Every week I receive an email somewhat similar to this one:
My name is _____, I’m 21 years old, live in Baton Rouge, La., and was arrested last week under the charge of possession of marijuana (less than 1 gram) as well as paraphernalia (a hand-blown glass pipe, and I would imagine the baggie the herb was in). I was pulled over a little before 9 a.m. on 5/28 in Alexandria, La. The policeman called me out of the car, over to his vehicle, asked for my license, searched me, then asked if I had any weapons or narcotics in my vehicle. I replied, “No.” He asked if he could search the car, I answered, “Yes.” He told me to stay where I was, and I let him know there was a pocket knife on my dashboard. He returned a few moments later with the herb and proceeded to arrest me, place me in custody, and bring me to jail. I was booked, then released on bond around 10 p.m. the same night.
I’m sad to hear about your encounter with law enforcement, but perhaps this will teach you the phrases I tell every cannabis consumer I know:
- “Officer, I do not consent to any searches.”
- “Officer, am I being detained or am I free to go now?”
- “Officer, I cannot answer any questions without my attorney present.”
Never say “yes” to a search. An officer has a right to ask you out of your car. He has the right to pat you down for weapons. That’s it. If he wants to search your car, and you have closed the doors and windows, he must gain your permission. If he’s asking your permission, he does not have probable cause to search, or he would be searching already. Especially now in light of the most recent Supreme Court ruling, which declared that officers can’t arrest you and use the arrest as a sole factor in deciding to search your car.
Once he had you out of that car, his rights to search that car, absent probable cause, just disappeared. Now, if you say, “Officer, I do not consent to any searches,” he may get belligerent and he may threaten to call in the drug dogs. That’s when you say, “Officer, am I being detained or am I free to go?” If he detains you after you’ve asked, your lawyer has the hook to go after him for violating your rights for detaining you without probable cause, because pulling you over for a traffic violation is not probable cause to believe you’re committing a drug crime.
Or look at it this way: If you say yes to a search and he finds weed, it’s a 100% guarantee you will be cuffed, stuffed, booked, fingerprinted, photographed, and sit in a cell with a lifelong criminal record. If you say no to a search, at least you have some chance he’ll recognize your rights and back off, or if he doesn’t, you’ll be cuffed, stuffed, booked, fingerprinted, photographed, and sit in a cell, but you’ll have ammunition for your lawyer to keep you from having a lifelong criminal drug record.
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Hey, wait a minute! That “Flex Your Rights” website I linked to above seems a bit funky. It might be a better idea to get your copy of “Busted” from the NORML catalog.
It looks more secure.
-ED
Legal Lad has some podcasts that might be of interest to you.
I think you should never consent to a search or cooperate in any way with a cop – beyond the minimum requirements of the law. Give them your ID, tell them you are not waiving any of your rights and that you must speak to a lawyer before you answer any questions. Always answer a cop’s question with a question of your own.
More advice can be found in the DVD “Busted“.
-ED
Since this is a non-MMJ State, I find that the best policy is to make nice with the po-po.
I would say that depends on where you live. In NE Ohio, there are a LOT of K9 units. I teach my younguns to keep that car CLEAN, no cannabis, no paraphernalia. If a cop asks if they can search, and it is NOT a K9 unit, say yes. If you refuse, they can have a K9 there in a heartbeat and the K9 will find spillage from my younger days, whether it’s there or not. Once they call for that K9 unit, you’re goin’ in.
Do you know if the police need ‘probable cause’ to call a dog ? Or do they have to let you go if they arnt ‘detaining’ you, which requires ‘probable cause’ ? Russ you know ?
I need to give a few examples of “yes” and “no” to searches.
First this is awful, what happened to Pastor Steve Anderson when he said “No”.
http://xcannabis.com/2009/06/footage-of-baptist-pastor-beating-by-border-patrol/
This is what Barry Cooper says about it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B24t-Z4nZIU
Barry says that consenting to searches will typically result in a cop not searching, or not finding anything. Saying “no” leads to cops getting a police dog, and making the dog “false alert”.
See Barry Cooper’s video on “false alerts”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hkw8KgZ_LhU
I have found a lot of videos that contradict Barry’s advice too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyokKFIecIo
So who’s the best advice to follow?
Yeah these Louisiana cops are running a racket. I was busted there. There’s an area just outside of Baton Rouge that if I drive thru I WILL BE STOPPED NO MATTER WHAT. I have been stopped all 3 times I have driven through past 9pm in the last year, for absolutely nothing. They told me my tail light was out (it wasn’t), they said I was “weaving” (I wasn’t), and they got me for having a liner on my license plate that did not obstruct anything on the plate. I was never written a citation, except the time they busted me with about 4g of sticky greens. Now I avoid the area, which is really hard since it is the only convenient route.
The truth is the kid was screwed NO MATTER WHAT, you see they are loaded with “drug dogs” there, all police forces have about 4 or 5, and they are trained to BARK ON COMMAND. So what would have happened is if the kid said no, they would have brought in a dog, run him around the car, given him the “bark command”, and they would have searched him anyways. My lawyer told me about this after I personally watched them do it to me. I don’t even think they train the dogs to smell actual drugs! It is sinister and sick but Louisiana is becoming a POLICE STATE! Sad because it’s my home state, but I’m never moving back.
First, I thought the story was going to go like, He said “No” to the search and they searched anyhow! Nope, another brother that needed “Pot school”.
Number two, why is anyone driving around with a blown glass pipe? What ever happened to a good old joint that you smoke and then toss the itty-bitty roach out the Window, then its “What evidence”? Or even a joint can be swallowed, hiddden or tossed while pulling over or before without much notice!
Third, why are these cops allowed to basicly discriminted and search baised on profile alone? I swear they are so out to get small time drug users, more than anything they do! its like this everywhere, and they all know dam well we are harmless compaired to any other user or criminal!
Remember that “Chic” publications type idea I had? This would be a great subject for one.