mrsuperstereo

as mentioned in this post:

Got away from the cops with 3+ ounces (long) - Marijuana.com

a cop tailgated the original poster until he eventually flashed his lights to pull him over.

this has also happened to me... 3 times!

i was only pulled over twice of those 3 times but in all cases i was tailgated for about two blocks b4 the cop either flashed lights or left me alone.

i'm pretty sure this isn't legal as the police made-up an excuse for the times they did pull me over. i didnt do anything that would give him an incentive to pull me over. in both cases of getting pulled over, i was asked way too many questions... especially, "is there naything illegal in the car." to which i would reply very respectfully, "no officer."

cops tend to be very limited in what they can do, so i'm guessing the repeated questions are a way of getting me to say something that would turn me over. i found that completelyy denying any illegal activities and refusing access to your vehicle (within reason... dont fight withe the cop) is nearly a guarantee of driving away free.

of the people i know that have gotten caught, one thing is always similar: they turn themselves over to the cop by answering his questions. remember: it is completely legal to plead the 5th as "ANYTHING U SAY CAN AND WILL BE USED AGAINST YOU."

but anyway, it seems this tailgate-tactic is a method cops use to pull people over that dont know their rights and the limited powers of a cop. if a cop tailgates you, keep driving within legal boundaries. only pull over if he flashes his lights... that's the rule.

Up In Smoke

Ive been "tailgated" by a cop for over 2 kilometres.

Its what they do when they are using their computers to look up your license plate.

I didnt do a damn thing, yet he turned on his cherries. He then asked me if I knew anything about a Murder that just happened a couple of hours ago. I was wondering if this was his segway for getting me to fess up to whatever. Clearly I hadnt committed any crime (he was accusing me of), and we both knew it.

Another time I was followed by the Feds (RCMP) for about 5 mins (which made me SHIT out my INSIDES).

I wasnt weaving, there wasnt anything wrong with my car, yet, he pulled me over. But this time he simply came up to my window and said "You didnt do anything wrong, I was just doing a random check to make sure you werent drinking, and its clear you werent. But I have to ask, Were you drinking tonight?" (lol)

Both of these incidents were uncalled for, both of these times I had been either High, or had Pot on me. The problem? none, I drove away scot free. I was polite, I understood why they pulled me over and evertything was fine. Would you like a cop to disregard your plea to find the murderer of your son? or even more mundane, would you like that drunk driver to hit you? They're just doing their jobs to keep YOU safe..

If they find out something from a Random Check, then its your own fault.

Mushroom Man

Agreed. I think it's funny when people bitch about 'bad cops' because they got arrested for driving around smoking pot or doing something illegal and getting caught for it.


edit: and gfish, your example of a bad cop is well, a cop who's doing his job. You matched the description of individuals who are known to steal CARS, do you really think they'd pamper you or believe you the first time you say your not that person? Obviously you werent, but still...

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gfish15

no dude he just said that he siad one of the neighbors called the cops on us saying we were stealing cars.

and he was harassing us as well cussing at us saying we were garbage and we are lucky we didn't run because we would be in jail right now. etc etc.....

mrsuperstereo

typically when cops dont have a reason to bug you. they'll make up one. after getting tailgated my first time by a cop, he pulled me over and told me my brights were on. "no, officer, they're off. this is them on," i proceeded to turn them on. he looked blank.

"is there anything illegal in the car"

"no, officer."

he went back to his car... came back five minutes later. same question, same response.

he did this another 4 or 5 times probably expecting that i'd eventually say, "oh, well, actually, there's some weed in my pocket" (there was). but that's exactly what i dont want him to know. my car probably smelled of dank blunt as we just smoked, but smell isn't probable cause. dont believe a cop when they say smell is probable cause... that's illegal. u can reek of weed surrounded by cops that know ureek of weed, but they can't touch you. i love the constitution.

so he asked me more questions, but i just stfu. then he said something about people robbing houses on the street and we matched the description of the robbers but it "turns out" it's not us. i should've sued that fucker and his department.

fuck him. i dont give a fuck if he's "doing his job". it's people like him that pissed off our founding father's so much that they included in the constitution an amendment to ban such ridiculous search and seizure tactics. Thomas Jefferson would be rolling over in his grav if he knew this would happen again.

doing your jobisn't an excuse for harassing the innocent. it wasn't an excuse for nazi's to do their job and kill jews, it wasn't an excuse for CIA and military employees to torture. no, fuck that. fuck every cop, nazi, FBI agent, CIA agent, and anyone else who has infrigned on other's rights and justifies it because they were "doing their job" ..."obeyin the law"...

fuck that.

Mushroom Man

I had more problems with cops like that when i was a teenager, not so much anymore. If he was a 'bad cop' he wouldve told you to shut it and searched you and your car anyway, THATS what a bad cop would do/has done.

Although that would piss me off too.

mrsuperstereo

i gueess you're right in that he's not necessariky a bad cop, but i wouldnt say he's a good cop. rather... he's just a shitty, confused rookie.

i figure a good cop wouldnt harass the innocent since it's a basic principle of this country that EVERYONE is innocent until proven guilty. he'd probably be more useful to society if he just caught drunks driving outside of popular bars or even if he just sat at home with his thumb up his ass.

troublemaker_42

Thanks for a laugh buddy. You had no basis to sue any officer in the case you outlined. The officer broke no laws, and you were harassed or illegally searched in any fashion. You suing "that fucker and his department" is a fantasy, because you had absolutely no basis for any sort of lawsuit. You have a highly immature and unrealistic view of the police IMO, and your post only illustrated that you believe you know much more about the law than you actually do.

How wrong and/or misinformed can you possibly be?

As far as smell being probable cause to search a vehicle...guess what...it IS. It would be one thing if you were simply wrong, but no.....you had to be cocky about it, and act as though anyone who believed that to be true was dumb or something. All you've managed to do is make yourself go from being simply wrong to looking cocky and completely uninformed and ignorant of the law and of the Constitution. If the officer can demostrate in court that he/she is familiar with the scent of raw or burned marijuana, and that he/she believed such a smell was coming from your car.... its considred probable cause in nearly every circumstance. Residences, the rules vary more on, but in a car, if the officer is familiar with the scent of weed, and can provide the judge that he/she has experience that would allow him or her to distinguish the scent, the judge WILL see it as probable cause, and the results of any search at that point would be admissable.

Just in case you don't believe me, Google tends to agree:
is the smell of weed considered probable cause for a vehicle search? - Google Search

and heres a link that says it as simply as can possibly be stated: The cops & The Marijuana smell!!
[quote]As a general rule, an officer who detects the odor of marijuana has probable cause to search the person or place from which he believes the odor is emanating.[/quote]

Most courts permit an officer to conduct a warrant less search of a car if the odor of marijuana is detected



Since you made a claim I clearly have disproven, why don't you show YOUR source that states the scent of weed is not probable cause for a vehicle search? I've provided more than enough info to show that it is indeed considered PC in nearly every jurisdiciton, if not all areas, of the United States. If you are so sure that it isn't considered PC, please...I'd LOVE to see your sources Just telling us that you "know" it isn't probable cause isn't good enough. Document the claim, because its so outrageously wrong, I'd love to see what kind of website or documentation would dare claim otherwise. Not one front page result of the Google search I ran made the claim that scent of weed wasn't probable cause, which should be a hit that just maybe...scent IS strong enough probable cause for a search.

__________________
Ted Nugent: "To my mind it is wholly irresponsible to go into the world incapable of preventing violence, injury, crime, and death. How feeble is the mindset to accept defenselessness. How unnatural. How cheap. How cowardly. How pathetic."


If total government control equals safety, why are prisons so dangerous?

Frenchie

Dude, this is bad advice. [wikipedia.org]
Reasonable suspicion is a legal standard in United States law that a person has been, is, or is about to be engaged in criminal activity based on specific and articulable facts and inferences. It is the basis for an investigatory or Terry stop by the police and requires less evidence than probable cause, the legal requirement for arrests and warrants. Reasonable suspicion is evaluated using the "reasonable person" or "reasonable officer" standard, in which said person in the same circumstances could reasonably believe a person has been, is, or is about to be engaged in criminal activity; such suspicion is not a mere hunch. Police may also, based solely on reasonable suspicion of a threat to safety, frisk a suspect for weapons, but not for contraband like drugs. A combination of particular facts, even if each is individually innocuous, can form the basis of reasonable suspicion.

Most cops will do a pat down for weapons, when a bulge is felt in a pocket, that could be a weapon so he has the right to reach in and confirm. When a pipe comes out, or an ounce of weed. BUSTED. Now he can perform a search of the arrested persons entire wingspan (with in reach) of where he was spotted and where he is when arrested.

So if you only have a gram and its well hidden, your probably gonna get away with it. Many times I would do all i could legally. then stop and search a little further, knowing that anything that i found, i could seize but not use for prosecution. I would enter that stuff into evidence as found contraband. in 18 years of doing this, i NEVER was questioned or got into trouble by my superiors or the court. I have seized a couple of pounds (total) worth of coke, crack, meth, black tar heroin, LSD and MJ over the years.

mrsuperstereo

Huh? so you're willing to take matters beyond the law... into your own hands? considering that no man is supposed to be above the law, and u think it's ok to act in such a way, i'm saddened. but it's obvious many policemen think like this.

i can't imagine what good u did anyone to seize a few lbs. of drugs over the years. if your justification for doing this is that maybe u saved a life. u probably didnt. to help an addict, it requires waaay more than forcefully removing one stash. anything u took away was likely replaced soon after and all u did was cause some unnecessary grief to victims of the war on drugs. now anyone that u fucked over that knows u went a little above and beyond the call of duty in fucking them over will see the police as a rights' infringing group of dicks.

thank you for making people hate authority and taking advantage of people that dont know their rights. our founding fathers would vomit.

idk, maybe i misread what u said, but if what you're saying is that u infringe on rights to confiscate drugs, you are a wandering idiot that isn't helping anyone. maybe your heart is in the right place, but your head isnt.

[Mod note: Calling another member an "idiot" is flaming which violates the Posting Guidelines. Please review them and refrain from doing this in the future.....Infraction issued]