Posted on 11/29/2007 6:38:28 AM PST by Sopater
How many times have we seen it? Someone is pulled over for a traffic violation, or maybe just a routine traffic stop, and the next thing you know his or her car is being searched. Nevertheless, most of the time, it is with the consent of the of the person being stopped. Why are you consenting to a search when there is no probable cause for one? The answer is simple, people are not aware of their rights.
The Constitution and the protections that it guarantees can be a bit daunting to "just regular ole' folks," but the gist of it goes something like this:
·Police may initiate a conversation with any citizen for any reason, however they may not detain you without "reasonable suspicion" that you are engaged in criminal activity. When you are stopped, you should ask the officer, "Why am I being stopped?" If the officer does not indicate that you are suspected of a specific crime, then this is a casual stop and you should be allowed to terminate the encounter at any time, but if the officer indicates that you are suspected of criminal activity, you are being detained.
·If a police officer asks your permission to search, you are under no obligation to consent. The only reason he is asking you is may be he does not have enough evidence to search without your consent. If you consent to a search request, you give up your Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches and seizures, Scheneckloth v. Bustamonte, 412 U.S., 93 S. Ct. 2041, 36 L.Ed.2d 854 (1973).
Generally, if a person consents to a warrantless search, the search automatically becomes reasonable and therefore legal. Consequently, whatever an officer finds during such a search generally can be used to convict the person.
Do not expect a police officer to tell you about your right not to consent. Generally, police officers are not required by law to inform you of your rights before asking you to consent to a search. If, for any reason you don't want the officer digging through your belongings, after you have consented to the search, you should tell himthat you don't want him searching through your private things and If the officer still proceeds to searchand finds illegal contraband, generally your attorney can argue that the contraband was discovered through an illegal search and that evidence could be thrown out of court, this is not always the case though.
You have the right to terminate an encounter with a police officer unless you are being detained under police custody or have been arrested. The general rule is that you don't have to answer any questions that the police ask you. This rule comes from the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which protects you against self-incrimination. If you cannot tell if you are allowed to leave, ask the officer, "Am I free to go?"
I hope that this article informs people of their basic rights as far being stopped and the protections that are afforded to us by the Constitution. The goal of this article was to generally inform about the laws of consent and search, this article in not way is meant to be specific, for a more specific break down, I would advise to look at your state statutes, becaue they sometimes provide for more protection than the constitution does.
I wonder if,in a situation like the one you describe,you can sue the police department if they caused you to miss a plane...or a job interview...or some other engagement that involved money.Assuming,of course,that they did not,in fact,find anything illegal in your car.
uh.. that would be me.
got pulled over for having a license plate light out when i was moving from one residence to another and stupidly had one of my swords sitting in the back seat. oddly enough my consent and cooperation prompted the officer to testify on my behalf when i went in front of the judge.
Sure if you have all day to argue your rights. If a police officer wants to search your car, either he will or the both of you will spend a considerable amount of time proving a point.......remember he is getting paid for his time. Reasonable cause can simply be your word against his suspicion. If you feel your being truly mistreated, call a cop from a different agency preferably one that is higher ranking (local< sheriff< state police)on your cell and get a second opinion.
“Keep the DEA. Get rid of the IRS for this.”
Keep the DEA for what?
Get rid of the IRS, I could support that... but you’ve got a much better shot at getting rid of the DEA.
i used to say the same thing to my sons and you know what....i now am not sure what to say to them because we, in spite of being law abiding citizens, all have a bad taste in our mouth from the good cops that are overstepping their legal boundaries these days.
especially in this age where local governments are using cops to drum up cash. i have seen too many stops for nothing which then don’t take long to escalate to negative encounters.
one night four female friends and i (who were all sober) were driving in a family van and were stopped by a cop who refused to tell us why he was stoppping us. he was fishing for some reason to give us a ticket or check us out for booze. we didn’t dare press the issue too much because just a few weeks before a woman was handcuffed to a mail box in DC (of course another of the good cops). finally when we continued to ask, he said he stopped us because we “braked coming down a hill”.
there is entirely too much of this nonsense.
Parting words from the LEO...Have a nice day.
Nope. The dog's response then becomes probable cause to search the car. If no contraband is found during the search, you'll still walk.
Of course, they can always plant something during the search, but somehow I suspect most of the claims that this happened are from people with little credibility on the subject.
For that matter, the cops (or anybody else) can break into your car and plant drugs that you would have no idea are there. The K9 finds them and you go bye-bye. Your only defense at that point is your reputation.
Obviously, at some point (or at all points) they lied to the cops.
If the "suspect" insists on it, wouldn't they still be required by law to get a warrant?
“well then we’ll have to wait here for an hour or so while we get the canine unit” (or some other more-official sounding “authority”) routine.
This:
http://www.hotsauceworld.com/purecap.html
...will stop a search dog in his tracks. It’s oily...has no flavor...and no scent a human can pick up. A few drops of this on the car carpet or door panel...even after it’s dried...and the dog will instantly (5 seconds) get a case of snot nose that would put Niagra falls to shame. Doggie search over. Doggies nose becomes a useless appendage for the next 12 hours or so.
I made the mistake of putting a 1/4 teaspoon of this in a 5 gallon pot of soup I intended to spice up on year. It rendered it inedible.
It sounded to me like the ‘friend’ probably slept through several of his law school classes. Or perhaps didn’t share the whole story.
my inlaws were being contacted and contacting a wife (related to them) whose husband was in jail 3 time felon.
the police came and asked for permission to search the backyard. I am assuming they were looking for something belonging to her. My father in law gave permission under the pretense he had nothing to hide.
they looked, left and never returned. I have mixed feelings on this one.
I,personally,would like to see *all* cop cars equipped with those dash cams...ones that record high quality video *and* audio.I've only been stopped three times in my life and got only one ticket (which I successfully fought in court) but if I'm ever stopped for *anything* in the future by a cop in a cruiser *not* so equipped I'm gonna fight it tooth and nail on the basis that the cop isn't presenting "best evidence" (a recording) of the incident even though the technology was widely available and the police department could have presented it if they had just spent the $$$.
I don’t believe a warrant is required if the car is not opened. I could certainly be wrong on this, but I believe a dog alerting on the closed car is considered probable cause for a physical search, just as it is at a border crossing.
Does this also work for airport security ‘random’ searches?
Those security goons are out of control.
I’ll note two things. First, these reports are almost always second or third hand. Second, if it happened as reported, tell your friend he is lucky that the cop didn’t plant some dope on him.
Exactly how I feel on the road, at a government building, at an airport but then I am told by the RINOs on the FR that I don't have a right to drive, or a right to fly. They have yet to tell me I don't have a right to visit a government building without a search even if it is for jury duty but I am sure they will get around to it.
I guess confessing to a crime you did not commit constitutes lying...
A dog’s reaction to a masking agent will get your car impounded just as quickly as its reaction to your stash of dope. If you don’t want your car searched, don’t consent; if you’re hauling dope, don’t run a red light.
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