What To Do If Police Ask For Permission To Search Your Car?

The scenario is one that occurs every day throughout the United States. A police officer stops a motorist for speeding or some other traffic violation. At some stage during the stop, the officer asks for permission to search the vehicle.

What should you do if a police officer asks you to consent to a search? What are your rights, and when can a police officer search your car without first getting consent?

Our team of criminal defense attorneys at Tung & Associates, APLC, see too many clients who should only have gotten a traffic ticket, but instead, they end up in handcuffs after consenting to a search. We want you to know your rights and how to exercise them the next time a police officer asks for permission to search your car.

Know your constitutional rights

The U.S. Constitution protects you from unreasonable search and seizure. Without getting too technical about searches, police need probable cause to search you, your home, or your car.

Probable cause is a reasonable belief that evidence of a crime exists at the place to be searched. Unless an officer has probable cause, any search violates the Fourth Amendment. Anything seized as a result of an unlawful search generally cannot be used to prosecute you.

Here is a common situation that you see at traffic stops. As a police officer walks up to a car that was just stopped for speeding or some other traffic violation, the driver is seen reaching over toward the passenger seat. When the driver’s window is rolled down, the officer sees that the car is filled with smoke and smells like marijuana.

The smell coupled with the driver moving around as though hiding something gives the officer a reasonable belief that a search of the car will reveal marijuana hidden somewhere in or under the passenger seat. If we take away the driver’s movements, the smoke and the officer smelling what appears to be marijuana, a search of the car would be a violation of the driver’s Fourth Amendment rights even if marijuana is discovered in the vehicle.

Finding evidence of a crime does not make it okay to violate a person’s rights, so what police do is ask for consent or permission from the driver to search their car. If this happens to you, exercise your right to say “no” to the request.

What does giving consent do as far as your constitutional rights?

If a police officer lacks the probable cause needed to legally search your car, getting you to waive your rights by giving consent is a simple and very effective way for police to conduct what would otherwise be an illegal search. Once you give permission, you give up the right to object to the use of evidence discovered during the search.  

Whatever police discover during the search may be used to prove any criminal charges that are filed against unless a defense attorney can prove that you did not freely and knowingly give consent. Why put yourself in such a position when all you really need to do is say “no” when asked by the police to waive a constitutional right.

Routine traffic stops are anything but routine for drivers. They are stressful, anxiety-producing events that you want to end as quickly as possible. Consenting to a search is not the way to end a traffic stop.

What to do when police ask you for permission to search your car?

When pulled over by police while driving, be polite and respectful. Take note of the time the traffic stop began because holding you longer than necessary may be used to prove that your consent was given under duress.

Have your license, registration and insurance information handy when asked for them. If an officer asks you to give permission for a search, you should refuse even if you are certain there is nothing illegal in the car. You have nothing to gain by giving up your constitutional rights. It will not get you out of a ticket for speeding or some other traffic infraction, so politely refuse the request for permission to search.

If police officers persist and tell you they have probable cause to search without your permission, continue to refuse to give consent. However, do not impede the officers from searching should they insist on doing so.

Contact us

If police arrest you after what started as a routine traffic stop, you need a criminal defense attorney. Contact us Tung & Associates, APLC, to learn how we can help you.

Disclaimer:

This article and its contents are provided for general information purposes only. It is not offered as legal advice and should not be relied upon as such by a reader. Nothing contained in it is intended as legal advice or presented for purposes of establishing an attorney-client relationship.