I need to clear something up that hasn't made any sense to me an a while. We all know the Fourth Amendment (here's a reminder); Fourth Amendment – Protection from unreasonable search and seizure. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. All my life I've been told that in order for a cop to search anything I own (including my car), I have to give the full consent to do so. Probable cause is only grounds for an officer to obtain a warrant if you refuse to give your consent. Is there any truth to this? I see a lot of posts on here, and I know a lot of fellow stoners that say a drug dog detecting drugs is "probable cause" to immediately search your vehicle without a warrant. I'm just not sure.
see how it says UNREASONABLE search and siezure, the unreasonable part, isnt up to us lol. If they think its reasonable to search you cause your wearing tye dye and someone made a report saying someone wearing tye dye did something, regardless of if your surrounded by peeps in tye dye, they will win. Its so stupid lol, i got searched for smelling like the grateful dead, and he said he knew i had weed on me, he didnt find weed on me, but i got a ticket for having the pipe i had in my backpack, there was NO REASON to search me, but they thought it was reasonable....Im glad they let me graduate after that bs
If your house is constantly being watched and they notice people constantly arriving and leaving your house, it is safe to assume that you are selling drugs, and a warrant is obtained to search your property. If your house gets searched without a warrant, and they find something, that is immediate grounds for a mistrial. Why isn't it the same for a car? I have an immensely hard time believing that it's not.
That sucks man. It's hard to not look like you smoke pot when you do haha. The question I'm trying to ask doesn't really involve what probable cause is, or who decides if its probable cause. What I'm trying to ask is if they need probable cause AND a warrant to search a car/home, or just probable cause. I've always been pretty sure that you need a warrant for anything.
If a pig were to come to your front door mid-session, and you were dumb enough to open the door allowing him to see a haze-filled room with a bong on the coffee table, he would have probable cause to enter and search your house. People constantly arriving and leaving isn't direct, concrete evidence of drug related activity, only a good indicator.
No, a cop has a perfect right to search your vehicle if he has a probable cause to believe that it contains any illegal items. Probable cause? In most cases they just claim to smell marijuana, and that is enough for them to search your car at instant. So, essentially, you're never protected against searches of your vehicle no matter what. There are so many loopholes, and cops are corrupt and trained to manipulate these flaws to the full extent.
Just to make the picture clearer, the way most cops catch drivers who have drugs/paraphernalia is simply based on how they look. They'll pull you over for speeding(even though you weren't), not wearing a seatbelt, or something ridiculous to get a better look at your car(standing outside peeking in) and decide whether chances are you got something illegal. Then they'll pull the "I smell something"-card and order you out of the car and search it, hell, they could even find a tiny coke bag in your glove compartment and their probable cause stands against you. So, yeah. Don't carry anything in your car that could be found, could as well tape in on your forehead and walk down the street.
I just barely crack my window to get ID/insurance out and they ALWAYS ask me why I do this and I say it makes me feel more comfortable (really it is so they cant nose around in there). If they ask me why I got pulled over I don't say a word (plea da fif). Once they asked me to step out of the car and I said I would feel more comfortable inside the car. They pig then said he was coming back with a warrant (claimed his pc was shut down) then gave me a speeding ticket (which was BS). We all get fucked just for what we look like.
^and he let you stay in the car? Lol. Cops can order you out of your car if they had a reason to stop you (even for "speeding").