That was a great video. I watched all of it and a little bit of those, ‘how to get out of random DUI or DHS stops’ videos.
My 2 cents is if you’re aggravating officers at stops or in the OP of this thread…you better be damn sure of your legal standing, it would sure help to be recording the encounter and if you feel things are getting out of hand*…unless you’re prepared to go all the way…I suggest you comply with the officer**.
By this I mean, let’s say you’re at a random checkpoint of some kind or you think the cop pulled you over because you have a ‘I hate bacon’ bumper sticker. You’re asserting your rights, you refuse to talk and you refuse to get out of the car because you don’t think he has probable cause…when he pulls out his flashlight, threatens to break the window and drag you out by your hair…it might be time to weigh whether or not this is all worth it. Or let’s say in the OP…let’s say the person in question had a 7 year old in the front seat without a child safety seat and the cops are threatening to call Child Services.
** I know that sounds horrible. It sounds like ‘roll over for the Gestapo’. I’m just saying use some common sense.
I’ve posted before about harassment of pilots by DHS and DEA agents. I’ve posted links to stories of one pilot who was told that he was being held at gunpoint because he ‘fit a profile’. They wouldn’t tell him what the profile was, or how he fit it. The did tell him that it was suspicious that he was flying from west to east – from California. :dubious: Then there was the grandparents who were flying from Texas (I think) to someplace northeast to visit their grandkids, who were detained because they were ‘flying a known drug route’. This is bogus because pilots fly as short a route as possible. That’s kind of the point of flying. I think for most people, standing for your rights is difficult when a government jet lands behind you and you are confronted with armour-clad Super Warriors holding machine guns at the ready. As an American, I object to the ‘If you have done nothing wrong, then you have nothing to fear’ mentality that has been especially pronounced since the passing of the PATRIOT Act.
AOPA has published downloadable guidelines on what to do if a pilot is stopped by law enforcement. One suggestion is:
[quote] Consider responding with the following statements:
[ul][li] “I do not consent to this search.”[/li][li] “If you remove or disassemble any part of this aircraft, including inspection plates, you may be rendering this aircraft unairworthy.”[/ul][/li][/quote]
You are welcome. I do not know of any state in which their Constitution affords greater protection in this area, that is, need at least a RS or such to order a driver out.
Now concerning Maryland v. Wilson, I have heard of some states under their Constitutions not permitting police to order a passenger out without cause, even though when a car is stopped all passengers are seized for the possibility of standing in an unlawful pull over, Brendlin v. California.
Is recording the police without their consent legal in all states ?
There was a case in Maryland where a motorcyclist was speeding and stopped by an off duty cop in an umarked car and plain clothes who confronted him at gunpoint. The cyclist had a helmet cam on and later posted the video to Youtube.
I went to the Philo T Farnsworth School of Law (i.e., watched multiple legal dramas on TV) and in one course (“The Good Wife”) learned that recording a police stop may be illegal if you capture audio but not if you capture video only.
This is really minor and not really pertinent to my OP, but one of the things that I find with message boards is that many do not read the thread entirely. I’ve mentioned more than once that I’m not a male.
Further, my mom did not consent to my room being searched, just hers. After going on and on about the volumes of drugs going through my house, all they did was look in her room and shine a flashlight under her bed. That was it. Not the closet, not the drawers… Upon which every thing was ok. I was told I could go home that all was totally fine now. The K-9 unit at my home was not used.
As for how they found me at the gym: the DEA guy said they followed me to the gym and waited for me. He also said they had been watching me for some time now. This I really don’t believe at all. My neighborhood (neighbors excepted) is very quiet. There are RARELY cars parked on the street. He would have had to be in someone’s home? Any stakeout of my home would show that we rarely get any visitors or deliveries (Amazon aside, that is).
Long story short, I’ve spoken with an attorney. Thank you all for your insight. This experience has been an eye opener, to say the least.
My biggest fear was that they would either haul me off to the station for endless questioning or worse, that they would do the same thing again, except not at Y’s parking lot, but at her school. I would be really, really mortified by that.
Well sure, but a person still should not answer any questions without legal counsel. The Miranda Warning says that anything you say can be used against you. It says nothing about that information being used in your favor. As for ‘endless questioning’, unless you are being detained or are under arrest, you can leave whenever you wish. Once you demand a lawyer, the questioning stops.
That’s why you should ask, “Am I free to go?” rather than “Am I under arrest?”. You can be legally detained temporarily for various reasons even though you aren’t under arrest. If a cop pulls you over in traffic he’s detained you, you aren’t free to drive away, but he’s not going to arrest you (unless you’ve got a warrant out), he’s going to give you a ticket.
You can also be detained just walking down the street, even though you aren’t arrested, or aren’t arrested yet. Cops do like to maintain ambiguity about whether they’ve detained you or not, they’d prefer to be able to say in court that you cooperated voluntarily rather than have to come up with a legal justification for detaining you. So asking if you’re free to go forces the cop to either detain you for a legally justifiable reason, or to let you go. Lots of times they want to question you or find out what’s going on before you leave, but they don’t have a legally justifiable reason to detain you, so they like to give the false impression that you’re not allowed to leave even though in court they could truthfully say that you weren’t detained.
Remember that cops can ask you to stay put, or ask you for your ID, or ask you questions, just like I could walk up to you and ask you not to leave, who you are, what you’re doing around here, and so on. And you can answer my questions or tell me to fuck off, as you choose. The difference between me and a cop is that the cop also has the power to compel you to obey, in certain circumstances.
Could you expound a bit on these?