# Info that police can collect without a warrant? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 8, 2021, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/info-that-police-can-collect-without-a-warrant/950331 "2021-09-08T20:30:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2021, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/info-that-police-can-collect-without-a-warrant/950331/141 "2021-09-16T23:58:27Z")
**Moderator Note** > [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > Be aware the police could just execute and / or rape every passenger in any car they stop This is getting a bit too far outside of the bounds of GQ. Feel free to take it to GD if you’d like. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2021, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/info-that-police-can-collect-without-a-warrant/950331/142 "2021-09-17T00:02:19Z")
> [@peccavi](#): > > they’ll probably supply it themselves Do you have a cite for the “probably” part of that sentence? While police officers are human and do sometimes do bad things, in my experience most officers are actually trying to do good. I’m sure that this has happened before on more than one occasion, and maybe the LAPD does have a problem that needs to be addressed, but this sort of thing does not appear to me to be standard operating procedure across the country. If you have a cite I’d like to see it, otherwise I have some severe doubts about the “probably” part of that. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2021, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/info-that-police-can-collect-without-a-warrant/950331/143 "2021-09-17T00:52:39Z")
> [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > I was arrested for driving without insurance and registration. I had moved to a new state about six weeks earlier and hadn’t got my registration, drivers license or insurance changed. > > All charges were dismissed when I showed up in court with a drivers license, insurance and registration all dated a few days after the arrest and the lease agreements for my old and new addresses showing that I moved 47 days before the arrest. The states attorney was just shaking his head in disbelief that I had spent a night in jail over this. I had a very similar situation… Many years ago (at least 15 years ago) I was pulled over once a couple blocks from my house. It was nighttime, a bit wet, and I had passed through an intersection and a cop pulled me over. He asked if I knew why I’d been pulled over, and I said no, because in all honesty I had no clue. I wasn’t speeding and I hadn’t done anything like change lanes without signaling or any other infraction I could think of. He said I “went through a yellow light late”. Which I’d never heard of. I confirmed that the light was _yellow_, not red, and he did confirm it. Which confused me. He then asked to see my license, which I provided, and proof of insurance. My insurance card was missing. Back then, I had Geico, and their proof of insurance was just something you punched out from a regular sheet of letter-sized paper, the same paper you’d get from an office copier. I would keep it where I kept my credit cards but since it was about 1/5 as thick as a credit card it fell out. I explained that to the cop, and I pointed to my house that was within sight. I told him I could grab my insurance card, or call my wife to come bring it to me, since I was just outside of my house and I knew where the second copy of my insurance was. He refused to let me do either and wrote me a ticket for having no insurance, which was a pretty hefty fine for me at that time (hundreds of dollars). I was pissed off but polite about it; the last thing I wanted to do was make him angry and he clearly had no sense of humor and to me it seemed like he was looking for an excuse to write a ticket. I contested the ticket and got a court date a couple of months later. I told the judge my story, and he asked if I had insurance, and if I had the card. I pulled it out and he dismissed it. The interaction couldn’t have been longer than 2 minutes. I even tried to explain to him that the card had an issue date that was older than the ticket and he waved off my explanation, said he didn’t care about the details as long as I had insurance now. I just thanked him and that was that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/info-that-police-can-collect-without-a-warrant/950331.md?page=7)