How To Protect Yourself While Driving (The Little Things)

[Depths Of OG]

FYI: I wrote this all myself, off the top of my head. This is not copied and pasted from anywhere. Please take the time to read through the entire post as there is a lot of good info on some little things you may not know.

More marijuana users are busted via traffic stops than any other method. As marijuana smokers, we should put most emphasis on protecting ourselves while driving in a vehicle; makes sense, right?

For those that don't know, there are three ways a police officer can search your vehicle; Probable Cause (PC), Search Incident to an Arrest, and Consent.

Probable Cause (PC): When an officer has an articulable reason to believe a crime has just been committed or is about to be committed. What would give an officer probable cause on a traffic stop? The most common is the smell of marijuana. An officer can articulate in a report that based on the odor of burnt marijuana eminating from the vehicle, he has reason to believe marijuana was recently smoked in the vehicle. Smoking marijuana is a crime, therefore, he has PC to search the vehicle. The second most common is plain view. Plain view is when your dumbass leaves a pipe, bong, bag of weed, or even something as small as a marijuana seed in plain view. An officer is allowed to look anywhere inside your vehicle while he is standing outside. If he can see anything illegal, including drugs, paraphernalia, or a weapon, he now has PC to search the vehicle.

Search Incident to an Arrest: This is also an extremely common method of searching a vehicle. Keep reading, because I'm going to mention a couple things you probably weren't aware of. Search incident to an arrest is when an officer phsyically takes you into custody for violating a law, then conducts a search of your vehicle following the custodial arrest. You are probably wondering, what the hell can this guy arrest me for if I'm just driving along in my car? The most common thing people are arrested for is driving on a suspended drivers license, with knowledge. If you know your drivers license is suspended, or the officer can articulate that you should have known it was suspended, you can be physically arrested. The second most common thing to be arrested for while driving is suspicion of impairment (i.e. drunk/high). If an officer decides to hit you with a driving under the influence charge, you are placed under arrest and your car is searched. You can also be arrested for WRECKLESS driving, which is different than careless driving. Wreckless driving is when you commit several different dangerous traffic infractions at the same time. For example, you are doing 100+mph, while switching lanes, and run a traffic light. Ready to blow your mind? There are several smaller infractions that you may not know which you can be physically arrested for. First, changing the address on your vehicle registration. If you are the vehicle owner, you typically have a 20 day grace period to change the address on your registration once you move to a new residence. If you do not change the address on your registration within 20 days, it is a CRIMINAL violation, and you can be physically arrested. Another big one is violating a restriction on your drivers license. If your D/L says you have to wear corrective lenses or you can't drive after dark, you better make sure you follow the restrictions. If you get pulled over, and your eye-glasses are not on your face, you can be physically arrested. Many officers will notice these minor violations, search your car without obtaining consent, then if they find something just physically arrest you for the minor violation. If the officer does not find anything illegal in the car, he will typically give you a warning for the minor infraction. You have to be cognicent of your state driving laws, and obey everything to a "T".

Consent: This is the easiest thing to get around as a driver. Simply don't give consent, ever. If an officer is able to search your car via Probable Cause or Search Incident to an Arrest, he is going to search it regardless of what you say, so just say no. Many people think if they do not consent to a search it makes them look guilty. Your right, it does make you look guilty, but "looking guilty" is not probable cause and not a criminal violation, therefore, the officer will not be able to legally search your vehicle. You may know you have marijuana in the car, the officer most likely knows you have marijuana in the car, but without your consent, he can not legally retrieve it. Officers are allowed to lie in order to obtain your consent. They can tell you if you don't allow them to search, they are going to tow the vehicle, charge you with murdering JFK, and bitch slap your mama. Let them say what they want, be polite, respectful, and ALWAYS respectfully decline their invitation to search your vehicle.

Remember, most cops follow the law and are generally good people. Mind your manners on a traffic stop, be cooperative, respectful and appear helpful. If a cop is going to violate your civil rights in order to search your car, let him. Let him take you to jail, and fight it in court. There is nothing you are able to do on the side of the road when he is violating your rights, so keep your mouth shut. Don't give him the opportunity to write in his report that you were a loud-mouth profanity slinging asshole, it only makes you look worse.

Feel free to ask as many questions as you want, I'm here for you

"Follow these rules you'll have mad bread to break up, if not, 25 years on the wake up. Slug hit your temple, watch your frame shake-up. Care-taker did your make-up."

 

[Guest]

On COPS they always consent to a search and the law man takes one glance under the seat and finds a pound of "dope". You know the shits in the car not even hidden well.

JUST SAY NO!

 

[JonnybeGood]

if u have it very well hidden id give consent to a cop.. if i say no, they call the dogs, unless there are no drug dogs in your county.(then no consent), if the dogs dont find none; the cop might make it false alert, giving probable cause to search your vehicle.. then your screwed.
there are lots of cavities in your cars that are good for stashin mj. find yours.
and if your a cool customer, and you dont look suspicous he will probably just do a quick search and not dig around too much.

 

[JonnybeGood]

or make sure your standing it front of the cop car if u do refuse consent.. just so its on camera, usually live feed to hq.
especially if u got other illegal stuff in car that dogs cant smell..

 

[Depths Of OG]

Jonny, still not a good idea to consent because you don't know how well that officer is trained in drug interdiction, what type of classes he has taken, and what hiding spots he is aware of in your particular vehicle. You can never go wrong with refusing consent. Case law dictates, there is a TIME LIMIT on how long an officer can hold you on a traffic stop. Once he calls that stop out, the clock is ticking. If he holds you for 30 minutes until the dog arrives, there is a good chance your conviction is getting tossed. If the dog is busy, on the other side of town, it's on a priority track, the K9 handler is eating, at his gf's house, etc., he might not be able to make it. There are a million reasons a k9 won't be able to show up on a traffic stop in a reasonable amount of time. Once you give consent, the clock stops. That officer now is able to take is time, go through the car at his leisure, and it gives the K9 plenty of time to show up on your stop. Just don't give consent!!! I wouldn't risk it.

 

[JonnybeGood]

is that 30min time limit a federal thing?? or a state law?
i never really knew about it.

 

[Depths Of OG]

It's actually 20 minutes, and I believe it's a federal case law. I'd have to double check, but it is some sort of case law. It's the "reasonable amount of time" for an officer to conduct his traffic stop and write the needed traffic citations. He can't hold you for an hour just because he is waiting for a dog. It's little things like consent that stop that clock and give the k9 the ability to finish eating and respond, or get all the way across town in time. You gotta be careful

 

[JonnybeGood]

ok good point

i guess ill refuse consent next time.. depends how well hidden my shit is. and where i am. in the city or burbs i could get unlucky with a dog. but not out in the boonies or on the interstate b/w cities.

 

[JJScorpio]

When a cop arrests you for a traffic violation, he does not have the right to do the intensive kind of search he would do if he were to have probable cause there are drugs in the vihicle. He has to do an inventory search and write down what is in your vehicle at the time of impoundment. This does not incluse tearing up carpet, pulling seats, removing tires and the such that accompanies a probable cause search.

 

[Fat Albert]

Security Tips for cars/Traffic stops

A thread I wrote some time ago....still relevant to the issues at hand....

Cheers!
Fat A

 

[Guest]

i so glad you informed me about the time limit thing, the cops around here make shit up all the time to ensure you do what they want.

 

[JJScorpio]

The downside is there is no written law stating what period of time they can keep you while waiting for a dog. In the States, most County, City and State Police agencies have a dog so someone should be able to get one there within the half hour. I think the dog is used a lot when someone snitches to the cops that a person is transporting.

 

[Guest]

we have a k9 in my area that is on patrol the same way any other cop is "on patrol" i mean i see the pig and his shepherd pulling people over all the time, so i know if they need the dog on you, they will get the dog on you before they are out of time

 

[Depths Of OG]

When a cop arrests you for a traffic violation, he does not have the right to do the intensive kind of search he would do if he were to have probable cause there are drugs in the vihicle. He has to do an inventory search and write down what is in your vehicle at the time of impoundment. This does not incluse tearing up carpet, pulling seats, removing tires and the such that accompanies a probable cause search.

Unfortunately, your post is kind of why I took the time to post this information. There is a lot of misinformation and inaccuracies on this website, including your last post. When a cop makes a CUSTODIAL arrest for anything while you are driving, whether it is a traffic misdameanor or a violent felony, he DOES DOES DOES DOES have the right to conduct an "intensive" search of the vehicle. This does not include going into locked compartments such as a locked glove box or trunk. As far as tearing up your carpet and pulling seats, it is a dick thing to do, but he can doit! Cops won't because they know they will get a complaint and most likely written up within their department, however, it's not illegal for them to do so. As I explained, this is called "SEARCH INCIDENT TO AN ARREST". It is a legal term and is valid in all 50 states. What you were refering to is a search for reason of tow. If a cop is going to tow your vehicle, he has the right to inventory the vehicle, INCLUDING a locked trunk.

You said a cop does not have the right to do things that "accompanies a probable cause search". If a cop arrests you, it's because he had probable cause. The probable cause for the arrest gives him probable cause to search your vehicle if your arrest is based off of a traffic stop. If your not wearing your eye glasses while you have that restriction on your license, the cop can make a custodial arrest, and search your vehicle, whether he tows it or not!

 

[Depths Of OG]

The downside is there is no written law stating what period of time they can keep you while waiting for a dog. In the States, most County, City and State Police agencies have a dog so someone should be able to get one there within the half hour. I think the dog is used a lot when someone snitches to the cops that a person is transporting.

This is more accurate. There is no arbitrary time limit on traffic stops, and past case law has stated it depends on the circumstances. Typically, your looking at a 18-20 minute time frame. I remember reading one case fairly recently that was 28 minutes, and the conviction was over-turned, stating the traffic stop (seizure, which is what a traffic stop is), was excessive.

It does depend on your department. The police in my area have to cover a HUGE area. Depending on what part of the county you are in, it is almost impossible for a drug dog to make it to a stop in time because they usually spend their time in the higher-crime areas.

FAT ALBERT: I read your post a while ago when you made the post. It has some good tips in there, but a lot of stupid one's as well. Turning your car off, putting your keys on the roof and keeping both hands on the wheel is asking to get ****ed with. The only people that act like criminals ARE criminals. If you act like a normal human being you'll most likely be treated like one.

 

[hidden]

I consider driving with contriband to be about the riskiest thing you can do.

I avoid it like the plague. The chances of some interaction with LEO are extremely high while driving - I mean, they're actively out there looking for you to do some little thing wrong so that they can interact with you.

People think that they are safe and sound in their cars, but you give up a ton of privacy for the priviledge of driving around in a car.

 

[Depths Of OG]

Prime example of why NOT to give consent Bignugget. Here is one thing you did wrong though...

When it comes to K-9's, MOST are actually not drug sniffing dogs. Most dogs today are trained in tracking and bomb detection. The county where I live is HUGE, and I mean HUGE. We have a few thousand cops in our local police department, and they have ONE drug-sniffing k-9 on at night. A lot of K-9 units will get their dog out because they assume it will scare you into confessing since you think they are going to smell your drugs anyway.

What you did wrong was leaving your windows rolled up. Although you think that might have saved you, it actually didn't. What you did was trap the smell inside your car. K-9's can very easily smell through the doors of your car. Always roll ALL of your windows down, all the way, and turn your A/C on full blast. It allows the scent to leave the car and allows fresh air to constantly pass through your car. If a smart cop pulls you over and he is waiting for a k-9 to come, he will ALWAYS tell you to roll all your windows up, shut your car off and close your doors...there's a reason for that

 

[Hundredproof]

the cops out here used to pull me over and search my car like every month. i was like 20 and was a major night owl, i figure they thought i was into some other drugs seeing as the complex my ex lived in was full of those types, my hours (coming and going at all hours), and was told on one stop that some tweeker named "levi" had waved his arms at me when i drove by, whatever.

i talked to a lawyer who informed me of my fourth and fourteenth ammendment rights and printed me out a little sheet to hand to any officer that decided to try and harrass me, no cost.

now i simply just say no, theres no reason for it and they leave it at that. ive done it 3 times so far and have been left alone. that said ill add that i wasnt doing anything else to compromise myself, nothing was ever in plain sight, and was not breaking any other laws than "looking as if i had swerved a little back there" and seat belt tickets (i got 6 this year) and was otherwise cooperative.