Been a cop for 15 years. I have never asked anyone for a consent to search their car after a motor vehicle stop.
Just to be clear, you never searched a car after a stop, or you just never asked for consent first?
[Just helping you practice being clear; the DA will thank us both the next time you have to testify, right? ]
Back when I was a bartender and was often driving at 3am in a crappy pickup with a Grateful Dead bumper sticker, I would get pulled over probably twice a month. About 75% of the time I was asked if they could search, I always refused, and they always accepted my refusal.
Never while I was driving, but once while someone else was driving.
Searches that occur during seemingly routine traffic stops aren’t always random though:
If you’re driving a car with California rental plates through Colorado Springs . . .
Lemme guess: He means he only searches cars when he’s sure he has probable cause, in which case he doesn’t need no steenkin consent.
I’ve been stopped half a dozen times over the years (for speeding each time), and never been asked for a search. I’m a average looking white guy who keeps my vehicles in good condition.
I had a better than average-looking (white) friend while growing up who turned into a druggie in his early 20’s. He told me every time he drove into our small town he would get pulled over and searched.
The other day I saw 2 police cars had a really beat-up Honda Civic pulled over, it was so beat up that it didn’t have a front fender. I suspect a vehicle like that is a cop magnet.
I’ve never performed a straight consent search. But in New Jersey the rules are tighter on such things than most states and stricter than what SCOTUS allows.
Between traffic stops and sobriety checkpoints I’ve been pulled over 30 or more times. No one has ever asked to search the car. I’m a scruffy non-hispanic white guy who’s usually poorly dressed, in a cheapish to downright trashy car. One cop thought I was an illegal Mexican immigrant, but all he did was annoy me for a few minutes.
I can’t think of a situation where I’d refuse to consent to a vehicle search. If they want to frame me for something, then they are bad guys and I’m already fucked. Bleating about my rights isn’t going to help and might result in a beating. Being in the right won’t put your teeth back in your head.
I’ve been pulled over twice, once when I was 18 and once at 26. When I was 18 they did ask to search the car and I consented (later I felt that this was stupid as it was my brother’s old car and he regularly used drugs). I’m not surprised that the officer wanted to search the car as I was young, it was about 9:30 at night and my eyes were probably bloodshot because I had just gotten off of a 10 hour shift and I had finals at the community college that morning to boot.
When I was 26 I was on the way home from work but it was only about 5:30 and I was dressed in slacks and a button down shirt with prominent ID so I am not surprised that there was no request to search.
Been pulled over maybe 10 times in my life, 3 speeding tickets, one underage possession of alcohol, and a DUI, but I don’t know if that counts as being pulled over since I was high centered on a curb, and I wasn’t going anywhere.
Never been asked to be searched, when I was arrested for “underage transportation of alcohol”, my truck was absolutely ripped to shreds, everything
was tossed and gutted, but the dipshit didn’t find the bottles of booze stashed behind the speakers, but he did find my stash in my backpack.
So that became “underage transportation of alcohol” “truck is too tall” and “possession of a class D”.
Coming back into the US in backwoods bumfuck Montana, I did get searched, and the car. The car had several grateful dead stickers on it, I had a dead shirt on, and a Phish hat. The girlfriend had about the same. We were clean cut, not in the best car, but just 2 college kids traveling and camping on vacation.
45 minutes into the search, the whole time they are telling me how much jail time I’m going to get… they get to my girlfriends bag. There is a sock with something in it. They get all cocky, asking whats in the sock, babbling on about jail time, and my quite shy girlfriend pipes up and says, very slowly and very shyly as they start to pull the sock back “its, Uhhh, Um, a… Um… massager”, just as a rubber dick head pops out of the sock (and a vibrating triceratops).
3 border patrol agents turned absolutely beet red and start throwing things back in my car. We were out of there in less than a minute with a “you’re free to go, have a nice day”.
That was funny, and on into Montana when the speed limit was still “reasonable and prudent”. Sucks that the cruise control only went to 110. Sucks even more that the car would only do 115 at that altitude.
Everyday on the way to work I go through an internal border patrol check point. Occasionally you get a dick, and you just tell them to fuck off. If they want to search, and they ask, say no, then ask “am I free to go”.
They’ve been OK lately and basically leave me alone, but for a while they were just assholes. Every day turned into an ordeal, the whole building would clear out, supervisor trying to figure out why I’m so pissed off. 4 letter words flying.
I have zero respect for Border Patrol, even if they came to me looking for a child raping Goldman Sach’s CEO, and I knew where he was, I’d tell them to go screw.
So how often do they ask? Rarely, unless you are a law abiding citizen traveling in the US and you happen across an internal Border Patrol check point. But they aren’t real cops, surely aren’t as smart as real cops, and apparently from their actions they have smaller penis’s than real cops.
Being pulled over, I’d say you have an 85% chance of not getting a dick, I’ve had one SUPER DICK, and one that was a bit of a dick(short man syndrome and not very bright). The last speeding ticket I got, I filled out a compliment/complaint form and COMPLIMENTED the officer (state cop) on being friendly, courteous, competent and quick. Nice guy, and it was only $60 and I wasn’t exactly being
smart.
Stopped maybe six times over the years; car never searched, either by officer request or over my objection.
I’m a white guy, now almost 50.
Never during a traffic stop, but once my whole car was searched thoroughly at the Canadian border. I was 19 and a bit scruffy, but didn’t use drugs in those days. They found nothing interesting, but refused my entry anyway, assuming (correctly) that I was going to be working in their country without the necessary papers. I turned around and crossed at the next entry point without incident.
I’ve been pulled over a few times, once resulting in my car being towed. Never had a cop ask to search the car. I’m Black.
I had a loud, muscle-car looking Camaro for 16 years, got pulled over about once a month and searched about 50% of the time. Sold the Camaro and got an old Chevy van with no rear windows … for the three years I had that van, I got pulled over nearly every week, and searched almost every time. Sold it and got an SUV, hardly ever get stopped anymore.
Where do you live that being on the receiving end of a beating by police is likely?
It’s likely in Las Vegas. Also being planted with evidence. I used to hang out at a couple of cop bars there (long story) and that was the big brag.