative.
I was stopped 3 times for "driving while young." New York State Police and Ohio State Patrol both did this - pull me over get us out of the car, ask a bunch of questions about what's in the car, assume I'm lying, take out my suitcase, sleeping bag, tool kit etc, spread my stuff all over the side of the road, and then just walk away. No "thanks for being cooperative" or "sorry we wasted your time." The whole purpose was to humiliate me.
Stopped once by a city cop for my motorcycle passenger not wearing eye protection. They went through everything we had, frisked us, went through her purse, then told me to drive to the nearest drug store (to get sunglasses - which are not legal eye protection) at 5 mph. Two up on a Honda 305 at 5 mph with the cop car behind us, lights flashing and siren blaring. Again - it was just to humiliate me.
It was a long time ago, but I still remember it. 40 years later, I'm richer, smarter, and know more lawyers. If a cop asked for anything more than license, registration, and proof of insurance, he can go F**k himself.

The police are our friends. There are only here to serve and protect.

I guess I remember back when I was still living at home and we lived on a Air Force Base. If I was coming home late I had 50% chance of the bored Air Police officer wanting to search my car. If I wanted to drive home I had to consent. They always asked about all the camera gear I carried, and my one allergy prescription bottle. I never had anything to hide.

I never have anything to hide either. I always have a gun, but it's legal and my CCW means 1) I have a clean record and 2) it's VERY unlikely I'll have contraband in my car. The fact that no cop has ever disarmed me makes me think they'd not even have RAS or PC for a Terry search. So that gives them no reason to search other than a fishing expedition. And I just don't like to help further the police state. I'm not gonna fight them on the side of the road, but I'm not gonna roll over and let them do it with anything resembling consent.

Got pulled over for speeding one night after a gig, guilty on the speeding.

Male and female trooper which was unusual, Troopers in NY are always solo.

The way they approached the car and their confrontational attitude told me this would not be a simple stop so I decided to play along. As the stop progressed it became apparent that she was a rookie and the guy was "showing her the ropes".

Anyway, she is checking the pockets on my leather jacket and pulls out a vial. Her entire face lit up and she yells to her partner, "I found some coke!"

I said, they're earplugs, I told you, I am coming home from a gig.

She opens it up and out drop my earplugs.

The disappointment on her face made every second of the hassle worth while.

I laughed my ass off the rest of the ride home.

because they had nothing better to do and you were there.

When I was 18 in the USMC, I had my old Aston Martin DB4. I was stationed for a while at Camp Lejeunne, NC, and I got pulled over at least once a week. I let them search my car every time, cause if I didn't I'd be sitting on the side of the road, or in the back of a patrol car for hours. In 1971 in NC, you basically didn't have any rights. They were SURE I was a drug dealer.

In FL. a Grateful Dead decal on your car is probable cause:eek:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1298311449.jpg

A few years back, I was coming back from a gig, it was around 2AM, driving my 90 Toyota truck. While driving down the 2 lane road towards home, a cop passes me, then in my mirror, I see him make a U-turn, and then he turns onto my street, I knew that I wasn't speeding, but when I got right in front of my house and he lit up the lights... Told me I had a tail light out then the regular Q&A BS, then he put me in the back of his car and WITHOUT ASKING searched my truck, which of course had nothing illegal or bad, but he rifled everything:mad: in the glove box, only change in the ash tray, sunglasses in the visor, and I'm thinking, if this SOB writes me up, I have him on illegal Search.. Of course, in my small town, the cops don't have dash cams, for a reason... In the end, he let me out and park my truck in my drive way. Of course, my tail light was fine, he lied about that. So, most likely the guy who pulled you over was like this clown, just fishing... This truck just looks like trouble and there are no steal your face decals on it, that was on my 911:phttp://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1298311573.jpg

The same folks think TSA is great. Because being sexually molested is ok in the name of security.

Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

They used to search cars here for dead stickers as well. As a matter of fact, we got pulled over on I 95 just outside of DC for this very reason. We were leaving the venue, and did have one steal your face on the back bumper. We were all long hairs at the time, and an hour long search with dogs ensued. They did not find anything and were the rudest bunch of a33holes I have ever run across. They did not thank us for being co-operative, or sober, and were making a bunch of wise cracks the whole time. They left us to pick up our mess( made by them, they had the spare tire out and everything) on the side of the road.
I will never consent to a search again either. Fuch them , I can sit on the side of the road as they want me to. I never travel with anything illegal, so they can have at it with a warrant if they want to.

Young, long hair, heavy metal playing and a flashy red sports car...

I generally try and stay under the radar though, haven't been pulled over yet.

Exactly right.

Besides items left by a PO, an unscrupulous cop might drop something in your car and then "find it" -- this happens ALL the time, and can happen to perfectly law abiding citizens, not just those "who are guilty of something even if it ain't this"

This is just one of the comments here and elsewhere on the same thing.

I know there are a number of police officers on these forums, and the long memory of those harassed can poison citizens - police relations for many years. So, if you know someone on your force that was a little too "assertive," please speak to them for everyone's sake.

"If you & your car are clean, let em search and be on you way as a cooperative citizen."

Exactly. You should always relinquish your rights as opposed to being inconvenienced.


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Arizona v. Gant - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Arizona v. Gant, 556 U.S. ___ (2009), was a United States Supreme Court decision which held that the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution requires law enforcement officers to demonstrate an actual and continuing threat to their safety posed by an arrestee, or a need to preserve evidence related to the crime of arrest from tampering by the arrestee, in order to justify a warrantless vehicular search incident to arrest conducted after the vehicle's recent occupants have been arrested and secured.

The Supreme Court held that police may search the passenger compartment of a vehicle incident to a recent occupant’s arrest only if it is reasonable to believe that the arrestee might access the vehicle at the time of the search or that the vehicle contains evidence of the offense of arrest.

Bad news. After the patriot act your car, and all of its contents, is mostly fair game.

They do need probable cause. You said: "I saw there was no traffic and blew the traffic sign". Well they now have probable cause because an offense has been committed.SmileWavy

A fun thing about the patriot act. Say you have a suitcase.
1) You get a knock on the door and they serve you a warrant looking for a stolen car. You allow them in your house and take them to the garage via the family room, they see the suitcase, but its too small to contain a car so they can not search/touch the suitcase. No probable cause.
2) same suitcase is in the trunk of your car and you get pulled over for not stopping at a stop sign. They can search your car and ANYTHING IN THE CAR. The suitcase is in the trunk so they can LEGALLY search the suitcase. Oh yea, you were in the car when the crime happened so they can search you also!:eek:

Best advice, don't give them probable cause to stop you in the first place.:D

i would have blurted out.."that's not mine!"

How screwed would this guy have been without the camera?

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Probable cause for a traffic stop doesn't even come close to probable cause for a vehicle search unless pot smoke billowing out the windows or the driver was waiving a gun at other cars was the reason for the stop. And how/why would the cops get a warrant on a stolen car if you were in no way tied to that stolen car? Anything they found as a result of a bogus warrant or going to the wrong address would be inadmissible. Of course, I wouldn't let the cops into my house and wouldn't answer the door for unexpected company anyway. If they want me, they'll have to find me outside the house or announce themselves at my door and show badges.

And has anyone been wrongly convicted or even prosecuted under the PATRIOT Act?

"And has anyone been wrongly convicted or even prosecuted under the PATRIOT Act?"

Yep.

The owners of the Strip club Cheetahs in Las Vegas Nevada was convicted of money laundering because of all the cash in the safe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheetah%27s

As the old IRS pun says

Company motto: "We've got what it takes to take what you've got"

You can thank the fallout from Sept 11 for this little problem.

Just dont give them cause.

Agree 100%. too many uncooperative nut jobs on this site.

Newsflash: the cops are not out to get you.

That's exactly why I was so surprised!

I freely admit in blowing the stop sign, but the natural result from that is either a warning or a citation.

I wasn't expecting to be searched.

Either way, I came out of this one alright. No ticket, the cop didn't plant anything on the car and no bogus arrest happened.

Out of all the times I've been pulled over, this is the first time I've been searched.

PS - that video that cashflyer posted says not to answer the "do you know why I pulled you over" question...Every time I honestly answered that, I've gotten a warning. This last stop included.

I've been pulled over plenty without cause unless being young with long hair and driving a nice car is justified.

If the cop is in a bad mood then "driving" is cause. The best defense I found when being followed by the police and not wanting a ticket is to pull into the next parking lot I see and go into the business and/or just start walking away from the car.

Too many sheeple on this site too. Just go along, go along.

We're from the gov't. and are here to help you.