A bit of free advice: “Let The Constitution work for you.”
You don’t have to agree to let police officers search you or your car when you are stopped. You just don’t.
Most people are nervous and don’t know what to do when they are stopped by police officers. This is completely understandable. Police officers can turn this on you and say “You look nervous, do you mind if I search your car?”
Yes you mind. It doesn’t matter that you don’t have anything to hide. It’s the principle of the matter. Plenty of people a lot smarter than you fought long and hard for The U.S. Constitution that permits you to say “No” (politely, of course) to a police officer who asks you for permission to search you or your car. Simple as that.
Get past the “I don’t have anything to hide” idea. If you’ve had friends or relatives in your car . . . ever, you might have something to hide and not even know it.
My biggest complaint about people who agree to let cops search their car is that they don’t realize that most people convicted of even the most inconsequential crimes are convicted by evidence that was something they voluntarily told or gave to the police officer. Know your rights, shut the hell up and just say “No” (again, politely of course).
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That all sounds nice but I remember hearing that they will keep you while they call in for a warrant to search you and if not do you really think they will just say “ok” and let you go?
Mac on June 15th, 2007 at 1:52 pm | Link
Mac said:
[quote]. . . while they call in for a warrant to search you . . .[/quote]
If you don’t have anything to hide, I think it would be great to make them jump through the hoops of getting a search warrant. Might take a while, but please make sure you video tape it for the laughs of the cop going through all that trouble because you exercised your Constitutional right.
busted on June 15th, 2007 at 2:03 pm | Link
There would be law enforcement gridlock if everyone stopped giving cops permission to search. This is a basic technique taught to cops early in their training, probably the first week of the academy. In most circumstances the cop asks the question after the person is told they can leave. It’s a giant psych job.
Can you imagine the chaos that would ensue if every cop who asked to search a car was told “No” and the cop then tried to get a warrant? You’re talking about adding hours to a routine traffic stop. Multiply that by 20 stops a shift and . . .
I say stick it to them. Particularly if you have “nothing to hide”.
“…most people convicted of even the most inconsequential crimes are convicted by evidence that was something they voluntarily told or gave to the police officer.”
in other words, it’s effective.
it’s a pleasant thought that while in the course of the apprehension of criminals, the occasional childish “stick it to the man” types are discomfited.
Your right you don’t have to let them search you. And in order for them to get a warrant they have to have PC (probable cause). And yes Chewie is correct that all cops are taught to always ask to search the car. Unless you have something very obvious in Plain view (viewable without any aid or moving anything) or say something sorted, then they will not have probable cause and the warrant should be rejected. Your refusal to allow a search is not probable cause. Another thing to keep in mind if it is the middle of the day on a weekday that officer is more likely to call for the warrant, 2 am on Saturday the officer darn well better have a good reason for waking the judge to get the warrant.
Now here is my personal experience and somewhat humorous as well. Me and my nephew were out riding around country roads one late night around 11pm or so. A cop (state patrol) stops us. What for? As usual a burned out license plat light which was not burned out. This officer was very rude and power hunger. He makes me get out of the car and makes me stand in front of his car. He make me stick out my tongue and accuses me of having a film on my tongue. This film he ascertains is caused by drug use. (latter by the diagnosis of a doctor it was what is known as hairy tonge with no known cause or cure it is long since gone) Anyway he wants to search my car. I deny him permission. He continues his interrogation. Asking why he can’t search my car etc. I tell him he has no reason to search my car. About that time here comes a carload of obvious hoodlums flying by squealing their tires around the corner, I at that moment concede to allow him to search my car. Asking him I he wants to search the car he shakes my hand and says no I have to go and proceeds to chase the hoodlums.
My opinion Never ever ever ever let em search your car. There is just as much likely hood of them planting something in your car as there is of something being there. I say If they must search them you video tape every movement and have your attorney present!!
Most cops are good people but there are many corrupt ones out there I have seen multiple cases of this.
mark on November 17th, 2007 at 6:03 pm | Link
i live in california. i’ve used the ‘just say no’ approach as long as i’ve been driving and have gotten some pretty strange responses but NEVER have they searched my car after i flat out told them NO.
the car i was driving in all of these situations was a ‘67 mustang convertible plastered with drug stickers. the car basically said (politely) pull me over, search my car, take me to jail. i’m clean and my whole family has worked in law enforcement so it’s just funny to me. i have to admit, it’s always pretty amusing from a ‘fight the bull****’ perspective.
the card everyone thinks the cops have is ‘probable cause’ but if they pull that and find nothing they’ve got a grand old harassment case on their hands. i’ve seen this in action one time on a hiking trip when me a friend got pulled over and after i said ’sorry but i don’t really have the time to sit here while you go through my things,’ the cop tried to tell me she “smelled weed,” i stuck to my guns and she DIDN’T search my car. it was real funny, almost awkward, because she seemed embarrassed that i called her on this fabrication of her’s.
after that time it was easier to get cavalier and the older you get the more you’re willing to point out little things, like the side of their car says “to protect and serve” not “harass and intimidate.”
so when cops ask to search your car and you say “why?” remember, they’re never going to tell you the truth: “because you look stupid enough to let them get away with it.”
strange on July 6th, 2008 at 5:24 pm | Link
When a cop pulls you over, do they tell anyone they are pulling someone over? or enter your plates down in a computer before they get out and approach you? Hypothetically, If a friend of mine was in the middle of like nowhere, and killed a cop. would anyone know?
Ben Bowman on December 20th, 2008 at 10:28 pm | Link
Simply put, without probable cause (visibly seeing something illegal), they can NOT search your car. Cops will try to trick you with everything from “if you’ve got nothing to hide then…” or “only if you were hiding something would you say no…”, to “I’ll just call the dogs in and let them…” or “I can smell weed”. “Smelling” something is NOT admissible evidence, and is NOT cause for a successful issue for a warrant. They must SEE it, or you must say something really really dumb like “I sure hope you don’t find my weed under the seat”.
Always remember that every single police officer is a CITIZEN!!! They are your equals in society. They PROTECT AND SERVE, and they swear an oath to uphold the constitution. YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REFUSE SEARCHES WITHOUT PROBABLE CAUSE!
Remember to always ask if you can leave. Don’t just hang around waiting for the cop to come with some other psych-out scheme. Say “No, you can not search my car”, and ask if you can go. They are very much aware of your rights, so when you put it back to them, they will almost always let you go instead of hassle you with more schemes to snoop around in your car.
maqmed on April 24th, 2009 at 2:13 pm | Link
I literally just got pulled out of my car last night and the interior of my car was searched. Absolutely nothing was found, and this pissed off this officer, he was sure i had something in there. He pulled out all my passengers and brought another cop on the scene. He asked if he could search my trunk and I said no. He told me he was going to call for a drug dog and that it would take several hours, then asked me again if i would let him search my trunk, i took a gamble he was bluffing, and said no again. He told me he was going to have to call the judge and get a warrant and that it would take a while, I still refused. He THEN told me he might have to impound my car and take me and my friends to the station to get picked up, i called his bluff again and said no. A very very frusterated cop who was bluffing the whole time, (or he wouldnt have told me all the different options he would have just got the dog and it would have been over) left with distributing a simple ticket. I excersized my rights last night, and I won in the end.
If this cop would have found something in my interior, he would have had rights to the trunk, but i knew that since he didn’t, he had no reason to be looking in my trunk.
So it does work, even when you MIGHT just have something to hide.
Abby on May 22nd, 2009 at 6:27 am | Link
Does the cop have to say what probable cause he has before searching a car? Also, if they really were searching my would they ask everyone to get out first?
Connor on December 9th, 2009 at 5:00 pm | Link
can a cop search u if u get pulled over and do not have ur id or drivers liscense
john doe on January 5th, 2010 at 5:41 pm | Link
The one thing that makes this a bad thing is if the cop had a reason to pull you over he has a reason to write you a ticket. The second he writes that ticket you are under arrest. As such he has the right to put you in jail rather than accepting your signature as a promise to appear in court. If he puts you in jail your car becomes a crime scene and therefore he has every legal right to search it. I wouldnt push too hard to keep them from searching if you got nothing to hide. It just causes you a whole lot of frustration.
Wayne on March 16th, 2010 at 6:52 pm | Link