Marijuana.com

Mattinwc79

Hey all you LEO's and any other people experienced with the law. I know a cop cannot search you or your car without proably cause, but just what qualifies as probable cause? If you are near a place where people have been smoking weeed, can they search you? If you have bloodshot eyes, can they search your car? You get the idea, any info helps,
Thanks.

 

Conine

Probable cause is a pretty common topic to ask questions about. If you do a search on it, you'll find about 5 pages of topics it appears in... I'd check out those first and then if you still have a specific question, go for it.

__________________
Freedom is the right to choose the habits that bind you.
Posting Guidelines

Niteshift

Here is the definition used in a US Govt. authored lesson plan I use to teach:

Probable cause is "clear and articulable facts and circumstances which would lead a reasonable person to believe that an offense HAS BEEN or IS BEING committed or that seizable objects are in the place to be searched. Only the PROBABILITY, and not the prima facia showing, of criminal activity is the standard for probable cause"

Ok, that's the legalese version, now the simple version:

If, equipped my training and experience, a reasonable person would look at the situation and say "it's likely that a crime has been or is being committed", then you have probable cause.

Before someone starts this argument.......... the reasonable person standard has NOTHING to do with whether or not they think the law is reasonable, just if a reasonable person would come to that type of a conclusion based on what is present.

__________________
A burning desire for social justice is never a substitute for knowing what you're talking about. -Thomas Sowell

Sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel is muzzle flash.

mindraver

...might include the following:

"The suspect made a sudden unexpected movement that led me to..."

"The suspects' car resembled that of the smell of burnt marijuana plants..."

"The suspects' car had visible smoke emanating from the windows..."

"After pulling over the suspect and proceeding to obtain valid ID from them, the environment inside the vehicle was that of old burnt marijuana plants at some time previous to the said suspect being pulled over...."

and the list goes on.

i would bet it safe to state that probable cause can be found in just about any form if one is willing to put effort forth into finding it.

__________________
Cannabis is my anti-drug.
- the mindraver

Good Riddance

Thats sounds pretty vague to me. Thats like saying "He had a chronic sticker or a shirt on relating to weed, so I searched him." But they did make the laws vague for a reason.

 

Mattinwc79

How about this one?

You are leaving a party that the cops just busted up and they have arrested people for drinking and smoking pot, is that probable cause to search anyone and/or everyone coming out of the party?

mindraver

in most, if not all, cases, most certainly.

Mattinwc79

That is complete crap! I always thought probable cause rules were more strict than that. So pretty much, if a cop wanted to search you, he could find any reason he wanted and say it was probable cause?

I don't like that 'law', it's almost like saying a cop can just search you whenever he wants.

Niteshift

"How about this one?

You are leaving a party that the cops just busted up and they have arrested people for drinking and smoking pot, is that probable cause to search anyone and/or everyone coming out of the party?"

I'd say no.

"...might include the following:

"The suspect made a sudden unexpected movement that led me to..."

"The suspects' car resembled that of the smell of burnt marijuana plants..."

"The suspects' car had visible smoke emanating from the windows..."

"After pulling over the suspect and proceeding to obtain valid ID from them, the environment inside the vehicle was that of old burnt marijuana plants at some time previous to the said suspect being pulled over...."

If one of my guys turned in a report that included #2, 3 or 4, they'd get it back to fix.

Legalese has a way of biting you in the azz, so it's best to speak plain english in reports. I'd have to presume that anyone that turned that report in to me was new (otherwise they'd know better), so I'd play devils advocate with them and question their statements the way that a defense attorney would. It usually drives the point home quite well.

Mattinwc79

Alright Niteshift, thanks for clearing things up.