One way I’ve seen police get around probable cause is (at least with cars) is to bring in their drug-sniffing dog. The reasoning behind this is that the dog is not actively searching your vehicle, but passively sniffing around outside. If the dog should happen to react like it has picked up the scent of something, then that gives the officer the probable cause they need to search the car.
And thanks for the greeting, JB. So far things are going nicely on here.
Last summer I was driving back from Colorado on I-70 and there were a series of signs “drug stop ahead” and then “drug dogs ahead.” There was no stop on I-70. There was on the exit right after the signs.
I would be curious as to exactly what that was, as drug interdiction checkpoints are UNconstitutional.
The criteria necessary to intiate a Terry Stop involves more than mere hunches.
“Suspicious” behavior in and of itself is not a reason to investigate a person.
If you read the Terry v. Ohio case, you will see some factors in determining when an investigative detention can be made.
They were using the fact that people turned off on a side road after seeing the signs as an excuse to stop them. (It really was a side road to nowhere.)
Welcome too!
In my sister’s case: being black in the wrong part of Tennessee.
She used to live with our (white) parents in an almost exclusively white town on top of a mountain. She was stopped and her car searched going up the mountain five times in two weeks, for various spurious reasons (thought she was weaving the car therefore suspicion of DUI, your tail light was out - oh it works? I must have been mistaken ma’am, etc. etc.).
Presume they thought she was dealing to the honkies. Luckily she didn’t do drugs.
In the case or marijuana, it’s smell. The odour is so pungent that even in small amounts it is easily detectable and traces can remain on a person’s clothes, hair, breath, or even skin (usually hands and face) for a long time.
Right, and like cig smoke, a toker can’t really smell the stench.
Interesting, I would say that the seizure of that motor vehicle (stop) could be heartily challenged. Now, I have read in some states where it is specifically against the law to purposely avoid a DUI checkpoint as you describe, but since Drug inderdiction checkpoints are UNconstitutional, no such law could exist and IMO could NOT form the basis of a Terry stop.
Many of the obvious reasons for stopping someone on foot were already stated (high narcotics area, late at night, etc) however any good street cop can tell you about the “hype walk”. For background, in Chicago, many cops refer to addicts as “hypes”. I wasn’t even on the job a week before my training officer took me to sit outside one of Chicago’s very large high rise tenement buildings or “projects” or “jets” as they are also known. He pointed out people walking by and said are they drug users yes or no and we played a game as to why I thought they were or were not. Then he pointed to a few people who walked into the building and said watch them when they come out in a few minutes. Sure enough, once they popped out of the open air lobby they had this incredible “pep in their step”. They walked super fast and were very intent on going wherever they were walking. They had just purchased their heroin or crack and were making a beeline for a safe place to use. One would have thought they would be calmer after having bought and more frantic before buying but it was the other way around. We watched this happen about a dozen times and then made an arrest for possession. It was like shooting fish in a barrel back then.
To this day I can spot the “hype walk” a mile away. Once you see it you will never be mistaken. Another thing to look for, if the obvious decay of the neighborhood is not notice enough in Chicago, is gym shoes hanging on power line or bicycle tires over street signs. Both of those signal that narcotics are sold in the immediate vicinity.
The area that you are in can tip cops off. There are places in atlanta that are drug controlled areas where if your tag is from a different county or you are walking on foot you can be stopped. Now what people don’t know is that we do have rights and cops will lie and say anything to get people to give them permission to do what they want to do. Unless the cop smells weed or sees drug paraphernalia or you look fucked up they don’t have probable cause to search you without permission or a warrant. Unless you are a known drug dealer they won’t take the time to get a warrant so always say I don’t consent to searches. No matter what they throw back at you just keep saying that and if they keep going especially after they have written a ticket you can say “am I being detained or am I free to go” and they have to answer you and if they have no reason to arrest you they will let you go. I know this because I did have stuff on me got pulled over by a dodge magnum K-9 unit in my moms car that had an expired tag for a year and they pulled me out of the car and talked to my mom over the phone and wrote me a warning and then another K-9 unit pulls up and they start questioning me outside the car and my boyfriend in the car and they were then like " is there anything in the car I need to know about" amd I said no. And he said “well then you wouldn’t mind if I took a look” and I said I do mind I don’t feel comfortable this is my moms car and he said “what if I called your mom” and I finally got fed up and said look I know my rights am I being detained or am I free to go and he smiled and said I was free to go. So never give them permission, don’t let them harass and intimidate you, and if they start fucking with you ask them if you are being detained or free to go and you can also record their whole stop on your phone and say I recording this to make sure my rights aren’t violated. And there’s nothing they can do because cops are dirty
I’m not going to get into the weeds (pun intended) regarding the Constitutionality of checkpoints looking for drugs (although… passing through Customs - even domestically in the case of places like Hawaii, is a legal search for contraband). Any vehicle being used to convey illegal drugs and similar contraband is legally subject to seizure via in rem prosecution, even if the operator isn’t charged. We’ve inherited this from centuries of maritime law.
They can detain you for a reasonable period to perform a drug sniff on reasonable suspicion alone. Also, paragraphs.
I rear-ended someone years ago, at low speeds at a traffic light. An honest mistake on my part.
It was past 1am, and when the cops showed they had me perform some DUI tests which I passed, because I wasn’t intoxicated.
Then he asks me, “smoked a bit of weed earlier?” “No sir” “Huh. I thought I smelled some marijuana from your vehicle…”
I shrugged and made a puzzled look and didn’t say a word. Of course I didn’t have any pot, and he didn’t really smell any. He was trying to get me to say something incriminating, or “I didn’t smoke in my car.” Which would give him reason enough to search me and the vehicle.
I remember seeing something like this “Drug stop 4 miles ahead” or something similar on Interstate 80 a few years ago. Right after the sign there was a rest area. There was no stop 4 miles ahead, but they systematically checked the trash containers in the rest area and made a few arrests–from people who fell for this so had pulled into the rest area and dumped their drugs into the trash.
Dude, if you’re high, and the police look at you… they just know. It doesn’t matter how cool you act… they just *kn… holy shit! It’s a cop!! Look cool, dude, look cool!!! I’M NOT SHOUTING!!! NO, YOU SHUT UP!!! SHH!! shh!! Good hello, officer. Wassup?