It's not like cops can pull you over for simple possession of weed in your glove box. They pull people over for a traffic infraction and then find the weed, illegal gun, etc.
>you'll need to, say, do an open-air drug transaction, or get stopped for running a red light and then have drugs plainly visible in your car (or have a dog authorize the search, which is plainly problematic).
Or be a totally innocent person who is unknowingly transporting contraband and say, "of course I don't mind, search my car, officer."
> drug task forces seem to have no problem getting warrants pretty quick to search a car that is stopped.
Does this happen often? Most stops tell the story of the officer having probable cause for a search, even if that's just the smell of weed or something (not sure if it's still a valid reason).
Once they pull you over some people are bothered more by the inconvenience of being pulled over than they are by the rights they give up. One of my friends allowed the police to search his car because he didn't want to wait for the drug dog. He got out of the ticket by cooperating, but what if they said they found something?
By not cooperating I got a range of tickets: live in this city but don't have a city parking sticker, don't have a safety inspection sticker, have the wrong type of insurance coverage. This was after the original reason he pulled me over (not speeding) didn't pan out. All of this because I wouldn't allow him search my car without a warrant.
Also, different states have different interpretations on cellphone contents. California, (normally quite liberal) just has a shitty interpretation of the law.
> there’s no reason why you wouldn’t be able to place drugs and guns in the trunk of the car and send it along its way to the buyer’s location
Right, but then the LEO needs to establish probable cause to search the vehicle. They can't just pop the trunk because they feel like it.
One of the ways they normally establish probable cause to search is by alleging that the driver appears impaired, or by getting the driver's consent, neither of which they can do with a self-driving car. Even the classic "I smell weed" allegation might not pass muster anymore, given California's legalization of marijuana use and the fact that it does not impair the operation of the vehicle, as it might if a human driver is high.
Do they? What are these minor infractions that would get picked up on? Likely drug or gun charges. Most people don't own guns illegal or use illegal drugs. The only common infraction I can think of is speeding, but that's not what these criminals are being picked up for. Cops don't follow a single individual around waiting for them to go 5 over the speed limit.
Seems pretty reasonable to me. Look at it from the driver’s perspective: if you’re pulled over and the car reeks of weed or alcohol your day just got a lot worse. Doubly so if you’re a minority and you get pulled over by someone on a power trip. What is the driver supposed to do, strip the customer looking for illegal substances? This gives an easy way to decline the ride or disincentive the passenger without having to make a long explanation.
Look, this sucks, but if a cop is pulling over a car that's showing up in their onboard computer as stolen, it's going to be treated as a felony traffic stop, with weapons drawn.
Funny because a friend of mine had his kid pulled over for rolling through a stop sign, the cop saw smoking paraphernalia in the center console (weed is not legal here), just told them "keep that stuff out of sight, boys" and gave them a warning for the stop sign.
I've had friends consent to a search to avoid a $120 speeding ticket. I've also had a friend consent to a search. They found a seed of marijuana in his backseat (probably left behind by another friend). And used that as evidence to hit them for further charges.
You can't search a car on a traffic stop without probable cause of an actual crime.
However, if your traffic stop is for a moving offense that warrants arrest (DUI, for instance, or reckless driving), all bets are off, because the police can do intrusive searches incident to an arrest.
Also, if you're stopped for a moving violation and either authorize a search, or have evidence of probable cause in plain view (for instance, a bag of weed in the passenger seat), all bets are again off.
You've been watching too many political thrillers. These guys are just sniffing around for low hanging fruit. If you want to get into a one hour bout of flexing nuts with a cop where he gets suspicious and orders a K9 unit and ends up thoroughly tearing apart your car and bags and potentially planting something, knock yourself out. Do the whole citizen lawyer thing. If you want to be on your way with minimal hassle, just disarm the cop and let him be his lazy self. Let him do his cursory thirty second look around and be on your way. This is the reality and many cops will tell you so.
As for having dangerous mystery items in your car, if you don't regularly hang out with low lifes that seems ridiculously improbable. Drugs and weapons are not going to sneak into your vehicle or luggage. To have "no idea" what's in your car it would have to be cluttered with junk and you'd have to parade people through it on a regular basis, so uh, don't do that.
But they have to establish reasonable suspicion, wuch they also have to justify in court in order to investigate you further.
They can't just say "he had a bad score, so I pulled him over and found weed". If they did that, the stop would be unjustified and the whole case would be thrown out.
I was “pulled over” by a police officer when I was driving into Chicago from Washington state. He had followed me off the highway where I had pulled over to make a phone call, and he came up to me asking for registration and wanted to know who I was calling. All of this was justified because he suspected drugs in my car because a lot of drugs come from Canada through WA into Chicago. He said he had a dog with him in the car as well. I said I didn’t care because I don’t have any drugs and that I’m just traveling through the state and needed to phone a friend for a place to stay. He never ran my registration after I handed it to him, nor did he go back to his car for any information or dog, then he said I was clear to go. When he pulled away it was clear there was no dog in the back seat. I know to say as little as possible to cops even if I know I’m not guilty of anything but this was outright so stupid I couldn’t invoke “I want a lawyer” either.
Cops and other forms of law enforcement seem to have a history of lying to suspects to try to uncover criminal behaviors and I’m really not sure if this practice is even constitutional let alone effective. I don’t know what’s reasonable anymore in our police state.
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