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mirage

cops are dumb?

say that to one when they are helping you out.

yes ill argee some cops suck monkey arse, but those power hungry turds are RARE

most of the cops i know are cool and arenot out to get people

 

AfRo

as far as cops wanting to get people into trouble, they seem to be "just doin' my job" like me i dont like my work, but i do it because it's expected.

Slightly Stoopid

If you think about it, cops are the smartest people on earth, they have to be to do what they do. But i do agree, they get to curious. When a cop askes to search your car, and there is obviously no reason for him to ask to, then he is a bad cop. Most cops don't go looking to get you in more trouble. And you will find, alot of them don't want to ruin you and will let you go for small things (That is generally what i notice). I mean at parties i have been to and when they get broken up, poilce know we are all stoned, and drunk. They don't go around looking for trouble. They just tell us all to go.

DMBand_Pothead

You are probably right. But here is my train of thought, I'm not saying it's justified. but I live in a suberb of Kansas City, in Johnson County(3rd richest county). By the way, I am not braging, I hate it here. But the cops around here have no big crimes to take care of, so they come after teenagers. I'm not making this up, cops have told us this. I am not saying I am right by saying the are dumb, b/c I know they will be there for me when I need them.

Bailey1138

Welcome to the world of being a teenager, I grew up in that exact same town in Ohio, there's a million of 'em in every state. That's just the way things go sometimes, just know that being a teenager can make you a target, but only if you let it. One of the few pieces of advice my father gave me that I actually listen to: "Life isn't fair, the quicker you learn that the better off you will be."

 

Slightly Stoopid

i live in a quiet part of st. louis, but cops around here don't do anything period. Usually in nice areas, you are safer from police that will bust you. The police in nice areas are usually the nice folk type cops, it's the evil harden veterans from the city of st. louis that bust you.

deluxe

i had some deaf friends who came to visit my apartment one evening. one of my (nosy) neighbors saw them in the parking lot, gesticulating frantically at each other (it's called "sign language"), figured it was a domestic dispute, and called the cops, who also came to visit my apartment.

my deaf friends and i had been blasting a few joints, and my apartment smelled pretty good when the cops arrived. to make matters more complicated, i had about 40 exotic bongs on display shelves in the living room (about three fourths of them had never been used), and there was about half a bong-hit of raspy shake on a little tray in the living room - all of which was visible from the front door of the apartment.

the cops showed up, asked if there was a domestic dispute going on, sniffed a couple of times, asked what we'd been smoking, and then barged into my apartment and started rousting people and stealing my posessions. i ended up getting sited for paraphernalia and posession (while they were ransacking my apartment, they found approximately a tenth of a gram in a forgotten baggie under a chair, and several more bags with miniscule residue in the trash).

i consider myself *extremely* lucky that the cops (whose brains weren't firing on all cylinders) didn't find the quarter pound, that had been weighed out and packaged in eighths, which was in an open cardboard box in a back closet. i know they looked in the closet at least twice, but they never found the *big* stash... if they'd found it, i would probably *still* be in jail.

about six months later, when i finally got my day in court, all of the "evidence" the cops had against me - including the pot they had "seized" - was thrown out because the cops had neither a warrant nor my permission to enter my apartment. with no admissable evidence, the charges against me were dismissed, much to the chagrin of the judge.

if i had had a 10-foot-tall plant growing in my living room, right in front of my living room window, the cops *still* would not have had "probable cause" to enter my apartment. the *ONLY* thing that would have allowed them to enter my apartment without either my permission or a warrant would have been if someone was screaming in distress inside my apartment, or if someone had been yelling something like "the cops are here, flush the drugs". these things are known as "extenuating circumstances" and they establish probable cause that a crime is being committed. lacking those things, the cops have *NO* right to enter your house unless they have either your permission to enter, or a warrant to search (and that warrant has to state *exactly* what they would be searching for).

your car is an entirely different matter all together, which is why it's a good idea, if you're pulled over in a "traffic stop" to get out of your car, and lock the doors. under those circumstances, the cop will have to have a warrant to do more than look into the windows of your car... of course the cop won't *like* it if you get out of the car, and some will very likely claim that getting out of your car is "threatening" to them (which is likely to increase their anxiety, among other things), but you *do* have the right to get out of the car.

http://www.ebeneezer.net/ritual/vegetable/stopped.html - this is a page that contains straightforward advice on what to do if you're stopped by the cops.

Slate

delux,
You are correct on almost every point you made in your post, well done.

The last paragraph dealing with vehicle searches is wrong though. Due to the mobility of vehicles and the possible loss of evidence, a warrant is NOT required for police officers prior to searching any vehicle, only probable cause. Case law on that is; Carroll v US, US v Dewitt and US v Hardy.

I checked out the link that you provided. Very good link with a lot of good information about a persons actions during a detention/traffic stop. (I always order people out of their car anway.)

I also contacted the author of the essay (Karl Denninger) and advised him of the aformentioned case law.

Niteshift

deluxe:

I'll pass on commenting on the scenario you told. You've obviously made up your mind.

Some of the advice you gave, however, does require some comment.

"that warrant has to state *exactly* what they would be searching for"

Not quite exactly. It doesn't have to specify marijuana, it can simply state substances prohibited by (insert your state statute here). That way if I'm looking for pot and find another drug, I still get to take it.

Also, don't forget that any evidence I find in the process of searching for whatever is on the warrant is considered plain view and will get you charged.

"the cop will have to have a warrant to do more than look into the windows of your car... "

Wrong. If I have probable cause, I don't need a warrant for a car. And, if I have PC, I can forcibly enter the car. So, if the dog alerts on it...............

"some will very likely claim that getting out of your car is "threatening" to them "

Depending on how you get out, it is threatening and you may not like the results. You are giving very dangerous advice here.

"you *do* have the right to get out of the car. "

Wrong. The courts have held that I have the authority to keep you in the car, or order you out. When you are stopped, you are being lawfully detained and are subject to custodial control.

The link you posted also gives some incorrect and potentially dangerous advice.

Slightly Stoopid

Nightshift or slate, have you heard of car patdowns? That is how my freind got busted at school. He got pulled over, he had no prrof of insurance, and the cop said he was doing a "Car Patdown". Maybe it is phrased another way, but he told me that the cop said he had the right to search his car for guns etc, within reach or something. I hope you know what i am saying. and in these patdowns, can they do it whenever, without a warrant, just for the police's safety?

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Slightly Stoopid
"Before you knock it, try it first. You will learn that it is a blessing and not a curse"
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