WileyCoyote
Active Member
NOTHING good can ever come from allowing police to search your vehicle. Only bad things can happen, even if you have nothing incriminating in your vehicle.
Young people, please don't blow this off. Read and remember.
I'm amazed at how often I read about people who were arrested after they consented to a police search, even though they knew they had something illegal and would get busted.
Remember, if the police are asking for your consent, they know they have no reason or cause to search; they are just fishing, hoping to intimidate you.
Here are the consequences of consenting to a police search, in order from least serious to most serious:
1. Your time is wasted waiting for the police to finish searching your vehicle.
2. Police will turn your car upside down inside and out, but won't put your stuff back neatly where it was. You'll be left to do that after the cop sort of just throws your stuff in a pile back in your car.
3. If they break anything, they will probably not be held liable, since you consented to the search. In any event, you would have a hell of a time getting the city or state to pay for any damage.
4. If there is anything illegal in you vehicle, you'll be held responsible, whether you knew it was there or not. Maybe a friend accidentally allowed a joint to fall from her book bag and it rolled under the passenger seat. Maybe your parent's LEGAL perscription bottle of oxycontin happens to be in the glove box. Or maybe a previous owner of the vehicle left a couple of seeds in the rear seat ash tray. You have no idea what the cops might find. Whatever they find, you'll be held responsible for it.
5. The cop could be dirty, and plant something like marijuana or cocaine, and claim he found it in your car (not likely, but you never know).
When I was in college, a friend asked for a ride home with me one weekend. It was a 2 hour drive. After I took him to his house, I drove to mine. As I was unpacking my car, I notice a big fat one in the floor board of the passenger side seat. It was my friend's joint that had fallen out of his jacket. What if I had been stopped by a cop and consented to a search? I would have been BUSTED.
What happens if the cops search WITHOUT your consent? Then at least your lawyer can argue in court that the search was illegal. If you consent to the search, he (or she) can't.
Young people, please don't blow this off. Read and remember.
I'm amazed at how often I read about people who were arrested after they consented to a police search, even though they knew they had something illegal and would get busted.
Remember, if the police are asking for your consent, they know they have no reason or cause to search; they are just fishing, hoping to intimidate you.
Here are the consequences of consenting to a police search, in order from least serious to most serious:
1. Your time is wasted waiting for the police to finish searching your vehicle.
2. Police will turn your car upside down inside and out, but won't put your stuff back neatly where it was. You'll be left to do that after the cop sort of just throws your stuff in a pile back in your car.
3. If they break anything, they will probably not be held liable, since you consented to the search. In any event, you would have a hell of a time getting the city or state to pay for any damage.
4. If there is anything illegal in you vehicle, you'll be held responsible, whether you knew it was there or not. Maybe a friend accidentally allowed a joint to fall from her book bag and it rolled under the passenger seat. Maybe your parent's LEGAL perscription bottle of oxycontin happens to be in the glove box. Or maybe a previous owner of the vehicle left a couple of seeds in the rear seat ash tray. You have no idea what the cops might find. Whatever they find, you'll be held responsible for it.
5. The cop could be dirty, and plant something like marijuana or cocaine, and claim he found it in your car (not likely, but you never know).
When I was in college, a friend asked for a ride home with me one weekend. It was a 2 hour drive. After I took him to his house, I drove to mine. As I was unpacking my car, I notice a big fat one in the floor board of the passenger side seat. It was my friend's joint that had fallen out of his jacket. What if I had been stopped by a cop and consented to a search? I would have been BUSTED.
What happens if the cops search WITHOUT your consent? Then at least your lawyer can argue in court that the search was illegal. If you consent to the search, he (or she) can't.