was this a traffic stop

What is the name of your state? CA

here is a situation.

i am in my car with another person. he has a camera and is videotaping. we are in a group of about 10 motorcycle riders and we are on the freeway. we are speeding but doing nothing much other than speeding and changing lanes without signaling. all this is caught on tape.

someone calls in and reports to the chp that we are doing this. the chp shows up about 1 minute after we get off the freeway while we are regrouping at an exit. the chp doesnt actually SEE the events happen.

the chp stops next to the convoy and announces on the loud speaker "nobody move". 1 minute later, he anounces "everybody get their registration and insurance out". another minute passes by.

chp gets out... walks to my car and starts looking in it. he askes where the camera is and proceeds to look. at this point, i am not telling him where it is but he finds it. it is inside a motorcycle helmet in the vehicle. he then walks up to me and asks me how to open the camera. he tells me to tell him how to open it because he will find out sooner or later. i tell him i dont know how. he opens it, but there is no tape inside. the then asks where is the tape? i tell him i dont know.

in the meantime, 4 other chp officers have showed up.

i ended up cooperating after the chp tells us that my car will be towed and stripped down for the tape. we can do it the easy way or the hard way. he tells us no one is getting arrested right now if i tell him tell him where the tape is. i break down and cooperate.

they proceed to search us for any weapons or drugs and they also got all of our information. dob/social/address/phone #'s/etc.

they explain that someone called us in and they reported what exit we took. they also said that they are taking the tape and they will review it, along with all our information, then pass it on to the district attorneys office. he will then determine what they are going to do. he said that we will probably end up going to court and expect a letter in the mail.

2 questions.

one, if we go to court, do we have the right to know who our accuser is? who reported us? do we have a right to know or can they remain anonymous? i would think someone would need to report us and accuse us if the police did not actually witness it.

second question is, do they have a right to search the vehicle for the camera and the tape without my consent. they never asked to search my car. he assumed there was camera because after he opened my door, he asked where the camera was. the camera was hidden on the middle console under a helmet so it was not in plain view. i refused up to the point where he said that if i did not tell him, he WILL get a tow truck there, tow my car, search for the tape and if necessary, strip the car for it.

do we have a case or is this type of incident an SOL type?

[abezon]

One:
The state must either call witnesses to testify that they saw you committing a crime, or enter the tape into evidence. To enter the tape into evidence, the state must establish that the tape is a true & correct record of what happened just before they pulled you over, & the tape must show identifiable people committing crimes. Possible challenges to the evidence include: how does the state establish that the tape was made on the day they pulled you over? Is there a date stamp on the tape? Did police check the camera to see if the stamp was accurate? How can they identify drivers? Especially when the tape shows the back of a helmet? Can they admit the soundtrack or just the pictures? The soundtrack might contain hearsay statements.

Two:
It could be argued that you did consent when you told him where to find the tape. At any rate, police has reason to thiink you possessed evidence of a crime (the tape) & that the evidence might disappear if they let you go & tracked you down later. You'll need to talk to a defense lawyer in CA to get the nuances.

Three:
What aren't you telling us? There's more to this story. You were doing something else or were suspected of doing something else. Also, what makes you think the DA is even going to send out tickets? The DA has better things to do than write traffic tickets.

what am i not telling.... absolutely nothing. we were being agressive drivers but nothing we werent doing is omited out of my 1st post.

i will admit to the speeding and unsafe lane changes. those were the only ones i was guilty off and also what most of the other riders were guilty off. there were no wheelies or that nonsense like they assumed when they (chp) 1st arrived.

the problem i have is not of what i did wrong, but of the nature they did their search (did not ask me nor tell me what he was doing) and how they manipulated me into giving them consent if in fact i didnt have to.

they took all our information. work, phone #'s, home address, dob, place of birth, social. those are the ones asked to me. they also took pictures of the bikes, with the rider and their helmet next to it. my car got a front and back shot taken but without me in the picture.

thanks for the input. that was very helpful. i also thought that the DA has better things to attend to than traffic tickets but i dont know how the system works. the challenges to the evidence that you point sound valid but should i pay a lawyer to handle it for us or should we fight this on our own? i can only wait until they send the letter to us (chp said around 1 month) about going to court to see what my violations are so i know what kind of defense i will need.