7mo ago

Smell of burnt cannabis alone no longer justifies a police search of a vehicle, Illinois Supreme Court rules

www.chicagotribune.com /2024/09/19/smell-of-burnt-cannabis-alone-no-longer-justifies-a-police-search-of-a-vehicle-illinois-supreme-court-rules/

Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20240920014357/https://www.chicagotribune.com/2024/09/19/smell-of-burnt-cannabis-alone-no-longer-justifies-a-police-search-of-a-vehicle-illinois-supreme-court-rules/

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This is the police .... if you get pulled over by a jerk of an officer, they'll find a different excuse to search your vehicle ... or at the very least hold you up, get you out of your car and generally give you a hard time.
Do your lights work? How's your tire treadwear? Is your documentation up to date? You were driving about five over the limit. This is a ride check.
And one of the worst questions I absolutely hate being asked by a cop ... "Where are you going?"
- Remember, they are asking if they can search your vehicle. You are allowed to say no. Then they must justify an arrest
  
  It's an imbalance of power.
  If a guy with a gun and a license to kill ... which is basically what a police officer is ... if they start asking questions, I'm answering politely.
  I'm not going to argue with them or disagree with them .. even if I say 'no' I'm still at risk based on the personality of the cop.
  I'm also a big brown skinned long haired indigenous person so whenever I get stopped by a cop ... I'm doing what I'm told or I risk getting beaten, arrested or even shot.
  This is also the reason why I placed four different cameras with audio around my vehicle.
  
  Okay, that is absolutely fair, and I do not blame you one bit for doing what you have to do to stay safe.
  
  Same brother. Fellow brown dude... I've been pulled over because my 'car sounded like it was being driven drunk.' Yeah, let that set in.... I didn't argue at all - I was well within my rights, but I didn't know if he gave a shit about my rights or not and his rationale for pulling me over suggested not to press my luck.
  
  Ah, common mistake. You accidently left your confederate flag up, so they just assumed you were driving drunk.
  
  "Am I being detained?"
  "I do not consent to any search of my person or property."
  "I am exercising my right to remain silent."
  "I will not answer any further questions without an attorney present."
  
  These should all be burned into everyone's brain (even if some shitheads have made "Am I being detained?" into a joke, it is still valid).
  With regard to refusing to answer questions and searches:
  Your right to remain silent must be actively expressed in order to exercise it. Simply being silent without active verbal exercise of that right can be interpreted as "confrontational behavior."
  Depending on the circumstances, there are some questions that you are obliged to answer. If you are driving a car, you are required to produce your driver's license. You may be required to identify yourself with name and birthdate, even if you are not driving a car.
  There are a couple of different kinds of search. One kind is a "pat down." This is where the officer is allowed to feel over your clothes (not inside pockets) to check for weapons, and this generally does not require any probable cause or reasonable suspicion. Any other kind of search of person or property does require probable cause, or comes after an arrest. "I do not consent to any search." If the officer is asking for your consent, they don't have cause (yet).
  Be aware that you are only required to be Mirandized if the police are going to ask you questions about whatever situation they have you as a suspect or person of interest in. But you always have those rights, whether they have been read to you or not, and police may ask you questions which are "adjacent" to the situation without Mirandizing you - in the hopes that you simply offer incriminating information.
  If the police want to talk to you, it's Shut the Fuck Up Day.
  
  Don't forget, ridiculous as it is, you have to say "my attorney", based on https://reason.com/2011/03/08/tennessee-cops-posed-as-a-defe/
  
  You are.
  And they are also allowed to then say they smell something and bring in a dog that responds to their commands to establish a "hit" to justify searching anyway.
  If its not the smell of weed, it will just be a different smell that they claim. The issue is your rejection of their search is functionally meaningless.
  
  Not consenting to a police search doesn't stop the search, and that's ok.
  What it does is make the fruits of that search inadmissable, and may also enable you to sue them if the search was unreasonable or excessive, or the pretext violated your rights.
  Even if you know you don't have anything in your car, verbally and clearly say that you don't consent to the search, and would like them to note that fact, but otherwise comply. Lots of people have been caught up by police planting evidence, and you don't want to be one of them.
  
  Ehhh no, that's not true.
  You can say no, but if they pull in some other reason (such as dogs) to give them a meaningful excuse, they now have probable cause for the search.
  Anything is now 100% admissible, you can sue but its not going anywhere, and they can still get away with planting evidence because they came up with whatever probable cause necessary to perform the search anyway.
  Edited to add: BTW, if your car gets all scrsthed up from the dogs, that's just too bad.
  Get a dash cam, front and rear ideally, which also grabs the interior. You do not need to notify police that they are on camera, while in uniform they are public personnel and are not subject to any expectation of privacy while carrying out their "duty". But it may be good to mention you have a camera in there, and no, you will not turn it off.
  
  Don't mention your camera because they will helpfully turn it off for you or it will mysteriously get "lost" in evidence.
  Let the motherfuckers find out at discovery. By then it's too late for them.
  
  That's why I say two and saying no you will not turn it off.
  A cop fiddling with a camera after being told about it, or turning it off while "mishandling" their own body cam... Yeah that's a good reason to get things thrown out.
  Added benefit of not making it to discovery by not having something planted in your car in the first place.
- This might not be completely true, but I was told by a former cop that technically anything obscuring the driver's view through the windshield is something they can use against you. Hanging air fresheners, bobble heads, a mounted dash cam... it's just one of those things that isn't usually enforced.
- you are under no obligation to tell them where you're going/have been.
  
  Whenever I start disagreeing with an officer or telling them I don't have to answer any questions .... the response is usually that I have an attitude and that they don't like my behavior.
  It's subtle intimidation because they know that if I stand up for myself long and hard enough .... they'll detain/ arrest or use force, ask questions after and justify their actions later.
  It's easier to walk a fine line between complying and trying not to upset a bully with a gun.
  
  This is the way. In my experience it's been better to act like their friend while still being mindful of what information you're giving (strictly talking about traffic stops). But for sure if they seem to suspect you of a crime it becomes STFU Friday. It also helps to keep your hands on the wheel and be white.
- “Where are you going?”
  Chaotic neutral: To a lecture on the 4th amendment.
  Chaotic evil: Your mom's house.

60 comments