If a police officer asks to search you car...

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Would you consent to a police officer searching your car?

  • Yes

  • No


Results are only viewable after voting.

amdhunter

Lifer
May 19, 2003
23,329
246
106
All of you that say yes without so much as probable cause make me very sad. With very little effort from the state you have willingly given up rights that literally hundreds of thousands of your fellow Americans died to give you.

You have rights. People fought to give them to you. If they want to lie to try and generate probable cause, make them lie. Make them do something to take away your rights. Make them the party in the wrong.

Everyone wants to bitch about the TSA searches but right here, clear cut violations of established rights, and see how many are willing to piss them away. America really doesn't deserve any of the protections we had anymore.

How is it living in that fantasy world of yours?
 

sourceninja

Diamond Member
Mar 8, 2005
8,805
65
91
I always...let me stress this, always refuse any form of searching or questioning. If you ask me to get out of the car I will lock and shut the door on my way out. If you ask me anything more than to identify myself I simply will ask you if I am free to leave.

I have been railroaded by police as a teenager and I have learned my lesson.

The police are in no way out to protect you or help you. There are out there to find a reason to arrest you. Innocent or guilty does not matter. I want their job to be the hardest god damn job in the world.

Yes I'm jaded,but that's how it is. I haven't been hassled by the police in a years, but I'm not answering questions, I'm not consenting to any searches (even though I don't do drugs and am a law abiding citizen), and I'm not going to make their job easy just so I can get home a little faster.

I'm not going to tell you where I was going, what the hurry was, if I knew how fast I was going, etc. I'm going to show you my license and insurance, follow any instructions I"m legally required to follow, and say thank you when you give me my ticket.

Nothing more.
 

Modelworks

Lifer
Feb 22, 2007
16,240
7
76
I always...let me stress this, always refuse any form of searching or questioning. If you ask me to get out of the car I will lock and shut the door on my way out. If you ask me anything more than to identify myself I simply will ask you if I am free to leave.

I have been railroaded by police as a teenager and I have learned my lesson.

Apparently you haven't learned anything if you did you would know that asking questions is legal , asking you to get out of the car is legal. The police do not railroad anyone, the prosecutors and attorneys do. Police can only report they don't convict.



The police are in no way out to protect you or help you. There are out there to find a reason to arrest you. Innocent or guilty does not matter. I want their job to be the hardest god damn job in the world.

Police are not interested in arresting everyone and they do care if the person is innocent or guilty. Do you think they say " lets arrest someone its fun ! I can arrest someone, fight with them, fill out tons of paperwork, have to go to court, fill out more paperwork , and not get paid for a lot of the hours I have to do to file the report , man this is fun "
Yes I'm jaded,but that's how it is. I haven't been hassled by the police in a years, but I'm not answering questions, I'm not consenting to any searches (even though I don't do drugs and am a law abiding citizen), and I'm not going to make their job easy just so I can get home a little faster.

I don't know any law abiding citizens that have been hassled by the police for years without reason. Your tone is one I am familiar with, it sounds just like the people who can do no wrong and the second someone suggest that they have start yelling "I have my rights !"


I'm not going to tell you where I was going, what the hurry was, if I knew how fast I was going, etc. I'm going to show you my license and insurance, follow any instructions I"m legally required to follow, and say thank you when you give me my ticket.

Nothing more.

Sad. If you treated officers like the people they are you might not get those tickets.
 

SarcasticDwarf

Diamond Member
Jun 8, 2001
9,574
1
76
I have several family members in law enforcement and you wouldn't believe the arrest that result from things that should have been simple if people wouldn't over react and try to fight with the police.

There's a big difference between fighting with (either physically or yelling at them) and not giving them everything that they want. The problem is that many officers do not see a difference. If I am pulled over I have to provide certain things, my DL and CWP. Beyond that I have to provide nothing. An officer can ask me anything he wants, but I am not in any way obligated to answer. The situation is simple, not complicated. Any efforts by the officer that use intimidation or outright lying are an abuse of their position. There really is not anything complicated about it.
 

SarcasticDwarf

Diamond Member
Jun 8, 2001
9,574
1
76
I don't know any law abiding citizens that have been hassled by the police for years without reason. Your tone is one I am familiar with, it sounds just like the people who can do no wrong and the second someone suggest that they have start yelling "I have my rights !"

Uh, no. You seem to be under the belief that just because a person does not cooperate in every way with an officers request that they deserve anything that happens to them. Sorry, it doesn't work that way (or at least, it is not supposed to). A person refusing to allow an officer to search their car/person or refusing to answer questions they are not required to answer is NOT a justification for the police to try to screw that person over in some way. Period.
 

sourceninja

Diamond Member
Mar 8, 2005
8,805
65
91
Apparently you haven't learned anything if you did you would know that asking questions is legal , asking you to get out of the car is legal. The police do not railroad anyone, the prosecutors and attorneys do. Police can only report they don't convict.





Police are not interested in arresting everyone and they do care if the person is innocent or guilty. Do you think they say " lets arrest someone its fun ! I can arrest someone, fight with them, fill out tons of paperwork, have to go to court, fill out more paperwork , and not get paid for a lot of the hours I have to do to file the report , man this is fun "


I don't know any law abiding citizens that have been hassled by the police for years without reason. Your tone is one I am familiar with, it sounds just like the people who can do no wrong and the second someone suggest that they have start yelling "I have my rights !"




Sad. If you treated officers like the people they are you might not get those tickets.

I actually don't get many tickets. I also don't get hassled by the police.

When I was a teen, I had long hair and wore black. I was constantly hassled. Also I never said I wouldn't get out of the car. I am required to follow directions given to me by an officer. I am also allowed to lock and shut my car door when I get out of the car.

The officer is free to ask me any questions he wants. Beyond identifying myself, I'm not required to answer any of his questions. I choose not to do so.

And yes, I have seen police just out looking for busts. I remember as a teen having my car searched each and every single time I was pulled over. We don't smoke anything, let alone do drugs, but when a cop sees 3 long haired teens in a car, he can't help but search it. Now that I'm a balding middle aged man in a suit guess what? I don't get hassled anymore.....

I'm sure there are magic police out there who just want to help people, but I have yet to meet one in person. Instead I meet police officers who give me a sobriety test because it's 2 am and I'm driving home from work and "Your eyes look funny to me" and police officers who give me a ticket for doing 34 or 35 in a 30, or officers who sit behind that hidden speed limit sign designed for the sole purpose of writing tickets (I have to warn everyone I invite over from out of town that the speed limit goes from 65 to 35 and the sign is hidden behind a curve and trees and a cop sits at the sign writing tickets).

I have to deal with cops who I tried to help instead using my words out of context and charging me with possession of stolen property (I hardware some stuff from a co-worker, a few weeks later he gets arrested for stealing computer parts from where we work, I fear my stuff is stolen and call the police), and finally, because I have a genetic disorder that makes my hands shake, I have to deal with constant attitude about me "having something to hide". Top that off with constant lying I've watched the police do on shows like cops "Look, if you just tell me where the weed is nobody is going to jail. Oh so you do have weed? Well you have the right to remain silent..."

Even the cops I work out with and who are my friends tell me not to talk to or trust the police. They tell me to just keep my mouth shut and if by chance I am really doing something wrong that will just be even less evidence they can bring up in court. They joke that in a lot of arrests if the subject would have just kept their mouth shut 90% of the evidence wouldn't even have been there to make an arrest.

I don't break the law (except for the occasional speeding, and I've never fought a ticket that I rightfully was given), but I do feel that it is my duty as a citizen to use my rights as much as possible and in every way possible. To let someone search myself or my car simply by asking is just helping erode the rights of everyone. You better have some damn probably cause or we can both sit and wait by my locked car for the drug dog.
 

meltdown75

Lifer
Nov 17, 2004
37,548
7
81
No not really. Most often they will not even ask to search unless something looks suspicious to them. You can ask them why they want to search and what was it about you that made them want to . If they really feel there is something suspicious they will hold you until they get a warrant.

why... 0_o

just let them do their job...
 

2Xtreme21

Diamond Member
Jun 13, 2004
7,044
0
0
why... 0_o

just let them do their job...

So you'd be cool with a cop breaking down the door to your house and just lookin around, trying to find something he can arrest you for?

Then again, you live in Canada, so you really don't have to worry about this kind of shit. I can understand and appreciate your attitude toward this.

I've never had my car searched while pulled over, but I did have my car ripped apart entering the US from Canada (which you can't contest) last summer. The GF and I were coming back from a week long road trip to Quebec City, and were crossing back at Niagara Falls. The CBP guy asked no questions when we pulled up, but instead instructed me to pull over to a parking lot a few feet over, turn off the car, and remain in the vehicle. Two agents came up to the car, asked my GF and I to get out of the car and pop the trunk. The two guys proceeded to rummage through every compartment of my car, as well as open all our suitcases and dump all of our clothes onto the street. They even opened the beer case I just bought at the duty free.

At that point I was doing some graphic work for a friend who asked me to take a photo he had taken, "spruce it up", and add words to it. The picture, though, was of a girl (actress) laying on a bed and I was asked to add things that made it look as though she was coked out. So I added images of needles, pill bottles, and a gun. Stupid me had an example of the finished image in the trunk of my car.

They probably could have done a lot worse, but after grilling me on where the gun and drugs were, I calmly explained to them it was art and all done with photoshop. I said I had the original photo on a flash drive on my keychain, and would show them, but they said it was fine.

Only after all that did they take our passports, run them, ask us the usual questions, and let us go.. but not before needing to put everything back in our suitcases and my car that they haphazardly threw everywhere. Probably to this day was one of the scariest times in my life.

It's sad when you're conditioned to be scared of your government.
 

Phoenix86

Lifer
May 21, 2003
14,644
10
81
I don't see how it's faster to consent to a search than to just go ahead and drive away.
I said yes once as a teenager, because I had nothing to hide. 2 hours later they let me go. They dismantled the interior of the car I was driving, then called the drug sniffing dog out. All perfectly legal, eventually left w/o a ticket. Teenager + mustang clearly = druggie.

But hey, consent away, it'll take no time at all...
 

2Xtreme21

Diamond Member
Jun 13, 2004
7,044
0
0
since i'm not a hippie stoner pothead i don't have any reason to not consent to a search.

I'll ask you too-- are you fine with the cops barging into your house and tearing everything apart just for shits and giggles? I'm sure you have something illegal on your computer that a cop would be glad to send you to FPMITA prison for. :)

513WRBkFBI-4inBig.jpg
 

SarcasticDwarf

Diamond Member
Jun 8, 2001
9,574
1
76
It probably has move to do with the disabled veteran permanent plates than the CCW permit.

Both help I think (depending on where you live and who pulls you over). The CCW is sometimes viewed as the mark of a good citizen, someone who has passed background tests, gone through training in firearms and the law, and takes their own safety and the safety of those around them seriously. Yeah, that is a load of bullshit in many ways, but is also true in others.
 

2Xtreme21

Diamond Member
Jun 13, 2004
7,044
0
0
Both help I think (depending on where you live and who pulls you over). The CCW is sometimes viewed as the mark of a good citizen, someone who has passed background tests, gone through training in firearms and the law, and takes their own safety and the safety of those around them seriously. Yeah, that is a load of bullshit in many ways, but is also true in others.

You shouldn't have to "prove" that you're a good citizen, since in this country, you're innocent until proven guilty.

:)
 

Triumph

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
15,031
14
81
why... 0_o

just let them do their job...

Their job is to uphold the Constitution. By not consenting to a search, you are testing their ability to do their job. Consider it as a citizen's unscheduled inspection of his police force.
 

yhelothar

Lifer
Dec 11, 2002
18,407
39
91
It seems like they'd most likely threaten to arrest you if you don't consent to a search. How many people here would be willing to be arrested and detained for hours just so you can uphold your rights, which you'll probably end up getting searched anyways.
 

sourceninja

Diamond Member
Mar 8, 2005
8,805
65
91
It seems like they'd most likely threaten to arrest you if you don't consent to a search. How many people here would be willing to be arrested and detained for hours just so you can uphold your rights, which you'll probably end up getting searched anyways.

They can threaten all they want, but they can't arrest you for refusing a search. If they really have probable cause they won't need to ask you. The only search permitted without probable cause is a quick pat down to make sure you do not have any weapons on you.

If they arrest you for refusing a search (without a warrant) you are about to make some serious cash so don't worry about your time, just get a good lawyer and sue.
 

Linflas

Lifer
Jan 30, 2001
15,395
78
91
Amazing what 30 years of the "war on drugs" combined with the more recent "war on terror" has done to the relationship between citizens and the police. Hard as it is to believe there was a time not so long ago when police did not wear paramilitary gear and approach every citizen as an enemy to be restrained and searched "for their and the officer's safety". Conversely the overwhelming majority of law abiding citizens respected and supported the police and viewed them with respect rather than suspicion. All of that has been trashed in the name of the crisis of the moment and there is blame to be heaped across the political spectrum.
 

erikistired

Diamond Member
Sep 27, 2000
9,739
0
0
I'll ask you too-- are you fine with the cops barging into your house and tearing everything apart just for shits and giggles? I'm sure you have something illegal on your computer that a cop would be glad to send you to FPMITA prison for. :)

1) it's never for shits and giggles, no matter what the perp says.

2) my computer is 100% legit, feel free to check it.