Reply #14: Probable cause in not needed if you consent to a search! [View All]

If you are black or poor and the cop has nothing pressing to do (the donut shop is closed) you will be asked if it's ok to search your car.

My lawyer advises; "Think of yourself as a prisoner of war....name, rank and serial number only anything else, call a lawyer and NO SEARCHES". I think he's right.

On edit. To try to answer your question. Probable cause is more than a suspicion a crime has been committed but not actual evidence. For instance you are pulled over for a tail light malfunction, everything else is in order and you haven't done anything wrong but the cop just doesn't like your looks....no probable cause so he cannot legally search. But lets say he sees you closing the glove box as he approaches the car hmmmm still no probable cause UNLESS he saw you put a gun in there, now he has probable cause. Let say he searches (just cause he doesn't like you) and finds a bag of grass. Do you think it would be hard for him to say he saw it in the glove box when you got your owner's card or saw you pick it up and jamb it in there when he approached the car? Who is the jury/judge going to believe? Cops lie on the witness stand all the time, it's just simply routine and any lawyer or judge who says that I'm wrong is lying, they know it happens all the time.