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Illegal search!!!!

1923 Views 45 Replies 25 Participants Last post by  Malum Prohibitum
First I must say that my wife is not real fond of cops. I will not go into great detail except that she has never had a cordial exchange with one and there was a botched investigation into her brother’s murder that allowed the perp to go free. We have a little conversation from time to time where I try to explain that even though they are not all as professional as when I was younger (she is a lot younger than me so she dosen’t know what they were like back then), there are still some that are really decent and want to do their job well.

Now to the story. Last Wednesday, my wife was coming home and her car broke (transmission). She was stranded next to the post office off the square in Lawrenceville. She called me and I called Lance wrecker to pick her car up. Since she was stranded in the road the wrecker service said they would expedite the pickup. I went to pick her up because no police had got there yet to secure her safety. Just as I got there, the wrecker was positioning to load the car. A motorcycle cop was there with lights flashing. She got in my truck and as we were sitting there waiting for a red light, I saw in my mirror that the cop was going through her car looking for whatever he could find. There was nothing to find, unless he had something to drop. I say that sarcastically because he did not even ask to search. Permission was not given. He just waited until the owner was gone.

My efforts to convince her that most cops are good people is not progressing well. When this jerk first showed up, after three previous cop cars passed by her, his first comment was “do you have a wrecker on the way?â€. She replied “Yes, my husband has called oneâ€. His response was “well, if they don’t get here before mine, then they are out of luckâ€. HaHa, just so happens that I called that I called Lance which is the same company that has the city contract.

Not one time was this jerk concerned about ‘to protect and to serveâ€, he was only hoping to get a some kind of conviction from an illegal search after we had left. Now how am I ever going to ever convince my wife that not all cops are bad. She is starting to win the argument!!!!
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Out of curiosity, if you saw him going through your car, why didn't you approach him and tell him you do not consent to his searches?
Not much one could say about that but, it's a damn shame these people are employed to ride shotgun over the general populace.
Pretty sure I would have gotten out of my vehicle and informed the officer that i dont consent to a search and he needed to get out of my property. Depending on my mood, it may not have been said nicely.
ookoshi said:
Out of curiosity, if you saw him going through your car, why didn't you approach him and tell him you do not consent to his searches?
I was sitting at a light about to let me go and by the time I had driven around the block, it was done. Trust me, I really wanted to!!
MyFred said:
ookoshi said:
Out of curiosity, if you saw him going through your car, why didn't you approach him and tell him you do not consent to his searches?
I was sitting at a light about to let me go and by the time I had driven around the block, it was done. Trust me, I really wanted to!!
Write a polite letter to the chief.
Sorry for the bad experience. Just remember one thing...its not their job to protect or to serve. Its their job to enforce the law.

Its our job to protect ourselves and each other. Personally I would have turned around and gone back to question him on the search. But then again, at times I may not be quit so Savvy!
JiG said:
MyFred said:
ookoshi said:
Out of curiosity, if you saw him going through your car, why didn't you approach him and tell him you do not consent to his searches?
I was sitting at a light about to let me go and by the time I had driven around the block, it was done. Trust me, I really wanted to!!
Write a polite letter to the chief.
I think that I will do that. A very good suggestion. I have not even got to that on my own because I am still somewhat unpolite. In a few days, when I feel polite again....
Savvy Jack said:
Sorry for the bad experience. Just remember one thing...its not their job to protect or to serve. Its their job to enforce the law.

Its our job to protect ourselves and each other. Personally I would have turned around and gone back to question him on the search. But then again, at times I may not be quit so Savvy!
You're right about our own responsibilities, however, I refuse to believe that you are not SAVVY.... :)
Sometimes they're just looking for "goodies". It's the unfortunate truth. Things worth money, drugs they can sell, etc. It's a shame they have to resort to that to survive.

My son was driving home from Arizona, when he had an accident. He was taken away in an ambulance, while his car was towed. He had a three thousand dollar engagement ring in the glove compartment. It disappeared. I'd like to think it was the towers, or somebody else, but who knows?
CountryGun said:
Sometimes they're just looking for "goodies". It's the unfortunate truth. Things worth money, drugs they can sell, etc. It's a shame they have to resort to that to survive.

My son was driving home from Arizona, when he had an accident. He was taken away in an ambulance, while his car was towed. He had a three thousand dollar engagement ring in the glove compartment. It disappeared. I'd like to think it was the towers, or somebody else, but who knows?
I had some video games stolen out of my car when it got towed. I have a tendency to believe it was someone who worked at the towing company, as random passerby's in the 1 night it was at their lot seems less likely. This was 11 years ago.
CountryGun said:
Sometimes they're just looking for "goodies". It's the unfortunate truth. Things worth money, drugs they can sell, etc. It's a shame they have to resort to that to survive.

My son was driving home from Arizona, when he had an accident. He was taken away in an ambulance, while his car was towed. He had a three thousand dollar engagement ring in the glove compartment. It disappeared. I'd like to think it was the towers, or somebody else, but who knows?
Hmmmmm.... I didn't even think about that aspect...probably because the tow driver was still there....besides, there's nothing in her car worth anything but an unbrella and an auxillary battery in the trunk...whoops...I didn't look there yet....
Yeah, that cop was looking for something to steal and doing an illegal search......... really, that is the best you have. Maybe the primary unit was on his way and the other officers went out of their way to drive by and check and make sure she was okay on their way home or going to a non priority call or on a special detail. I think it is cool there were that many officers in the area the that could do a quick drive by, why it would have been nice to have the first stop you don't always know what their work is.

As far as being in the car god forbid he be checking to car to insure there wasn't something in the car that was worth money that he could vouch for if it went missing, or maybe they needed info from the registration or the driver asked him to look the car over for safety reasons. Yeah those cops they are real jerks.

I know they are out there but if you took the time to post it and complain maybe the best course of action would to have been go ask him what he was doing.
Drewster said:
Yeah, that cop was looking for something to steal and doing an illegal search......... really, that is the best you have. Maybe the primary unit was on his way and the other officers went out of their way to drive by and check and make sure she was okay on their way home or going to a non priority call or on a special detail. I think it is cool there were that many officers in the area the that could do a quick drive by, why it would have been nice to have the first stop you don't always know what their work is.

As far as being in the car god forbid he be checking to car to insure there wasn't something in the car that was worth money that he could vouch for if it went missing, or maybe they needed info from the registration or the driver asked him to look the car over for safety reasons. Yeah those cops they are real jerks.

I know they are out there but if you took the time to post it and complain maybe the best course of action would to have been go ask him what he was doing.
If you really think that he was doing a search to make sure that nothing was missing...like to "protect and to serve"...then you are obviously a cop. The owner (my wife, did not give any permission to search or concern about property)...she was only concerned about getting the car out of traffic and not getting hit....this was a 4 lane road...as I approached, the wrecker was just beginning to get in front of the car to hook up and my wife was running across traffic to get in my truck. Information from the registration??? Yeah, right, whatever you say officer Friday...he had already ran that info before he even turned on the flashers. Just who do you think you are kidding???? He was wrong to do an illegal search and nothing that you can do, short of a cop in front of a judge can justify it!!!!

ETA: I forgot to mention,....as we were leaving the red light, half a block up was another cop checking for speeders...." to serve and protect our revenue"....yeah...if you ain't a cop...you are related...
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CountryGun said:
Sometimes they're just looking for "goodies". It's the unfortunate truth. Things worth money, drugs they can sell, etc. It's a shame they have to resort to that to survive.

My son was driving home from Arizona, when he had an accident. He was taken away in an ambulance, while his car was towed. He had a three thousand dollar engagement ring in the glove compartment. It disappeared. I'd like to think it was the towers, or somebody else, but who knows?
Sorry, I forgot to add that I hope that your son came out of that okay physically...I can vouch for that stuff hurts...I would rather think that the towers did the bad stuff also...but you just never know these days.....
ookoshi said:
Out of curiosity, if you saw him going through your car, why didn't you approach him and tell him you do not consent to his searches?
:righton: :righton: :righton: :righton:
Tech5 said:
ookoshi said:
Out of curiosity, if you saw him going through your car, why didn't you approach him and tell him you do not consent to his searches?
:righton: :righton: :righton: :righton:
Why don't you read the complete post????? Then ask your silly question again......
Where was the vehicle going after the tow?
MyFred said:
Drewster said:
Yeah, that cop was looking for something to steal and doing an illegal search......... really, that is the best you have. Maybe the primary unit was on his way and the other officers went out of their way to drive by and check and make sure she was okay on their way home or going to a non priority call or on a special detail. I think it is cool there were that many officers in the area the that could do a quick drive by, why it would have been nice to have the first stop you don't always know what their work is.

As far as being in the car god forbid he be checking to car to insure there wasn't something in the car that was worth money that he could vouch for if it went missing, or maybe they needed info from the registration or the driver asked him to look the car over for safety reasons. Yeah those cops they are real jerks.

I know they are out there but if you took the time to post it and complain maybe the best course of action would to have been go ask him what he was doing.
If you really think that he was doing a search to make sure that nothing was missing...like to "protect and to serve"...then you are obviously a cop. The owner (my wife, did not give any permission to search or concern about property)...she was only concerned about getting the car out of traffic and not getting hit....this was a 4 lane road...as I approached, the wrecker was just beginning to get in front of the car to hook up and my wife was running across traffic to get in my truck. Information from the registration??? Yeah, right, whatever you say officer Friday...he had already ran that info before he even turned on the flashers. Just who do you think you are kidding???? He was wrong to do an illegal search and nothing that you can do, short of a cop in front of a judge can justify it!!!!

ETA: I forgot to mention,....as we were leaving the red light, half a block up was another cop checking for speeders...." to serve and protect our revenue"....yeah...if you ain't a cop...you are related...
I wholeheartedly agree. There is NO reason for that man to be in her/your car. NONE. I would have pitched a fit had that been me, because NO ONE goes through my stuff without me knowing about it or consenting to it (which I would never do). This is basic civil rights, and I'm sick of ours getting trampled on. I'd definitely write the chief, and perhaps schedule a meeting. Do whatever you need to do to create a ruckus and make it well known that was totally unacceptable.

But - there are some really really great cops out there, so don't forget that. We all know that. We also know that where there's good ones, there's bad ones. Keep us updated with what you do and with what you find out from the PD. :righton:
i can say i have met good cops and bad just like people, but when a cop is bad it makes a snow ball effect on things around him, i once had two bad cops try to frame me for a break in at a doctors office one nite coming home from work, they told me they saw me at the office that nite just 5 min before, well the only thing that saved me from jail was the fact that i was at work 5 mins before and could prove it, i could not believe they would lie to me and tell me they saw me :screwy: i feel i was very lucky, but just think what would have happened if i could not prove they were lying. :(
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