Search and Seizure - Probable Cause And Reasonable Suspicion
officer criminal activity seized
Once it has been established that an individual possesses a reasonable expectation of privacy in a place to be searched or a thing to be seized, the Fourth Amendment's protections take hold, and the question then becomes what are the nature of those protections. Police officers need no justification to stop someone on a public street and ask questions, and individuals are completely entitled to refuse to answer any such questions and go about their business. However, a police officer may only search people and places when the officer has probable cause or reasonable suspicion to suspect criminal activity.
"Probable cause" means that the officer must possess sufficiently trustworthy facts to believe that a crime has been committed. In some cases, an officer may need only a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity to conduct a limited search. Reasonable suspicion means that the officer has sufficient knowledge to believe that criminal activity is at hand. This level of knowledge is less than that of probable cause, so reasonable suspicion is usually used to justify a brief frisk in a public area or a traffic stop at roadside. To possess either probable cause or reasonable suspicion, an officer must be able to cite specific articulable facts to warrant the intrusion. Items related to suspected criminal activity found in a search may be taken, or seized, by the officer.
User Comments
5 months ago
Mike
Brenda, no matter what your son took he was still under the influence. The officer had an inkling something was wrong or he would have let your son on his merry way.
about 1 year ago
my son was pulled over and a dield subrioty test conducted and he past, the officer repeatedly fast shined the light in his dace back and forth, the placed him under arrest for UI, He had not been drinking nor under meds except he took nyquil because he had the flu. the reason he was pulled over in the first place the offivers said because no light on his license plate.He was not cited for this though.
over 1 year ago
monnie- what is you question? respectfully? I seriously DOUBT if your "drug arrest from 11 yrs ago" even showed up when the officer did a records check of your license. As a LEO myself, it would not surprise me if an officer asked you if you have "anything"( illegal) in the vehicle if they were about to search it, pursuant to impound.
The Arizona V.Gant ruling not withstanding, if her dept policy requires vehicle search( assuming it is a dept authorized inventory search), you have nothing you can do but go and have your license re-instated, pay whatever traffic fine it is, then pay for the release of your vehicle. you technically have no excuse as far as your license status- the only way it could be SUSPENDED is for poor driving issues, or excessive traffic violations. The impound is legal...
over 2 years ago
the officer pulled me over for suspended license i was unaware of this i could not find my insurance info. she did a check against my license i was arrested 11 years ago for allegedly drugs i only got arrested because i was the driver and they found no drugs charges was dropped i have only been arrested this one time but she asked me did i have any in the car i said no she asked me five more times. she searched my car but not me and towed my car i did not go to jail what should i do