IMO, you should never voluntarily consent to any search at any time for any reason. If they don't have probable cause, it ain't none of their business what I have.
Once you allow a search or entry to your property (car, house, etc.), you are opening a potential Pandora’s box. If they were out to get you for some reason (need to fill a quota, have a grudge or have a relative/friend with a grudge, etc.) - they could find the slightest pretext to drag you through the legal process.
And wait ‘til smoking cigarettes and drinking at home become illegal.
This "experiment" per Benjamin Franklin, is clearly over.
I sincerely hope most people don't agree with you.
Never consent to a search. Never. Let them get a warrant - it’s your constitutional right.
Arouse suspicion? If a cop has probable cause, he does not need your consent to search your vehicle.
Police sometimes go on fishing expeditions just to see what they can find. You are a citizen of the United States of America! You have rights guaranteed by the Constitution, know them... Use them.
Let's not forget, that once you give up your rights, a dishonest cop could plant incriminating evidence.
Another way unreasonable searches have become acceptable is by good, law-abiding citizens consenting to a search because they know they have nothing to hide. If there truly is nothing to hide, then there is, of course, no reasonable suspicion. But this practice has been effective in breaking down public resistance to unreasonable searches.
To combat this, what we need to do is, if we are pulled over and the officer asks if we object to having our vehicle searched, our response should be, “not at all, after you obtain a warrant. I’m willing to wait here for as long as that takes.”
You see, when an officer asks if you object to a search, what he is really trying to do is leap-frog over the process of requesting a warrant, which requires the submission of ‘reasonable suspicion.’ With these unreasonable searches, the officer knows that if they keep asking for warrants based upon no evidence, eventually they are going to be hauled before court on a suit of violation of civil rights.
At least that’s my understanding of it. This article is extremely vague and if I were someone reading this board, I would do nothing based upon this article. Extenuating circumstances (not mentioned) include: what if the person being pulled over had been speeding at a very high rate of speed? The difference between careless and reckless driving ‘can’ pose some grounds of ‘reasonable suspicion,’ especially if the officer has even a weak argument that the accused was speeding after he/she saw the officer’s lights (fleeing or eluding). Also, attitude is everything. If you resist the officer with the attitude that you simply hate cops, that is going to effect how they treat you. If you come across as just an ordinary citizen who plays by the rules and doesn't feel what is happening is right or warranted, the officer will probably more accommodating (NO guarantee there, of course, it all depends if you've got one with a Napoleonic complex standing there, and they do exist).
If you plan on ‘fighting the man,’ you really need to do a LOT of homework on your state and LOCAL statutes. Otherwise, you’ll end up in jail and will end up looking like just another nutter.
Honestly, the abuse of rights via the commonplace coerced consent is far more egregious than the pre-Miranda coerced confessions.
I see no reason why police shouldn’t be required to inform the detained of their right to refuse the search.
Terrorists aren’t intimidated into consent, and marijuana isn’t worth the police state abuses.
Just imagine a LEGION of freepers standing next to you waiting...
I'm too much the rabble rouser. I'd ask first for their probable cause or a warrant. The likely reaction is going to be a curled lip and a contemptuous remark: "What're you, some kinda LAWYER? I'd just explain to them that while I have been to law school and I carried a badge as a LEO in my youth it's my role as a teacher of Advanced Placement American Government that dictate my actions this day. I'll ask what kind of a role model would I be if I didn't make the police do their job exactly as the law requires and the US Constitution DEMANDS? It's been a long time since I actually had to play that little scene out, but I have done so. Usually it was a rookie that pulled that bull**** but he also had a wiser older training officer who knew a deep pile of do-do when he saw one and got his trainee to back off.
So long as the officer arriving with the search warrant brings along a large coffee, cream and sugar, they could search 'til they're blue in the face, thereby allowing real crime to occur elsewhere and place the citizenry at greater risk.
Their foolishness would be of no concern to me.
bttt