From your LEO experience when pulled over

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Sniper X

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So when is it legal for an LEO (nationwide, local LEO) allowed to search your vehicle? For example, if I was driving along and got pulled over for say a taillight, can they search if they see say a holster, or gun magazine, or something like that? We can carry open here, and can also carry CCW in vehicle even without a CCW. I ask because I have a buddy who is 54, not a criminal looking guy, looks like your typical businessman. Got pulled over for having license plate light out, cop read him the riot act when he saw a Gun Magazine....yes a magazine. Told him that was probable cause to search for "illegal firearms". I could not beleive it! Also said after the guy told him that was not probable cause for illegal guns, cop said he "smelled pot"....did a full vehicle search and confiscated my buddies XD. Told him he could go pick it up after it had been in the evidence locker for 30 days! Guy told him he was going to sue and he eventually gave it back at the stop....idiot cop...What is the law broiken here by the cop?
 
I assume that an LEO seeing a loaded mag is likely enough for him to search you and your vehicle for weapons. I'm pretty sure its a safety thing for cops. My advice is if you are going to conceal it... keep it concealed.
cop said he "smelled pot"
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PS... don't roll around with your weed if you are going to carry. As ridiculous as it seems, it is still an illegal drug.
 
^^ I could see that as probable cause in an area where open carry or keeping a firearm in your vehicle was illegal, however the OP says that open carry is legal in the area this occurred. To me that seems almost as sensible as confiscating someone's laptop to check the serial number and see if it was stolen.
 
It's not so much "breaking the law" -- what the cop did was not a crime. Further, since he didn't actually confiscate the weapon or arrest anyone, I don't see any civil claim I'd pursue, either.

As a criminal defense attorney, I see cops lie all the time, unfortunately. Many of them would deny in good faith that they lie, if challenged. But every single police report on an OUI stop contains the same magic words: "Appeared to be operating erratically ... once crossed the center line .. I detected a strong odor of intoxicants ... appeared glassy and bloodshot ... " That exact language is there in every single report because it once held up in court to a challenge based on probable cause. Accordingly, they use the same exact language in every report, whether it is accurate or not. The honest ones will admit this over a beer, off duty. Most would say they're just keeping a lawyer from getting a drunk driver off on a "technicality." But the fact is, they lie, and people go to jail who shouldn't because of their lies. Your cop didn't arrest anyone, but if he had, he would have written up that "odor of marihuana", you bet, and thrown in some comments you allegedly made about guns which caused him sufficient concern to search the vehicle for weapons, and possibly claim you consented to the search. Then the videotape would get lost, unless and until your lawyer made a huge stink about it, and then the DA would reduce or drop the charges rather than produce the tape for trial. Believe me, I've done the whole drill.
 
As soon as the cop starts talking search you politely decline the search WITHOUT resisting and ask to speak with a lawyer.

After that your best bet is to keep your mouth shut. Let your lawyer sort out weather or not the search is legal.
 
So when is it legal for an LEO (nationwide, local LEO) allowed to search your vehicle?
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In general, if he has a warrant, if he has the owner's permission to conduct a search, or if he has Probable Cause that a crime has been, is being, or is about to be committed.
 
To me that seems almost as sensible as confiscating someone's laptop to check the serial number and see if it was stolen.
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I agree with you, but to a cop on the street, a guy with a laptop is less "scary" than a guy with a gun.

I think it sucks, but this is the world we live in. A cop that pulls you over knows very little about you. Sometimes that makes them a bit jumpy. The best thing to do is stay calm and cooperate. If they violate your rights, hire a lawyer and sue them later... don't argue about it on the street.
 
KBSLC: "The best thing to do is stay calm and cooperate. If they violate your rights, hire a lawyer and sue them later... don't argue about it on the street. "

Good advice.

It's late, you've got places to be, and you've got a twenty-something guy with insecurity and control issues, an associate's degree and a 9mm pistol telling you what's going to happen. Just do what the funny little fellow says, be a pal, convince him fast that you're actually one of the good guys, and you'll be on your merry way in no time flat. Argue about your rights and how he's the one breaking the law, and it will be a long night.
 
When you say magazine, do you mean magazine, as in, a part of a weapon that hold ammunition, or a gun publication?

Once when I was coming on to a military post, I had some gun mags lying on the back seat, and the guard asked me if I had any guns in the vehicle.

In Utah, smelling raw or smoked pot is probable cause for a search. LYING and saying you smelled it to be able to search is not. How does one tell the difference? Get it in front of a judge. If the cop is playing games to force searches, his record will make it obvious.

In most cases, seeing a gun inside the vehicle gives no reason whatsoever to search the trunk. Cops are trained to use charm, threats, and every sneaky trick they can think of to get you to CONSENT to a search. Don't consent. He can get a warrant in 20 minutes? Well, we're going to be here for 20 minutes.

Based on the story you have presented here, yes the cop went WAY over the line. I'm not aware that posession of ANY magazine (published OR loaded) is a crime in NM. (If it was MD, CA, NJ, or NY I wouldn't be so sure.) If a cop CLAIMS to have smelled pot, searches, and then finds no evidence of any, he's going to have a staring contest with a judge to decide if he made the whole thing up in the first place. If it's not the first such staring contest between that cop and that judge, the decision will be easy.

It is not a crime to posess a handgun in NM, it is not a crime to transport it in your trunk. I say the cop committed theft.
 
Deanimator: "Do you mean a receptacle for cartridges or a publication, the subject of which is firearms?"

I think he means a receptacle for road apples, meaning a popular gun publication printed on slick paper.
 
The best thing to do is stay calm and cooperate. If they violate your rights, hire a lawyer and sue them later... don't argue about it on the street.
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Consent to NOTHING, but do not resist.

"I do not consent."
"Am I free to leave?"
(If the cop is way out in left field, physically threatening, etc.) "I request that a supervisor be brought to this location."
(If you're not free to leave, or he won't give you a straight answer) "I have nothing further to say without my lawyer present."
Shut up until your lawyer is present.

I don't care how long it takes. My rights are WAY more important to me that any inconvenience. I will not allow myself to be bullied or strong armed.

I hate bullies.
I hold grudges.
I have absolutely no sense of proportion.
 
Deanimator: "Do you mean a receptacle for cartridges or a publication, the subject of which is firearms?"
Click to expand...

I think he means a receptacle for road apples, meaning a popular gun publication printed on slick paper.
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I had four banker's boxes full of gun magazines in my car last week. There hasn't been a time since I bought my car that it didn't have 1/2 dozen or more gun books or magazines in it, in plain view.

If a cop doesn't like that and wants to do something about it, I say go for it. Want to violate my 1st AND 2nd Amendment rights? It's on, the law of the vendetta. I'll destroy his career or die trying, money no object.
 
Don't know about the legality but the reality is that if you are by yourself when you are pulled over you are pretty much at the mercy of the police. Your word against theirs.
 
They want you to believe that you are at their mercy. They want you to believe that you must do whatever they want you to. If you are ignorant of your rights, they will smell it and exploit it. This is why there are dash cams and subpoenas of officers' records. If they are jerking you around, it is unlikely that you are the ONLY guy they have jerked around, and the record will reflect this.
 
Duke of Doubt you really crack me up.The reason Cops use the same words in court is because they are taught many of these phrases in the Academy to illustrate what they observed.Are you telling me that Lawyers don't all use the same words?I guess you never read any contracts?
I used the term "Glassy eyed" because that's what most eyes look like when under the influence of alcohol.Do you have a better example? If you do please share.Would you rather hear the Cop say your client had slurred speech,or that he had a mouthfull of turds?My guess is that if you really are an attorney,you are probably not a very good one because you have a lot of time to be on the internet.Most of my Lawyer friends are too busy for such foolishness.Maybe you are retired like me?If that's the case I apologize about not being that good of an attorney.If courts had a reliable lyometer in court,I believe it would quiver during some cops testimony,but it would blow up when lawyers put their clients on the stand,or when they made outlandish statements to get the client off.Good Lawyers win cases by doing their homework,but crummy Lawyers win by attacking the cops because they have no defense.Ya,I am way off base here.lol
 
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