satpak77 said:
Whether the SEARCH is OBTAINED via Consent or Warrant, the SEARCH should take time and be thorough. HOW it is obtained should not dictate the length of the search.
If I spent 15 minutes getting conset, I am not gonna spend only 5 minutes searching
That's fine...like the guy said, his search took 45 minutes.
I don't really have a problem with what you do after I don't give consent...because I didn't waive my rights. Which ultimately means that I still have recourse on Monday morning after all is said and done. If a person gives consent, they can never contest the legality of the search.
I can honestly say that I have given consent to search my car twice. In one case I was 16 and didn't know any better and the Richmond cop was harasing me. I think this Richard Head thought he was going to find something and was big time disapointed after the search. He was digging in my ashtray like bear in trout stream, the jerk. His reason for stopping me was pretty unreal as well. Once again, bored cop, 11:30 pm at night, dumb kid in car. I drove away from that traffic stop, confused and pissed off...but no traffic citation was issued.
The second time I had my car searched by consent, was when I was leaving the factory on my last night of working there before heading to flight school. I had an old brick of fireworks in the car and I was stripping off rows of firecrackers, lighting them and tossing them out the window on the way to my going away party. I was literally driving the car with my knee and launching salvo after salvo....bam, bam, blammity blam. It was a hoot.
So I get pulled over in the parking lot of the tavern of the going away party and I put the car in park, shut the ignition off, put the keys on the dash and put my hands out the window. When the cop walks up and shines the light in my eyes, I go..."Hey, I'm sorry I did such a stupid thing, but it's my last night at the salt mine and I'm letting loose before going out of town to school!"
He gets a little more relaxed and looks in my car from the outside and I hand him the remaining brick of firecrackers. He says, "if you check out, you'll walk...let me see your driver's lic."
He goes back to the car and radios it in, then comes up and asks if he can search the car. I got nothing to hide so he does the interior search, then yacks on the radio for a second, then asks to see in the trunk. I let him look and all that's in there is 500 rounds of .357 ammo that had come loose from the boxes, carpeting the trunk floor with a sea of nickle. He didn't say a word and shut the trunk. He then says, "have a seat in the car."
While I'm sitting there, the SGT pulls up and he knows me pretty well...I tipped quite a few drinks with the guy at parties and the bars and knew him on daily basis in a previous life. He pulls up window to window with me and says, "When I your name on the radio, I thought we were going to see an UZI tonight!" I had to laugh...I'll never forget that.
The SGT goes up and talks to the patrolman and next thing you know, I'm in the bar enjoying my going away party...minus the brick of firecrakers, no citation.
What has changed since then? Well, I'm not a dumb kid anymore and I don't drive around doing stupid stuff like throwing firecrackers out of my car. Also, there are times when I keep US Treasury Department tax paperwork in my trunk along with items that paperwork authorizes me to possess. If the Treasury department or agencies under them wants to see my stuff, they are more than welcome to come on over and bring the doughnuts, I'll put the coffee on and we'll have a look see...because it's all good. In fact, they know what's going on, they signed the paperwork.
On the other hand, if some uneducated flat foot thinks he's going to look back there in my trunk and have his way with my Tax returns and items that cost more than 1.5 his annual salary without a subpoena, he's going to have get there without my permission, cause I ain't waiving nothing.
In fact, I'm an UBER UBER dorkster for using it..hahaha.
