My Rights?

[stoned budda]

Originally Posted by PhishPhood

Just make life easy on yourself. Dont smoke in the car, or when you do.. do it descretely.

And keep everything smoking related in the trunk. There is no possible way for a cop to see through your trunk, but its pretty easy to see through windows.

I keep my car very clean and this is one of the reasons. I dont want clutter inside for him to want to sift through and find shit. If its clean he can clearly see, I have nothing.

And dont hide things in the glove box. If a cop comes up and wants your registration thats the first place you go.

Smart advice, pay attention.

it really depends on the cop, which is pretty unfortunate because it can go either way really. if you give a legit reason or something of the such you're usually let go, from personal experience.

What exactly would be a good reason for not letting a cop search your car when asked? Bottom line if he asked to search, he did so for a reason and hes only going to have his suspitions raised if you protest to much.

[IGotTheCottons]

How many of you have heard of the Patriot Act? If you have, then you know that the Constitution of the United States is pretty much null and void. Cops can do what they want, whenever they want, and get away with it under this act.

Originally Posted by Bleezie_King

you can refuse if he doesn't have a warrent, unless he actually smells the smoke or sees weed in your car.

All he needs is "probable cause". Even if he DOESN'T have it, all he has to tell the judge is "I smelled weed", and he now has probable cause. Oh yeah - the judge will ALWAYS believe a cop over a civilian. Fucked up, huh?

Originally Posted by 110100100420

Not without probable cause, like you smelling like weed, already comitting another crime, etc.

The best was is to just say "I do not consent to any searches, can i leave, or am i being detained?"

Actually, the laws have been changed. They're allowed to search your car on nothing more than suspicion alone.

Originally Posted by AL1

So, hold on.. does smelling like weed = search without warrant?

Yes

Originally Posted by noonecares

"i'm sorry officer, i'm late to work right now. i can't consent to a search right now."
^ don't say that if you were speeding.
if you were speeding say something like:
"i'm sorry officer, i honestly don't have time and since i don't have anything to hide i find it unnecessary". (this deters the infamous: "if you don't have anything to hide, why not?" statement).

if he gets an attitude with you after you've said it politely (rarely), just be firm and continue denying consent don't answer to any threats such as drug dogs, etc. just say "i'm sorry officer, am i free to leave now, or are you detaining me?" . he would have conducted the search without asking if he could.

he's also not allowed to detain you without probable cause (which he would need to search you), and unless he thinks you're a big drug dealer coming from the highway from mexico then most troopers won't waste their time with a warrant since it'd get thrown out of court for lacking probable cause.

That's actually not true. Police are allowed to hold you for up to 48 hours if they have suspicion that you were doing something illegal. If, after that time, they have nothing - then they have to let you go.

Originally Posted by noonecares

if they had enough to detain you then they had enough to conduct a search. they aren't allowed to detain you to obtain a warrant (which takes a process, judge signing, etc.), just because you may have smoked marijuana. it would be INCREDIBLY inefficient for them because not only would all the manpower be wasted for getting random warrants, half of those would be in vain and get thrown out of court for lack of probable cause - even if you have an idiotic lawyer.

They can call the judge and have him issue a warrant on the spot if they have a strong enough belief that you were doing something illegal. Or they can just detain you until they get a K-9 unit there. If the dog "hits", then they now have full access to your car. Trunk included.

Granted, most judges won't just issue a warrant without a really good reason, and most cops won't put that much effort into catching you with a small amount of pot... BUT it CAN happen - it all depends on the cop, like you said.

Basically, with the Patriot Act - we as US citizens have NO rights at all.

[Reggin]

It sucks that all of this can happen just for smoking a bowl.

[stoned budda]

All true. All good advice, remember it.

Originally Posted by stoned budda
Most times when u refuse a search, they will detain you untill they obtain a search warrant. If this happens the only recourse is for a lawyer to try and suppress the search info based on if they had the probable cause to stop the vehicle in the first place.


P.S., All you young blades should take this advice and I'm not kidding, talk to a lawyer or maybe retain one in advance, it only cost about $500 to retain one. Also write down the number of a 24 hrs a day bail bonds man.
Think about it, you get pulled over in the middle of the night and for what ever reason the haul you in. If you take my advice one call and your out in a few hours, if you dont you could be in a while.

Quote:

Quote:

Originally Posted by: IGotTheCottons

All he needs is "probable cause". Even if he DOESN'T have it, all he has to tell the judge is "I smelled weed", and he now has probable cause. Oh yeah - the judge will ALWAYS believe a cop over a civilian. Fucked up, huh?

Actually, the laws have been changed. They're allowed to search your car on nothing more than suspicion alone.

That's actually not true. Police are allowed to hold you for up to 48 hours if they have suspicion that you were doing something illegal. If, after that time, they have nothing - then they have to let you go.


They can call the judge and have him issue a warrant on the spot if they have a strong enough belief that you were doing something illegal. Or they can just detain you until they get a K-9 unit there. If the dog "hits", then they now have full access to your car. Trunk included.

Granted, most judges won't just issue a warrant without a really good reason, and most cops won't put that much effort into catching you with a small amount of pot... BUT it CAN happen - it all depends on the cop, like you said.

Basically, with the Patriot Act - we as US citizens have NO rights at all.

[andyGILL]

If you smell, leave roaches laying around, or your eyes are bloodshot then the cop has reasonable cause to search you. Don't smell like weed, don't have any roaches/pipes lying around, and don't have bloodshot eyes. If you smell like weed an officer can legally make you get out of the car so he can search you and the vehicle.

[stoned budda]

Originally Posted by andyGILL

If you smell, leave roaches laying around, or your eyes are bloodshot then the cop has reasonable cause to search you. Don't smell like weed, don't have any roaches/pipes lying around, and don't have bloodshot eyes. If you smell like weed an officer can legally make you get out of the car so he can search you and the vehicle.

True. Above all dont be a smart ass and start trying to school the officer on your rights. Unless your a lawyer your just gonna piss him off.

[andyGILL]

Originally Posted by stoned budda

True. Above all dont be a smart ass and start trying to school the officer on your rights. Unless your a lawyer your just gonna piss him off.

This is true, even if the cop is doing something he shouldn't be doing don't say anything directly to him. Just get his badge number and file a complaint with the police department.

[BillDavis]

Originally Posted by PhishPhood

And dont hide things in the glove box. If a cop comes up and wants your registration thats the first place you go.

The third day I had my license I picked up some friends and we went driving around and smoked two blunts. I took one of my friends home and after dropping him off I didn't come to a complete stop at a stop sign and got pulled over. Went to get my registration out of the glovebox and bag of weed just laying there. Good thing he wasn't paying attention though. Just got a warning for that.

[pistol-whippen]

barry cooper-ex-narc

an officer can not search ur vehicle beyond what is in easy reach of the driver, backseats-not, under dash-not, in trunk-not, they can only search theses areas if they have a drug dog or a warrant, or u consent, do consent, do not deny them this, this is a reasonable suspicion, however only consent if u have a small amount, a joint up to an 1/8th never consent if u have more than that, but definitely know ur rights, and dont hesitate to allow him to search if u only have a small amount, however def dont offer it to him, if he asks politely allow him, and if he doesnt ask just be on ur way

[ciao stupido]

Be carefull though too, cops will try and wesel their way into your shit, you gotta clearly state to them, you don't consent to the search. I was on my bike, and a cop stopped me, after about a minute of some stupid-ass bullshit story he told me, he comes up and is like "hey, so you don't mind if i look in your bag, right?, if its beer or anything it's cool, you can tell me" well i had a forty on me, and i didn't want him finding it, and i knew he was full of shit anyway, so i told him to fuck off in the most polite way i could, "no Officer, I do not concent to this search." The cop was flabbergasted, cause round here they usally bust kids cause they don't know they can say no. So he chill for a minute, shines his light in my eyes and asked again if i really wan't gonna consent, i said no, and then he let us go... so awesome.