The incident is already over, so I’m not looking for advice as much verification. A friend of my has an auto detailing business. He’s got a truck which he uses to do mobile jobs. It says “Al’s Cleaning Service call 970-xxx-xxxx for service” on the side. He got pulled over in Arizona a thoroughly searched (Most likely looking for pot, due to the Colorado tags. The Troopers said they pulled him over because it’s illegal to advertise for out of state services on the side of a truck in Arizona.
I call bullshit. Can that possibly be true? I’d be happy to hear from folks in other states as well.
If it’s not actually BS, then there are a whole, whole lot of unwritten tickets out there. I see dozens of cars advertising various businesses every day, often driving past police officers who do not seem disturbed by their advertising.
Actually, my route home from work drives directly past a police station (and there’s dang near always a speed trap just across the street in case someone is daft enough to sped PAST the police station), and I’ve seen many, many cars with advertising drive past police officers who were clearly watching for infractions (they were manning a speed trap after all) without being pulled over.
Bullshit. Such a law would be an unreasonable burden on interstate commerce, would impermissibly burden the right to travel, and would almost certainly violate the First Amendment.
Not illegal…but it is one of the warning signs Highway Patrol look for to spot drug traffickers. (Sign on car, driving alone, stuff hanging on mirror, tools in the car, too much luggage, not enough luggage…Google “Operation Pipeline” for more info.
A bad cop will use any of the above as reasonable suspicion to search you. A worse (or possibly very misinformed) one will actually tell you something stupid like anyone with a stencil on their truck can be pulled over and harassed at any time.
Similar thing happened to me in Texas. The patrol car in front of me slowed down to 40 miles an hour, and then pulled me over because I was only driving 40 miles an hour. The officer then said the stuff hanging on my mirror gave him reason to search.
(evidently the stuff on the mirror thing originated with pine tree air fresheners…hippies use them to cover up the smell of marijuana you know…and now seems to include fuzzy dice or the Virgin of Guadalupe or whatever)
I then asked him if he was an Operation Pipeline cop that I seen about on 20/20…and he freaked out, got in his car and zoomed away.:dubious:
Good thing, too, because if he had run your plates and learned that your hands are registered as deadly weapons in 48 states, it would’ve led to a SWAT standoff, and I don’t have to tell you who’d be the last man standing that day. The only time in recorded police history they’d give an escort to a multiple cop killer and let him deliver the eulogy, because even the widows would be impressed with that level of marksmanship. Some of them maybe a little turned on, you know, sexually.
Are you implying Operation Pipeline is a myth? Because it’s definitely a real thing.
The basic idea works like this. The DEA trains state and local traffic police in the program. The police stop cars on minor violations (like what the OP described) and they’re supposedly trained on how to “profile” somebody who is involved in the drug business. If the people in the vehicle fit this profile, this gives the police reason to investigate further and ask to search the vehicle and hopefully find evidence of some serious crime.
I can see a lot of problems with this idea. It’s designed to appeal to the Barney Fifes of the law enforcement business - police working quiet routine jobs (like traffic patrol) who fantasize about being supercops. My experience in the business was that you needed to calm these people down not get them pumped up.
And while the literature on Operation Pipeline stresses the arrests that have been made, it doesn’t mention how many misses it has for every hit. I also know from experience how many of these programs are complete bullshit. The “techniques” they train people in are not gathered from any objective and statistical review of arrests - they just come up with ideas from their gut feelings and present it as if it’s facts.
Yeah, I was just responding to your response about Turnip. I do not think I like being turned into a cop killer in his random short fiction. I am sure many Texas Rangers are just like Tommy Lee Jones. Good and noble.
No. But the part about the cop freaking out and fleeing at the very mention of it struck me as a bit of embellishment, so I figured I’d punch it up a little.
Same thing happened to my brother. Driving with Colorado plates in Indiana is apparently a crime too.
Cop said he smelled MJ. Umm. That would be a big no he didn’t . My brother is a commercial truck driver for a city in Colorado. Randomly tested all the time. Even if that wasn’t the case, he hasn’t smoked in decades I’m sure.
Anyway, had to wait for the narc dog to show up for an hour and a half. The dog, of course, found nothing.
I’ll be driving to Lake Tahoe this September. I must admit, this harassment bullshit concerns me.
It might be true that there are restrictions on advertising out-or-state businesses on vehicles that are registered and plated in Arizona (Sheriff Joe has proved that Arizona can make any law they want). But Arizona is bound by the interstate commerce clause and an agreement binding all states to reciprocally recognize as legal any vehicle that meets the requirement in the state (or country) it is lawfully registered in. For example, every state is reciprocally bound to allow an Arizona-plated car to have window tinting that is legal in Arizona.
If Arizona (or Sheriff Joe) wants to try to regulate cars plated in other states, let Arizonans put a license plate on the front to visit California or Texas, or get their car impounded if they don’t. It’s a two-edged sword.
Despite what these supercops might thing, they still need a warrant to search your car (don’t they?). Just because you have a pine tree air freshener does not give them the right to search your car.
Also, despite what he may think, sheriff Joe only has authority in Maricopa county, which doesn’t even touch a state line.
And, FWIW, I got Vinyl Turnip’s post about** Fishtar**'s tale - that last sentence sounds like urban legend material. Just the mere mention of the secret words “operation pipeline” made the cop run off with tires smoking uttering not one more word.
Perhaps “freaked out and zoomed off” was a bit of embellishment, but also seemed the most concise way to tell the story.
As soon as I mentioned Operation Pipeline The Ranger quit searching through all my camping stuff, became a bit agitated, made some quick excuse, and left…Leaving the car mostly unsearched, my stuff all over the road, and me wondering what the hell just happened.
Perhaps he was just un-nerved that I knew exactly what the game was? Or perhaps he suddenly realized I was a waste of time. Or perhaps he just then realized how formidable I was and decided to run for the hills…
Supreme Court has said they don’t need a warrant. Just need a “reasonable suspicion” you are up to no good. Unfortunately the “reasonable” part is fully subjective. And an officer who does not mind lying can always just say he smelled marijuana. Impossible to prove that he didn’t.
Remember in old war movies when the Nazis would stop random people and demand to inspect “their papers”…