Oh, I disagree.

Being helpful up to the point of assisting them in doing their job is a given. If they do not prove that they need to search the vehicle, they have no permission to do so. As respectfully as possible, just say no, I'm sorry, no consent. NO smugness.

I really wasn't covering up for another crime, as I don't think I was worried about a ticket for pot possession. Most cops do not care about small amounts of pot. If they ask, I tell them I do have pot, its for personal use, and I am not planning to harm anyone with it. A few jokes about my long hair and "duh" are enough to make the cop a friend in a few minutes. Rarely do I find the need to be worried about these things.

I am usually driving in a clean car, even when I have pot (I haven't had more than a 1/4 ounce since 1991), I never fear the search. They'll find funny shit that will be a riot to explain, but I fear no search and seizure. I do want them to realize that I am not a criminal, and they cannot just search me.



I would tell an officer how fast I was going, if I remembered it. I really have little need to lie and I would rather avoid concealing anything about something as trivial as a speeding ticket.

I just finished showing this video to my dad, he's been an officer for about twenty years now.

First thing he said to me was that no officer in his right mind would EVER speak to someone like that. The officer is opening himself up to a whole world of hurt (complaints, disciplinary actions against him, etc). "Unless the officer is a complete dumbass, he would never do half of the things shown here," to quote my dad.

My dad also said if he had made this stop and the guy had refused to roll down his window, he would have immediately been suspicious of the driver and occupants. "There's no need to do that. All I want is your information. I'm not going to reach into the car for any reason whatsoever. That's not safe for me," quote.

If a driver DID refuse to roll down his window, my dad said he would be suspicious of what was in the vehicle. At that point he would ask the driver to step out of the vehicle (depending on the number of occupants, actually. If there are only two he said he would, otherwise he didn't deem it safe for himself unless he had backup). He said the guy questioning why he was being asked out of the vehicle would irritate him. "If I give someone a simple command, they really shouldn't argue. 'Please step out of your car' is easy to do. I'm not going to make you step out and then jump right into your vehicle. It's not safe for me and I have no right. There's no need to argue with me," another quote

He said that, had this been him, when he made the driver step out of the car he would ask them if he could search the vehicle. "The driver can say he doesn't consent to searches, which is fine. However, if the car isn't registered to him, he has no say in whether I search the car or not. It's not his vehicle, the owner of the vehicle isn't there. I can search the car."

Then, depending on what he found in the search would depend on his next actions. "If I found something that was cause for an arrest, I would arrest the driver. If I was forced to waste my times and everyone else's while I searched a vehicle just because the kid felt like he was just expressing his rights, I would be extremely irritated and write him the biggest fine I could come up with." (Just like Endyss said.)

Here's some advice from my dad (who, from what I've been told by his buddies, could be a major dick when he had to be :P): do as you're told without arguing, don't act paranoid and be polite. Chances are you won't even get the ticket if you do those things. My dad said that, if the offense wasn't too great (going 20 over on an open road, like in the video, isn't too bad here in AZ), as long as someone was polite and respectful he would let them go with a warning. It's when you feel the need to be an ass that you're going to be detained and/or get a ticket.

Please, you guys, this comes from someone who loves a cop: please stop making police officers the bad guys.