If the cops pull you over is it true they cannot search your vehicle without your...
 

I had this discussion today over breakfast , my bf seems to think that the cops cannot search or look inside your car when you get pulled over. He thinks , if the cops ask you to step out of your vehicle, you can lock the car and say no to them looking in it.


Is this true?

Both yes and no.

If the officer has "reasonable grounds" for a search, he can do it without a warrant being issued. Otherwise, he cannot search you vehicle and try to "fish" for anything illegal. Your BF can lock his door all he wants but if the cop has reasonable grounds for a search, it is going to happen with or without his consent.

Exactly, which means that they basically can because they can make up some bullshit excuse as to their reasonable grounds, eg. locking the door when you get out!

If you have nothing to hide, who cares anyways, and if you do, well, you're a dumbass

Yup. Might be faster and less confrontational to just let the officer have their way with searching. You can first say "I do not consent" and if the officer make up some excuse the let him/her have their way then file a complaint afterwards..... assuming you have nothing illegal inside :D

would be considered a reasonable ground? Aside from seeing a pack of cocaine in your pass seat lol.... but lets say there is nothing visible, random pull over for broken tail light, or slight speed does that give him the authority to search ur call

As a driver, you do have some rights to avoid these "fishing" expeditions. So for example, if you are pulled over for a burnt out tail light or for speeding, you do have the right to say no to them searching the car.

But if they smell marijuana or see opened cans of beer, then I believe that opens the door to them searching your car.

^ apparently not!

http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarp...52dbd3&k=46950

this was a few days ago.... appeartly if the cops ask you to get out of the car, and you take your jacket off and run away. they aren't allowed to search the jacket... another scum bag back on the street. our judges need to get kicked in the balls a few times.

yea the smell of weed isnt enough to search you

usually if i cop is tryin to get me to let him search my car I pull out my phone and start recording whats going on asking him why I'm being stopped, say that i dont consent to any search and ask for what reason he has to believe I am hiding something and then I sit there and stay quiet. I do believe that they can only detain you for so long before it become unlawful.

tho usually (in delta at least) the cops will try and pressure you into allowing the search and try and scary you into it by calling for backup or threatening you with strip searchs and K9 units

Keep in mind, these descisions were based solely on the judge's opinion, but since it was ruled that way, it opens a huge can of worms.

In the case of the running away, most people will see that running away is a sign of suspicious activity. Normally people will not run away, in which case *should* be enough grounds to allow the search of the suspects vehicle.

But then again, for whatever reason in that case, the judge decided otherwise.

As for the second case, you are correct, but so am I. Just because one court deemed the search illegal, it doesn't mean some officer will not try the same thing. All the officer has to say is the suspect acted suspiciously and that will be enough grounds for them to search the car.

The search may be deemed illegal, but that is up to a judge to decide.

i'm curious, what kind of reaction does this invoke? seems like something they would not appreciate at all. i've thought about this on occasion, but never heard of anyone actually going through with it.

I have only done this 3 times

twice in delta and once in vancouver

the one time in vancouver the cop was pissed said this shit wasnt worth his time toss my wallet back at me and wrote me up a ticket which I disputed

both times in delat the cops tried to pressue me into talking trash and one of them tried to grab my phone. Both times they called in back up (like 4 cars) but in the end I got let go cause really they had nothing on me other than "ppl in the area were saying there were kids causing trouble" so if there is a lesson to learn from my past exp is if you plan to pull this dont have your window all the way down as you legally only need to be able to talk with them and pass them ur info, just having your window crack is more than enough to achive all this plus it stops them from leaning into your car.

interesting! i never thought about leaving only a crack open, i always have the window fully open :lol

I believe that you have the right to record what is going on - and such recording can be used in court should anything go. That being said, should the officer try to take your phone and delete the recording, that should fit right in, in the destruction of evidence.

yea but trying to prove that is hard

cops word against your

which is why the whole leaving your window down only a crack works wonders

Some of these news article makes me weep. Stupid judges.

Common courtesy/sense does to.
Just saying.

Also, although they do not have a search warrant, but they can hold you and get a search warrant.

Did you not read my post at all?

hahaha like I said Ive only done it a couple times

you make it sound like there is no such thing as a cop on a power trip

some cops do judge you base on your age and how they see you

Please tell me how this post was a useful contribution to the thread. For more information, check out the sticky for the forum rules.

What kind of crap are you people carrying in your cars that make you so incredibly afraid of the police?

A gang of mexican midgets in my trunk that I'm saving for Lomac's bukkake party?

:rofl:


The video bit can come in handy, though. Had a dash camera set up from filming a video one day in a buddy's car and we had forgotten to turn it off after filming. Got pulled over for something that we had allegedly done on the road a few moments prior (can't remember what it was anymore), but we both knew that it wasn't true. When we asked the cop if we could show him the footage of the last two minutes of driving to verify his accusation, we was very hesitant, but agreed. Pulled it up on the laptop (camera was dumping footage directly into a laptop... no need for tapes!) and after showing the officer, he realized that he had made a mistake and let us go with nothing more than a few minutes of conversation regarding filming. :lol

It also really depends on how polite you are to the officer. Pointing a video camera directly at them is going to get their backs up, no matter if they were intending to be the most polite person in the world or not.

^ yeah, that's my concern. i mean, i know i have the right to, but it's going to make things uncomfortable in a hurry.