Should you give the police permission to search you car?
The short answer is no.
About 20 years ago Kendleton, about 50 miles southwest of Houston, was a notorious speed trap. There was not even a real town there – just a bunch of crappy looking buildings, but they had more police cars than New York City. Their racket was to stop people from out of town and give them every ticket they could think up. Anyone who tried to fight it learned that they would have to go to court and wait around for hours and never get called to trial. Then they would have to do it again the next month. Most people would just pay the ticket and be done with it. Kendleton was one of many speed traps across the country.
198th Judicial District Attorney Amos Barton has improved the model. His district covers five counties in the Texas Hill Country and Interstate 10 runs through two of them. Actually his predecessor Ron Sutton perfected the racket, working with the Kimble County Sheriff’s Department. They used the same speed trap setup, but with a twist. When they stop someone they dream up reasons to keep them on the side of the road, asking lots of question: where are you coming from, where are you going, business or pleasure, who’s your friend there, etc. Then they ask are you carrying any drugs or a lot of money or weapons. If you say no, the next question is, well then, you don’t mind if I search your car, do you?
Kimble County seized Four Million Dollars in one stop a few years ago, and ever since they’ve had the fever for easy money. The voters love it because it keeps their taxes artificially low.
So what they are really looking for is money to take from you. The more cash you have, the more they will believe you got it from selling drugs or some other criminal activity. They flip the idea of presumption of innocence on its head. They won’t believe your story that you are on your way to buy a car or cattle or whatever. If they have to, not only will they take your money, they’ll indict you for money laundering.
If this happens to you, your answer should be “yes I do mind.” Or, “No, I do not consent to you searching my car.” If you travel a lot or are planning a long trip, I recommend you buy a pocket recorder and record any encounter with the law. You can get a good one from Radio Shack or Amazon for $50.00 or less.
Be polite and calm, but persistent. We are taught from the time we are little children to respect authority, and to fall for the line “if you don’t have anything to hide why do you object to my searching your car?”
You do not have to justify your refusal to anyone. If you need to justify it to yourself, here’s the reason. The 4th Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees your right to freedom from unreasonable search and seizure. So does the Texas Constitution.
And another reason to refuse consent – some cops are not above planting drugs in your car. Even if you don’t have cash, they can still keep your car.
Call it what it is: highway robbery.
As long as you have no outstanding warrants, and have been following the law, they will probably let you go.
We’ll look at another facet of this problem in a future article about search warrants.
No comments:
Post a Comment