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According to current rhetoric about skin tone and privilege.

Some of us just need to roll down our heavily tinted windows, point to our face, laugh out loud, and then drive away.

I wouldn't even pull over if you weren't the privileged sort because that rhetoric about skin tone and privilege also says, they're-out to get ya'
 
NO, oh you smell alcohol and weed, (funny, been sober for YEARS)NO! Sit on the curb, I'm not a dog, NO! Be polite and corgial while saying no, YES!
Hmmm, you wrote you were NOT a dog, and then admitted to being 'corgial'. Maybe that's not what you meant to write?

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I was a sheriff's deputy for 6 years, a very long time ago. The law said I was able to make a search for weapons in the immediate area of the driver. Anything that I found incidental to that search, that was illegal (drugs, etc.) could be used as a basis for an arrest. I could then make an inventory of the entire car's contents (including the trunk) if the vehicle were to be towed. I have also asked the question "May I look in your trunk" and have been told yes and no. My advice is to always say no.
Yeah, those were the days. I retired a year ago. It changed several years back. Anymore, the vehicle is off limits. Even if you see something in "plain view" you must apply for a warrant. The person still gets searched upon arrest of course...
 
I watch "The First 48" a lot - great instructional value there as to how the cops go about fabricating a beef.
What I can't understand is why so many people play the game instead of invoking right to silence and saying they want a lawyer and to GFOD most rikki-tik. A good number would have walked if they had just kept their mouths shut.
Remember: They can tell you anything they think will convince you to help them screw you. The one I like best is "This is your (last) opportunity to tell us your side."
 
It's important to remember that law enforcement is NOT judicial enforcement. The DA's office is the one that makes the "deals" and they are always trying to clear their case load. As a consequence, they will usually offer a "deal" in exchange for a guilty plea. Always say NO to the cops when they ask to search your car. If they persist, then immediately ask for a lawyer to be present.
 
"heres my required info. im now invoking my 4th and 5th amendment rights, please let me know when i am free to go."

thats it. period. every time, no exceptions.
 
I was in this scenario back in the mid 70's when my wife and I were dating. We stopped at a convenience store with another couple in my old Camaro to let the ladies run inside to get something. My buddy and I were backed into a parking space when I saw a sheriff's car pull in behind us. Didn't think much of it until I saw two officers get out and draw their guns! I told my buddy to keep his hands in view, and not move, as we had cops with guns out approaching the car!
When they got to both doors I rolled my window down and asked what was wrong? The cop simply told us to put our hands on the dash, and they opened our doors. Then they told us to get out, and walk back to their patrol car. I kept asking what this was about, but they refused to answer.
One cop began searching the front seat area, and I protested, telling him he had no permission to search my car. He simply stood up and told me to shut up or he'd put me in handcuffs and in the back of his car. Once they finished searching the car he asked what we were doing there? We told him our girls were inside the store, and we were simply waiting for them.
About then the girls came out looking worried, and approached the car. The cops asked what we were there for and they told the same story. So they finally told us the store owner had been robbed several times and thought we were there to rob him. I guess the idiot didn't see the girls get out of my car, and thought we were just waiting until customers left to come in and rob him?
They turned us loose, and on Monday I filed a complaint. But I was told the officers didn't break any rules or laws, and it went nowhere.
 
In discussions with these utes, they say that asking the 78-year-old grandmother on her way to church on Sunday at 9am these questions makes it consistent when they ask the tweaker with blown out pupils, pulling out of an alley at 1am where known drug transactions occur.
O-o-o-k-a-a-a-y....this is making sense to me. If they only asked the tweakers, they could be accused of being prejudiced or biased. When I was a rookie small-town cop, my chief taught me that the reason to always do FOUR field sobriety tests was so that I could say in court, "I always do four."
 
O-o-o-k-a-a-a-y....this is making sense to me. If they only asked the tweakers, they could be accused of being prejudiced or biased. When I was a rookie small-town cop, my chief taught me that the reason to always do FOUR field sobriety tests was so that I could say in court, "I always do four."
Standardized field sobriety tests (SFST's) are...standardized. But if I got to #2 and it was clear the person was not impaired I stopped there. Because a) I didn't need to go any further and b) technically it could be an unlawful detention. What your chief said has some merit, but still there are other factors at play. If you ask a generally law abiding person a bunch of question implying (in their mind) that they are a criminal, felon or up to no good, you very likely just lost an ally to police and they will tell 50 friends about it. You can still be respectful to someone you know has done time in prison, but how and what you ask may likely be different.

And yes, police should be biased against someone with pupils the size of dimes in bright sunlight, who is acting agitated while stashing their dope under the seat and talking 1,000mph and who is telling you the pants they are wearing are their friend's pants (because their is dope in the pockets). Just like they should be biased against a rich businessman in a Jag who is hammered after a six martini lunch. They are both a danger to us and our families while on the road.
 
I'm partially in the "I've got nothing to hide camp." Yet, if they searched one of my cars, they might find a fired 9mm or .223 casing in the trunk that I missed when cleaning out. And proceed to make a mountain out of a molehill. Not to mention the time saved. So I think I'm going to politely decline. Which might cause retaliation in some other petty way, like writing me up for something they might've originally let me go with a warning for. You can't know how these things will go.

By the way, fired casings in your car when crossing into Canada can be trouble. One of the questions I've been asked before was, "Have you been to a gun range with this car?" What they are really looking for are weapons that people may have forgotten to remove from their car after a trip to the range. BUT: Fired brass has caused some people trouble, too.

My buddy and I were backed into a parking space
"Backed into a space" can make some shop owners nervous. As in, ready for a quick getaway. Decades ago, I worked part time in a retail liquor store. This backing thing always made my night shift partner apprehensive. He'd get close to the telephone in case he needed to call the sheriff's office.

Backing into a space has become more popular with drivers in recent times, to my observation. It usually (but not always) is counter intuitive. Because backing into a small space requires more skill than backing into a large one. Meaning, you are more apt to bump into another parked car on either side of the stall you are backing into, rather than the larger space existing when you are backing out into the lane in the parking lot. Unless there is a car coming along that you didn't watch out for. Different strokes for different folks. But when I park in a lot, I'm always looking for a "pull through" space, that is, two empty stalls nose to nose where I can pull all the way through one and be heading out the other side. That way I never have to back up. Sometimes to find such a place results in more walking, though. Mrs. Merkt: "Do you really have to look for the parking spot that is farthest from the door??"
 
If we don't exercise our Constitutional rights, then we will lose them. Nothing against our boys/girls in blue but the law is the law. If they have to ask, they don't have probable cause.
 
Just say no, if they have probable cause they won't be asking.
So to share some inside baseball, that to me there is no problem with good people in this great country knowing, even when I had a lawful reason to conduct a search on a person, vehicle or house without a warrant, I nearly always asked permission. Why? Because it adds one more layer showing due diligence.

Since the only thing black and white in law enforcement are the cars, let's say later a judge or deputy DA decided the reason for the search did not quite meet their standards (like it had the 50 pervious times). If you have permission then you are okay. When many well-seasoned officers are asking if they can conduct a search, they already have decided to, and believe they have the lawful authority to conduct a search.

Hope this helps the good folks on this forum who aren't ridin' dirty.
 
I'm partially in the "I've got nothing to hide camp." Yet, if they searched one of my cars, they might find a fired 9mm or .223 casing in the trunk that I missed when cleaning out. And proceed to make a mountain out of a molehill. Not to mention the time saved. So I think I'm going to politely decline. Which might cause retaliation in some other petty way, like writing me up for something they might've originally let me go with a warning for. You can't know how these things will go.

By the way, fired casings in your car when crossing into Canada can be trouble. One of the questions I've been asked before was, "Have you been to a gun range with this car?" What they are really looking for are weapons that people may have forgotten to remove from their car after a trip to the range. BUT: Fired brass has caused some people trouble, too.


"Backed into a space" can make some shop owners nervous. As in, ready for a quick getaway. Decades ago, I worked part time in a retail liquor store. This backing thing always made my night shift partner apprehensive. He'd get close to the telephone in case he needed to call the sheriff's office.

Backing into a space has become more popular with drivers in recent times, to my observation. It usually (but not always) is counter intuitive. Because backing into a small space requires more skill than backing into a large one. Meaning, you are more apt to bump into another parked car on either side of the stall you are backing into, rather than the larger space existing when you are backing out into the lane in the parking lot. Unless there is a car coming along that you didn't watch out for. Different strokes for different folks. But when I park in a lot, I'm always looking for a "pull through" space, that is, two empty stalls nose to nose where I can pull all the way through one and be heading out the other side. That way I never have to back up. Sometimes to find such a place results in more walking, though. Mrs. Merkt: "Do you really have to look for the parking spot that is farthest from the door??"
I must make a lot of shop owners nervous. I've always backed into parking spaces as it's safer when leaving. I hate trying to back out when I can't see either direction until I'm out far enough. Anytime I can pull through a space if the opposite side is open I do that, so I can pull out head first, and see.
 

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