There probably was none. It was just cops being cops and making up the law as they go.
Maybe it was a slow TV night or the donut shop was closed.
Hope your son’s alright. Few deserve to be rolled over by the police and I’m sure he isn’t on the list.
This includes a patdown and anything he can touch quickly. I.E. under the seat, the glovebox, etc.
It generally does not include zipped up backpacks and certainly not a locked briefcase where a person has a "reasonable expectation of privacy".
Always refuse a search but do not physically interfere when it occurs anyway.
For more details see "You and the Police!" by Boston T. Party.
Probable Cause is another matter.
Nervousness is not probable cause. Your son can be held ~45 minutes on RAS for a drug dog. If the dog indicates, they have probable cause to search. Some unscrupulous will wipe dope resin on a car in order to obtain PC.
Depends on the state. In some, the traffic stop acts as the probable cause.
ping
What race is your son?
Next time he should tell the officer that he is a Conservative Homeschooler and they will let him be on his way without a ticket or a search.
Did the officers ask your son to consent to a search?
If yes, did he say "I do not consent" or words to that effect?
If yes, did the officers say: "I'm going to search anyway because I believe I have probable cause?"
Now probable cause is, legally, "a reasonable belief that a crime has been committed" - unless the officer can explain convincingly why he had a reasonable belief that your son had committed a crime, then a search without consent is a violation of your son's rights.
Moreover, he is a minor and I presume that the vehicle he was driving is in your name and not his.
Unless the officers were trying to argue that they were in imminent fear for their lives, they should not have touched your car or questioned your minor son further until you were present.
Please supply more details.
Any meth labs in that neighborhood?
I got a ticket for running a stop sign when I was 18. I fought it in court and got it dismissed because the judge knew the street and believed that the cop could be mistaken.
mark this thread
This wan an illegal search if you have given the whole story. You should sue.
Should that make a difference?
You asked what the probable cause for the search was. It was based on the dog alerting on the car. There was nothing illegal about the search.
However, it it were me, I'd write a letter-to-the-editor of your local trumpet, and let the police chief and mayor have it. Don't attack the cop or the force, it's counter-productive.
The chief, the cops and low-level hayseed politicians hate newspaper publicity worse than the Blue Plate Cafe being closed down for remodeling.
Leni
It’s really surprising and sad to see so many posters here who automatically bash the police as the bad guys without having ALL of the facts and circumstances at hand.
Just scroll down and see how many are willing to fault the police here and advise how the driver should not have cooperated.
The inference is that most police are corrupt and a good citizen should never cooperate with police. No wonder our society is breaking apart at the seams and police are less likely than ever to even make a stop anymore for fear of more bashing by the citizens. I’d bide my time until retirement too having to work with citizens like these. Why bother. Police lose either way.
I suggest you do your own research or get help from others offline. Be very careful about taking legal advice from anonymous non-lawyer libertarians trying to make political points rather than provide candid, neutral advice.
Trust me on this one as one who knows this sort of thing very well.
There are plenty of cops, agents, deputies and worst of all...prosecutors...who will say what they need to say.
Not all but enough.