when can a cop search your car?
 

not sure if this is legal or not. i got pulled over tonight for no tag light. the cop said that while he was pulling me over he saw me reaching over in my seat like i was trying to hide something. he asked me to step out, no problem. then he asked me if it was ok for him to search me and my car. i said NO and he told me that i had no choice. so after i was searched he then placed me in his police car and searched my car(him and his partner). they found nothing then wrote a ticket out. now my question: do my actions merit a search under the law? just curious because if this doesnt merit a search then i will fight this fucking ticket tooth and nail and have some kind of actions taking towards these cops. if this is normal then no prob. any insight is appreciated folks.:thumbsup

Illegal, the police officer may not search the car nor any passengers in it without having found something illegal on the driver or if it is in plain sight

edit: then again they can always pull the reasonable suspicion maneuver, which is a pain in the ass? how do you prove the porker didn?t have reasonable suspicion. I fucking hate cops.

Sounds illegal to me fight that shit.

http://www.headstartbooks.com/images/driving.gif

I would have thought you owned the manual already.

Come on...DWB dude instant cause for search.

lol, arent you black? i would think you would be used to it by now. dont they just need "probable cause" to search your vehicle?

sad but true man

hahhahaha nice one pornwolf

depends on your local laws but in most cases without a warrent that was illegial

fuck that try driving while 19 in a lexus. they impounded my shit for a month because i was at a pump filling up and the pig hits his lights for good measure, and proceeds to impound my shit because my tags were off a month.

cops can do anything they want. stay off the radar

Traffic cops suck!

he said that his probable cause was "me reaching over in my passenger seat like i was hiding something" never heard that one before so there wasn't too much that i could say about it. i did inform him that i would be speaking with an lawyer about it though and then thats when he put me in his squad car.

Pigs can indeed do anything they want, in practical terms, especially in this day and age. Here in NZ all they have to do is say, "I though I smelt marijuana" and they can legally search the car, and even though you could lay a complaint nothing's going to get done about it... I imagine that in the US the law is far more draconian.

He's black, what do you mean off the radar? I don't think he can get vitalgo like Michael and turn white. He will forever have to watch that rear view mirror in a bucket or a benz.

http://www.overtherhine.org/communit...s/image003.jpg

It's not illegal. They can search your car anytime, or they can take you in if you refuse. My boyfriend got pulled over twice tonight, the first time the cop said his plates were expired, which pissed us off because 2 months ago, we got pulled over, same shit, so we took care of it at the DMV, or so we thought. So, tonight, the cop took his license plates! Ok, so the cop searched his car for weapons, then let him go. Five minutes later, he gets pulled over for having no license plates!

yea, just act like an uncle tom

Cool photo!

fuck the police. i grew up in a hick ass town, they fucked with all my friends and i just for being kids.

you have to be able to site specific statutes and sections of your local state penal code. if you can do that, which i can in a couple areas, they are required to cari a copy of their states penal code, and will either realise you're not just another idiot and leave you alone, or they will go look it up then leave you alone. just cant be the pushover.

http://www.goingfaster.com/tourofduty/cops.jpg

NEVER give a cop permission to search your car. You have nothing to gain and his whole purpose is to find anything to bust you with.

If a cop asks if he can search your car you simply say "Are you asking or demanding" and of course he will say he is asking. At that point you say "Get a warrant, I'm in a hurry". If he proceeds to search anyway and finds anything it will most likely be thrown out of court.

actually that's different in canada - they can often still use items they find in illegial searches in court.

Bullshit.

yeah they just clean impounded me... but regardless they cannot search without a warrant, and cannot arrest you without having a charge to book you under. and as far as i know, refusing an unlawful search is not grounds for an arrest. now if the courts are open and they feel like being a dick, they will hold you there until a warrant is issued.

here it has to be a reason to do it,

like if your car smells like dope or you have a 30 pack of beer in the back seat.

other than that they cant just search you.

Don't let those fucking pigs get away with shit! In most states the cops cannot search any locked part of a vehicle, like a glove compartment (if you locked it with a key) and your trunk. They need a search warrant for those things! And if they say that they are calling an officer with a drug sniffing dog, they are illegally detaining you if they do not have probable cause or because you refused a search to your glove or trunk! Excercise you rights and challeng these fucks!

see i asked him "dont you have to have a warrant for that" and he told me no. not if he saw odd behavior like i was trying to hide something. so the guy just basically lied to my face.

anyone who says they cant is full of shit, all he says is you were reaching over into the passenger seat, and its all over. Warrant? LMAO ya right. You looked suspicious, he saw a suspicious car about 10 minutes ago and thought it was you but he didnt call it in to dispatch cause he was just patrolling, there are a ton of reasons, oh and the allmighty "disorderly conduct" especially if he is rolling with a coroborating officer. More trouble than it's worth, roll with the punches if ya got nothin to worry about. I live in chicago, try that warrant shit with a chicago cop:1orglaugh Youll get beat down in an alley in a fuckin heartbeat Sad but true:glugglug

My favorite was I was tired and coming back up from downtown san diego, and i had a couple people in the car as well, and fealt like i was tired enough to drive the speed limit for a change. i think the cop thaught since i was the only nimrod going the speedlimit i had to have something on me... so he pulls me over for "suspicious driving" I mean cmon... they're public servants right? GO GET ME A GLASS OF WATER PIG.

i used to date a cop. i asked him that question before. He said you CAN refuse a search, but all they do is put you in a cop car while they call in for a search warrant, which is ALWAYS approved. So, its just faster to say "yes".

They need probable cause to do a vehicle search, other than what happens to be in plain site.

They can call in for a warrant whatever, but they still need cause for that.

If they fudge the call, the fruits of their search get thrown out rather easily.

You just need to know when to tell them fuck off, or when to eat it.

Unfortuantely sometimes the principle isn't worth the extra 30 minutes of a field sobriety test, and/or full vehicle check.

I pretty much thought that too. Part of your anti drug measures...

I seem to a recall an x cop turned adult webmaster posting on GFY talking about this. :2 cents:

Reasonable suspicion doesn't count on being pulled over in a car tho! And the fact that the cop asked and he said no, they would need a search warrant to search his private property (including cars). Just my :2 cents:

jDoG

As a Canadian, are you that deeply educated on American laws? Search and Seizure is a Federal issue - the is decided by Federal law - not local laws.

This is a pretty funny thread. Ignorance of the law only gets people into more trouble.

Actually, they can't search your car anytime! The only times they could do this is if you are on probation or anything. If I'm driving with my friend, and he is in the passenger side and they check his ID, he is on probation for have a eighth of shrooms, the cops have the legal right to search ANY vehicle he is in at the moment, they are allowed to search ANY house he stays in and invade his privacy all he wants!

But if you're not on any type of probation they can't invade your privacy like that!

jDoG

what are you talking about, he got pulled over for a viable reason and then the cop says he was making moves and reaching over in the passenger seat , he's searching it like it or not and its not illegal.:glugglug All this talk of warrants is hilarious, if your gona be a hard ass you bet he will hit dispatch and they will get a judge asap. Maybe not in a hicktown with 10k people but in a big city, you better believe it. Especially with 2 officers testimony, and hes black! Let him search it, you aint gonna prevent it bro. Unless he really doesnt want to go throught the motions

In most states all a cop needs is probable cause. That could be anything from making a sudden movement, reaching for a gun, or breaking wind in his general direction.

It sounds to me like he felt like searching your car for what ever reason and told you it was because you reached into the passenger seat... Unfortunately in today's America there isn't much, if anything you can do about it.

See being the hard ass I am! I would say, I want to see the warrant, even tho I don't keep anything illegal in my car! I'll do it to waste their time, considering I pay part of their salary, I deserve to waste their time from time to time! And I don't want somebody searching my car with out the right paper work! :winkwink: Fuck the fucking cops and I would call them everyname in the book after their finished! :)

jDoG

and if their was 2 officers you would go to the can for the night on a bogus disorderly conduct charge. Hardass. Like I said try the name calling shit in chicago and see whos a "soreass" in the morning from a back alley beat down.:glugglug