Recentely I was pulled over in New Jersey. It was about 12:45 AM. I was driving the speed limit and obeying all traffic laws. All lights on my vehicle were working and I have proper, unexpired registration, insurance and valid driver's license
The local K9 unit followed me for about 4 miles and then flipped his lights on. I pulled over immediately, put my blinkers on, turned my interior light on and opened my driver's side window. I have PA plates and have a light tint on my windows that is legal in PA. The officer came up to my passenger window and I opened it and engaged in conversation with him. He asked a lot of suspicious questions, such as were I was going, where I lived, where I was coming from, where I was going, etc. I politely gave him concise answers to his questions and addressed him as officer to show respect. I provided my license, insurance, and registration upon request after the questioning and waited in my car for the officer to check my credentials. I have 0 points on my license, no criminal history and no outstanding warrants.
The officer came back to the car and asked me step out. I asked him if that was necessary and he said that he is allowed ask me to step out of the vehicle. He started again with more questions, this time more focused if I dig drugs, was on drugs, had ever done drugs in my life and if I was driniking. He shined his flash light on me and picked pieces of lint off my shirt probably looking for drug residue. He then without informing me what I was doing basically conducted a field sobriety test where he had me follow his finger with his eyes. I think I did fine.
At this point 2 more cops showed up. Then the K9 officer said next he was going to sniff the outside of my vehicle for drugs. Again I asked him that was necessary and complained that he hadn't even told me the reason I was pulled over. After talking privately with the other 2 officers (so they could get their story straight) he came back and said that I swerved twice over the shoulder. I know I didn't and said that I did not recall doing that. I know how these Jersey cops are and these guys were all in their 20's trying to make a name for themselves.
So then he has the dog sniff my car while other 2 cops ask me the same questions...where are you going, what are you doing tonight, don't you have to be at work tomorrow, etc. I gave them the same exact answers that I gave the K9 cop and maintained my cool and also addressed them as officer. At the end of the sniff the officer said the dog smelled drugs. I asked if that was really the case as I didn't see the dog pawing at my car or barking (I don't what exactly the dog does to alert the officer). The officer said, "I'm not getting into all that"
I was then told that they would have to search my car since the dog alerted. I complained stating that it was late and there no drugs in the car and I was already out later than I wanted to be and needed to get to bed so I could get up to work tomorrow. The officer tried to make me admit to guilt by saying things like, even if you have a bowl in the car we'll find it or if someone else was in the car and drugs fell out of the pocket its ok and they'd understand. He also, then said my eyes were red as hell which they weren't.
At this point, I'm feeling like I'm being ganged up on and that I have no rights and basically if you drive a car you can be pulled over investigated and searched for no reason. At the time of the incident I didn't know my rights. Since then I've scoured the internet and educated myself on reasonable suspicion, probable cause, 4th amendment, exigent circumstances, etc.
The choice I was given was to either consent to a search or that they would impound my car and then get a warrant and search it anyway. So I'm thinking who the hell wants to have their car impounded and go through all the BS and cost of getting it back and the risk of some crooked cop planting evidence. In retrospect, I think the dog smelled nothing, because if he did they'd have probable cause and probably wouldn't have needed consent to search. I think it was all a bluff. In the back of my head I'm slightly nervous that god forbid someone was in my car and there is some microscopic residue of drugs in some nock and cranny but I clean my car regular and highly doubted that was the case although it crossed my mind. So at this point since my only other option was to have my car impounded I relunctantly consented to a roadside search and signed a paper stating my consent.
They went through the car pretty thoroughly for about 45 minutes while the other cops in spurts kept asking me the same stupid questions to see if I would answer differently. Of course they found nothing cause I had nothing on me. At the end of it all they didn't even give me a traffic ticket cause I did not swerve.
My main questions are, under these circumstances if I did not consent to the search could they have impounded my car or was that a bluff? Being that I was not swerving, did the officer have any reasonable suspicion to initiate a traffic stop? Would out of state plates and tinted windows and the fact it was 12:45 AM in the morning give him enough to pull me over? If the dog actually smelled drugs, then would they still need my consent to search or would the dog alerting give them probable cause to do a search without consent. I understand with exigent circumstances of an automobile that with probable cause they don't really need a warrant, as far as I understand. I also no that its perfectly legal for an officer to lie to you as part of their investigation.
At the of the day, I realize officers need to do their jobs and I respect that but can they just make up a reason to pull you over, make up reasons to suspect you have drugs, and the bluff that their dog smelled drugs and threaten to impound your car if you don't consent. I just feel like they walked all over the constitution. I know the law on paper and in practice is different and if they see a sports car with out of state plates and tinted windows at almost 1 in the morning I can understand them wanting to pull me over. I get it. Even if they didn't have reasonable suspicion that wouldn't have bothered me but then when they ask me questions and see that I'm coherent and answering politely and consistently, they don't smell drugs or alcohol on me and all my credentials are squeaky clean they should have let me go on my way. Its the fact that after all this they wouldn't drop it and continued all the way through to searching my car. And the town I was in is an upper middle class suburb...why the hell should our tax payer dollars be wasted on a K9 unit and why should there be so many on duty cops at that hour that 3 of them all in separate patrol cars can hang out at a routine traffic stop. What if someone on the other side of town was being raped or murdered and they couldn't get there fast enough?? By the cops own statements he was hoping at best to find "a bowl". Is this the kind of country where living in where we have K9 units pulling over cars cause its late at night hoping to maybe get someone on a misdemeanor drug charge for possession of small quantity of a relatively harmless drug for personal consumption?? I hope this never happens to me again but I want to know how I can better flex my rights and handle a situation like this differently.
The local K9 unit followed me for about 4 miles and then flipped his lights on. I pulled over immediately, put my blinkers on, turned my interior light on and opened my driver's side window. I have PA plates and have a light tint on my windows that is legal in PA. The officer came up to my passenger window and I opened it and engaged in conversation with him. He asked a lot of suspicious questions, such as were I was going, where I lived, where I was coming from, where I was going, etc. I politely gave him concise answers to his questions and addressed him as officer to show respect. I provided my license, insurance, and registration upon request after the questioning and waited in my car for the officer to check my credentials. I have 0 points on my license, no criminal history and no outstanding warrants.
The officer came back to the car and asked me step out. I asked him if that was necessary and he said that he is allowed ask me to step out of the vehicle. He started again with more questions, this time more focused if I dig drugs, was on drugs, had ever done drugs in my life and if I was driniking. He shined his flash light on me and picked pieces of lint off my shirt probably looking for drug residue. He then without informing me what I was doing basically conducted a field sobriety test where he had me follow his finger with his eyes. I think I did fine.
At this point 2 more cops showed up. Then the K9 officer said next he was going to sniff the outside of my vehicle for drugs. Again I asked him that was necessary and complained that he hadn't even told me the reason I was pulled over. After talking privately with the other 2 officers (so they could get their story straight) he came back and said that I swerved twice over the shoulder. I know I didn't and said that I did not recall doing that. I know how these Jersey cops are and these guys were all in their 20's trying to make a name for themselves.
So then he has the dog sniff my car while other 2 cops ask me the same questions...where are you going, what are you doing tonight, don't you have to be at work tomorrow, etc. I gave them the same exact answers that I gave the K9 cop and maintained my cool and also addressed them as officer. At the end of the sniff the officer said the dog smelled drugs. I asked if that was really the case as I didn't see the dog pawing at my car or barking (I don't what exactly the dog does to alert the officer). The officer said, "I'm not getting into all that"
I was then told that they would have to search my car since the dog alerted. I complained stating that it was late and there no drugs in the car and I was already out later than I wanted to be and needed to get to bed so I could get up to work tomorrow. The officer tried to make me admit to guilt by saying things like, even if you have a bowl in the car we'll find it or if someone else was in the car and drugs fell out of the pocket its ok and they'd understand. He also, then said my eyes were red as hell which they weren't.
At this point, I'm feeling like I'm being ganged up on and that I have no rights and basically if you drive a car you can be pulled over investigated and searched for no reason. At the time of the incident I didn't know my rights. Since then I've scoured the internet and educated myself on reasonable suspicion, probable cause, 4th amendment, exigent circumstances, etc.
The choice I was given was to either consent to a search or that they would impound my car and then get a warrant and search it anyway. So I'm thinking who the hell wants to have their car impounded and go through all the BS and cost of getting it back and the risk of some crooked cop planting evidence. In retrospect, I think the dog smelled nothing, because if he did they'd have probable cause and probably wouldn't have needed consent to search. I think it was all a bluff. In the back of my head I'm slightly nervous that god forbid someone was in my car and there is some microscopic residue of drugs in some nock and cranny but I clean my car regular and highly doubted that was the case although it crossed my mind. So at this point since my only other option was to have my car impounded I relunctantly consented to a roadside search and signed a paper stating my consent.
They went through the car pretty thoroughly for about 45 minutes while the other cops in spurts kept asking me the same stupid questions to see if I would answer differently. Of course they found nothing cause I had nothing on me. At the end of it all they didn't even give me a traffic ticket cause I did not swerve.
My main questions are, under these circumstances if I did not consent to the search could they have impounded my car or was that a bluff? Being that I was not swerving, did the officer have any reasonable suspicion to initiate a traffic stop? Would out of state plates and tinted windows and the fact it was 12:45 AM in the morning give him enough to pull me over? If the dog actually smelled drugs, then would they still need my consent to search or would the dog alerting give them probable cause to do a search without consent. I understand with exigent circumstances of an automobile that with probable cause they don't really need a warrant, as far as I understand. I also no that its perfectly legal for an officer to lie to you as part of their investigation.
At the of the day, I realize officers need to do their jobs and I respect that but can they just make up a reason to pull you over, make up reasons to suspect you have drugs, and the bluff that their dog smelled drugs and threaten to impound your car if you don't consent. I just feel like they walked all over the constitution. I know the law on paper and in practice is different and if they see a sports car with out of state plates and tinted windows at almost 1 in the morning I can understand them wanting to pull me over. I get it. Even if they didn't have reasonable suspicion that wouldn't have bothered me but then when they ask me questions and see that I'm coherent and answering politely and consistently, they don't smell drugs or alcohol on me and all my credentials are squeaky clean they should have let me go on my way. Its the fact that after all this they wouldn't drop it and continued all the way through to searching my car. And the town I was in is an upper middle class suburb...why the hell should our tax payer dollars be wasted on a K9 unit and why should there be so many on duty cops at that hour that 3 of them all in separate patrol cars can hang out at a routine traffic stop. What if someone on the other side of town was being raped or murdered and they couldn't get there fast enough?? By the cops own statements he was hoping at best to find "a bowl". Is this the kind of country where living in where we have K9 units pulling over cars cause its late at night hoping to maybe get someone on a misdemeanor drug charge for possession of small quantity of a relatively harmless drug for personal consumption?? I hope this never happens to me again but I want to know how I can better flex my rights and handle a situation like this differently.
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