Hu. I would have let them in, too. Guess now I’ll think twice. Thanks for the story,** A.R. Cane**.
Ditto. Hadn’t heard that usage before. Don’t like it.
A hoosier is a resident or native of Indiana but is slang for white trash. I knew about the Indiana part but wiki revealed the white trash connotation.
Ether is a great excuse. In many places…texas for instance…the smell of either allows the fire department to enter without a warrant because it is a public saftey issue. In fort worth, the fire department has their own police force who do this warrantless raids.
A friend of mine gave a great response to a police officer wanting to do a warantless search. She didn’t have anything illegal, but she thought they should at least get a warrant if they were going to paw through her stuff. They were trying to get her to just consent to a search so they wouldn’t have to get a warrant, and then resorted to the “If you don’t have anything to hide, why won’t you just let us search?” thing.
Her reply: "Because thousands of men died to give me the right to tell you to go get a warrant".If there really had been ether, you could probably smell it through the door. I forget which spray related to car maintenance/repair has or had ether as its base (I think it might be a carburetor cleaner, though) but it has a distinctly and strongly unpleasant smell. If it was being used in a large quanity, the smell would be enough to knock you out, literally.
But they wouldn’t need to do a search, the smell would have come at them the second the OP opened the door, so call me a little :dubious: cops too.
Cops are promoted and awarded based on making arrests. They have all the motivation in the world to find something to arrest you for. You may think you have nothing to hide but nothing, absolutely nothing, can be gained from giving your consent to be searched.
The process is in place for a reason, make the cops abide by it. If they pressure you you are dealing with cops who have a fairly cavalier attitude about peoples rights and the law. That should be all the evidence you need.
Well, that’s helpful. :rolleyes:
Where I’m from, the word hoosier is used to describe ‘white trash.’ The people next door don’t seem to leave ever (no job? I dunno), have numerous rusted out cars with broken windows sitting outside, etc. Sorry if I offended anyone, it’s just the usage here that I am familiar with. And if the girl I talked to is correct, they seem to be involved in some sort of illegal activity and they should get in trouble for it. There are a lot of kids living on this street and having someone involved in drug manufacture/sale around is unsafe.
I haven’t even ever been pulled over by a cop so I have 0 experience in dealing with them. My roommate was pissed I let them in but I honestly didn’t know it wasn’t what I was supposed to do! Call me naive, I don’t care, I guess I am. I don’t know what ether smells like and my sinuses are messed up anyway so the smell could have been there and I didn’t know it.
Perfect! I’m making a note of it and sharing it with as many friends as possible, because she’s right. And I don’t have anything to hide, either, and the attitude that standing on your rights means you must have something to hide is something I find frightening.
In the past, I refused to apply for a job at an oil company because the application said that the company “reserved the right to search all your belongings at any time for any reason.” I could see that, I suppose, if you worked for something like an intelligence or security agency, but not for an oil company! You think I’m doing something wrong, get a warrant.
fumes
Starting fluid. Not needed for cars much anymore, as most cars have decent fuel injection systems, but still useful for carburated things used in cold weather such as snowmobiles, snow-blowers, etc.
Just show them a cite. I would have gone to my bookshelf and pulled out my physics book, showing how Michelson & Morley disproved its very existence.
Then decry your neighbor and the cops as luddite Huygensists.
I’ve never gotten the “why not consent if you have nothing to hide” speech before, but I always imagine my reply would be:
“But I DO have something to hide. My unmade bed. Dirty dishes in the sink. An unmopped floor. Issues of ‘F*ck the Cops’ magazine on my coffee table.” The point being there are things other than evidence of a crime that you might want to “hide” from random strangers who want to search your home.
–KidScruffy
Dumb question: if you’re working of the assumption that the police might plant false evidence and arrest you for it, then what’s stopping them from lying and saying that you consented to the search?
I mean, it’s quite understandable to avoid consenting to a search to avoid getting arrested on some unrelated BS violation (like keeping multiple types of painkillers in one bottle or some such), but once you’re willing to accept that the policemen are willing to flagrantly violate the law to arrest you, does whether or not you consent to a search really matter?
I had 2 cops and a drug-sniffing dog show up at my door one night. Heard the dog pawing at my door and thought it was just another resident’s dog that had gotten into the hallway. Then the cops knocked and asked to come in. I let them in to look around and they explained they’d gotten a complaint for a pot smell in the hallway (no specific apartment was fingered) and the dog was checking the doors. Said the smell was so strong in the hallway, they honestly didn’t think the dog could tell which door and so he was overwhelmed. Spent about 30 sec. inside and left. Ended up the guys next door were the ones with the pot. Wouldn’t let the cops in and they almost had to break down the door before the maintenance guy let them in. They ended up getting evicted shortly after that.
That’s the first time I’ve ever heard that. sigh As you might guess, I’m from Indiana - the Hoosier State. I’m a “Hoosier”, and I’ve never considered myself to be “white trash”.
I understand you didn’t mean to offend. I have to be honest, though, and admit that I did take offense. I’m not angry, per se, but I am… saddened? I dunno - can’t find the right word to accurately describe the feeling.
I don’t want to hijack this thread, so I’ll stop here. Thanks for listening.
Hi, Sattua!
Count me as part of the be polite but “just say no.”
Tell them that you’re busy and need to get back in. Whatever they say, just repeat as necessary while nicely smiling and closing the door.
Back in college, I worked campus security to help pay the bills and worked with the campus cops. One night, an Iranian was pulled over by one of the cops, who then got a concent to have the car searched, and then proceded to get permission to search the guy’s apartment. This was done just because the guy was a foreigner. :rolleyes:
We don’t live in a police state. If there is reasonable evidence they can show it to the judge. Someone thinking they smell something isn’t enough.
Now I feel bad. I am sorry. I guess it just shows you regional differences. And now I know not to say that to people, so that’s good.
Bingo!
I’m amazed at how many people are so distrustful of the police. Maybe I’ve led a sheltered life in suburban Connecticut, but I’ve never had a bad experience with a cop, and I will always try to help them out if I can.
Distrust of the police is not the issue. Neither is the possibility that a bad cop may plant evidence. The issue is the preservation vs. erosion of our rights as Citizens of the United States.
We have a Constitution that guarantees us certain Rights. If you consent to an unwarranted search, you are giving up your one of your Rights and a portion of the protection from governmental abuse that is your birthright under the Constitution.
Why would you want to do that?
I served in one of this nation’s armed forces to help to preserve and protect those guarantees of freedom given to us by our Founding Fathers. I am a law abiding Citizen of this country. I am a registered voter*. I voluteer my time with the local Sheriff’s Posse. I have taken the time to learn my Rights, and learn the rules. I live by those rules. I put my ass in harm’s way to defend those rules - and by damn I’m going to hold the government or it’s representatives (e.g.: the police officer) to those rules.**
Want to search my space?
Show me a properly executed Warrant that contains the Probable Cause Statement, describes the place to be searched and exactly that which you are searhing for.
Don’t have one, huh?
Go fish somewhere else.
Lucy
*I recently exercised my right to vote. Helped to unseat the County Sheriff who has been 16 years getting a little to comfy in the job - one too many scandals, three too many outside investigations, way too much abuse of power.
There’s a new Sheriff in town - and he knows that the voters in this county are going to be watching him. Like. A. Hawk.
[mini rant]We unseated the local “slap-'em-on-the-wrist-and-let-'em-go” JP, too. She’s run unopposed in the last 3 elections. This time there were six people hunting for her job. She’s not sure what she’s going to do come January. Has left her fate “in god’s hands”. Deserves what she gets.[/mini rant]
**You better damn well believe that they are going to hold you to the rules - every letter.