Posted on 02/24/2014 8:30:33 AM PST by highnoon
Both of the following events occurred in Williamson County Texas, in a small town with a Hippo Mascot.
The week of Christmas 2013 I was pulled over for ‘not displaying my blinker for more than 100 feet’. After the normal chit chat, the officer asked for consent to search my vehicle, to which I refused. I was told that K9 was in route and to wait outside the vehicle. K9 never arrived and after 15 minutes of waiting I was released.
Fast forward to Saturday evening 2/22/14. I pulled onto the roadway and was immediately followed by a member of the local police force, who after a few seconds turned his headlights off, then turned them back on. I stopped at an intersection with the officer behind me, proceeded forward when the light turned green and pulled into a Walgreens – the officer did not follow. I sat in the parking lot for 2 or 3 minutes then pulled out and went on my way. In less than a minute I was being pulled over.
Reason given was ‘non visible license plate’. He then asked why I had pulled into and out of the Walgreens. I responded that I was avoiding trouble based on the events that occurred the week of Christmas. He asked to search the vehicle to which I consented. I mentioned the presence of my prescription Adderall and after a VERY thorough search the officer completed his search. He emerged with my pill bottle and mentioned that the bottle was 2 years old, and that the contents (30 mg) did not match the label (20 mg). I was told that my pills were being confiscated and that I had a few days to speak with a detective, present a valid prescription for the pills or a warrant would be issued. I have the most recent Rx bottle – labeled for 30 mg and I’m preparing to visit with the detective when it occurred to me to ask some of you for advice.
I feel that I have a target painted on my vehicle due to the refusal to consent to the Christmas week search. I also feel that if the reason I was pulled over on Saturday was the LP light, the officer should have made the stop instead of playing cat & mouse with me. These are things I want to say out loud to them, but restraint of pen & tongue has me asking the members of FR first.
Any and all input is appreciated and valued. Thanks in advance.
HN
The ‘non visible license plate’, is a con made into law by Toll Road bought politician.
It was enacted to ensure toll runners were caught.
DPS in Texas uses it as a free pass to pull over anyone they want.
Saves them wear and tear on their shoes from kicking taillights.
If your car is impounded for what is normally a ticketable offense(”tag and release”) , you’d have a good court case. Especially if you add in the circumstance of having said “no” to a search and then waiting for a warrant that never comes.
I’d say you’d probably win some money,too. (yaxpayer funded of course)
A “Terry frisk” doesn’t require a warrant.
It does require probable cause to get to that point of a stop in the first place.
A LEO who has absolutely nothing on you and pulled you over for a minor infraction like a tail light out is going to use every possible means at his/her disposal to pin a larger charge on you if they don’t like you or they’re having a shitty day. If you so much as have a bottle cap from a beer bottle in your car from 10 years ago, that’s probable cause to believe you’re intoxicated. In the case of OP, he got jammed up for an Adderall prescription that the cop claims was the wrong dose for what was on the bottle. If they’re noticing a lot of trafficking going through a particular neighborhood or if your car fits the description of a vehicle at a local drug house or an APB for a stolen car fitting a specific description, they’ll look for anything to jam you up if you give them a hard time.
You MUST commit to and know your rights. If you show even a moment of weakness, if you let them search, if you let them talk you out of your car for no good reason, they’re going to find SOMETHING to pin on you. It is their job. Law enforcement is no longer about enforcing the law. It’s about closing cases and raising revenue. Period.
He turned off his headlights to see if there was visible light from the bulb over your plate.
NEVER NEVER NEVER consent to a search ,, I bought a used car years ago and found a vodka bottle under the seat... if that was found in your case you’d be 1.) jailed 2.) lost your job 3.) out many thousands of dollars and 4.) had your car impounded ... and you’d be faced with a choice of hire a lawyer ,, or get car out of impound (the fees will be higher than the value in a few weeks) ,, and the car will be sold after 30 days (usually to a friend of the impound guy for a small fraction of it’s worth) (oh and you will still have to pay the bank if you have a balance on the car loan)...
Now you’re on their radar ... whenever they pull your plate the “officer” will have a synopsis of the search and the drug find .. not a word about it being a good prescription will be in the data he receives on his in-car screen.
I would not meet with the detective to talk with him if I could afford an attorney ,, If not I would very carefully word a reply that clearly and concisely explains what you wrote here ,,, present it to him and politely explain that you will not answer any of his questions AND STICK TO IT. BRING A FRIEND ,, TWO FRIENDS would be better... as witnesses.
” Dogs are smart and want to please their handlers.
If the handler is convinced you have contraband, the dog may pick up on his unconscious clues and “hit” on that.”
I am a dog trainer, but not for LE (mainly schutzhund and other sports, particularly tracking). However, I am quite familiar with LE dog training.
Mostly, your statement is correct; but likely not for the reason you stated.
Most if the issues with dogs are with the handlers. They are generally not “dog people” and not trainers: the dogs are trained by contractors outside of the department. Then the dog/handler team are “trained” for a short time by the trainer. (I know one who does this for a living.) Most handlers can’t reliably tell a real indication (”hit”) from a false indication. (Reliably is the key word here.) And if the department doesn’t periodically have the team undergo outside refresher training courses, the dog’s training goes to pot. Training of this sort requires constant work, and most departments cannot/will not do the required work, nor have the resources and expertise to do so.
So, a dog team can have multiple problems for different reasons. Not all teams have these issues, but for small-to-medium size departments, these are real concerns.
So, don’t blame all the problems on the dog: most of the blame falls onto the handler and/or department. A dog is a very complicated “piece of LE equipment” and requires an amount of expertise and resources most LE departments don’t have.
"Who authorized this search? Barky the dog..."
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