I was packing a bowl in a park with one of my friends (sitting in my car), except it was after dark and the park was closed. I didn't think anyone actually enforced those laws. Boy, was I wrong. A cop pulled up on a nearby street that we could see from the park. So we pull back out onto the road and start driving away. The cop follows us and pulls us over a mile down the road. I haphazardly stuff the weed/bowl under my seat and start freaking out. I've never been pulled over before and an arrest for possession would NOT look good for college acceptance. So the cop comes up and is looking in all the windows of my car with his flashlight, and then finally asks us what we were doing in the park, so I was just like "we had to pull over and look at a map; we got lost" and then he wanted to know where the map was NOW and I was like, 'in my trunk. I threw it back there', but it was still mad sketch that we had pulled away from the park as soon as the cop pulled up, so I was freaked. He ran my license and discovered that my friend and I are from an affluent neighborhood and go to a good school where very few kids make much trouble, so he let me off with a warning, and when I looked at the warning later to see what it was for, it said "obstruction of view by object" aka I had an air freshener hanging from my mirror. Overall, I wish I knew my search & seizure laws better Someone told me they can't look in your trunk w/o permission But I have a station wagon, so does that count? I mean, I effectively don't HAVE a trunk
They can search within "an arms reach" of anything in the car. they justify this by saying that they are checking for any guns/weapons that could be used against them. so a station wagon is kinda sketch.
They have a right to search if they can see, hear, or smell anything illegal, so if you had something in view through a window, he could search.
Just say "You do not have concent to search." They will then search what they want to. At some later time, lawers will argue whether they should have searched where they did. But on the street, a cop can search wherever he wants to. Arguing with them will do no good. Physically interfearing with them is a felony, even if they weren't supposed to be searching. Preserve your rights by saying "I do not concent to a search." and the lawers will sort it out in court. But on the street, what the cop says goes.
All I can say is http://www.FlexYourRight.org That site gives you loads of info about what police can and cannot do during a traffic stop. They also have a video on it which you can download for $5 I think. I got the DVD version from a buddy of mine, if anyone wants a copy PM me.
