In Ca, is it mandatory for an officer to search a vehicle pulled over 4 a traffic vio

[tinyattorney]

The suspect is pulled over for no headlights. AKA reckless driving. The suspect had no identification and was driving on a suspended license. The vehicle he was driving was owned by his girlfriend who was also present. He was asked to step out of the car immediately and to show proof of registration and insurance. Registration was incomplete lacking only smog certification and insurance was valid. The officer noticed a valid registration sticker on the vehicle and asked where it came from. He was told the truth that the sticker had been put there illegally. The officer asked for ID from the owner of the vehicle. The owners licence was also suspended and then confiscated. The driver was escorted to the back of the police car while the owner was of the vehicle was patted down and sent to sit on the curb for questioning concerning the registation tag. After finding nothing illegal on the driver nor any passengers the police proceeded to do a vehicle search. Is this mandatory proceedure? The officers did find marijuana in the vehicle. However is this a legal search? Would a suppression motion hold up well in a case like this?

[txinvestigator1]

I will start off with the obvious statement that the title of your thread is misleading. This was no simple traffic stop.

Please tell us the disposition of the stop. Was the driver arrested? Was the vehicle towed away?

[tinyattorney]

Actually initially it was a routine traffic stop. Although it didn't end up that way. Yes the driver was arrested. No others were charged. The vehicle was impounded. I was being brief in order to just put the jist of it out there. I apologize if that was misleading. That was not my intent.

[txinvestigator1]

It is permissable to conduct an inventory search of any vehicle that is impounded. Any contraband found is chargable. In addition, since the driver was arrested, a search incident to arrest was lawful. That search can extend to any area of the vehicle immediately accessable by the arrestee.

Sounds to me like excellent police work.

Were you the driver or one of the passangers? Or a parent of one of these little absoconders?

[Samuel]

What TX said.

In CA, there aren't too many things that are "mandatory" or required. There are quite a lot of things that are "reasonable", "routine", "common", "normal", or "standard operating procedure".

You're an attorney?!

[Toeknee112]

TWO suspended licenses, invalid registration, stolen registration sticker, marijuana in the vehicle.
"My clients INNOCENT, your Honor!"

[Seand442]

Suspended license, reckless driving, adn fictious tags all equal a good arrest. When the car gets impounded, i am legally within my rights to perform an inventory on the vehicle. Anything I find is fair game.

Nothing personal, but if you are an attorney, isn't this something that you should have learned in your first year of law school?

[sbrad]

No, these poor, innocent kids were wrongly targeted and their 4th Ammendment rights were obviously violated. Police are NEVER allowed to search a car without obtaining consent, even if it is incident to arrest or if the car is being impounded.
Fight the power.

[Srebeiro]

S brad,
Funny.
(I hope that was a joke.)
TX Investigator, right on.

During an accident in a city near my own Narcotics were recoevered during the impound. It was intresting. Fiticious tags. Isnt that a felony in CA? Or just stolen property. I forget. But yeah your hell of stupid if you do it beacuse were going to run your plate anyways and find out. Wow buddy, tell thoughs people better luck next time.

[Cracker[SOY]]

Sounds pretty reasonable to me. Driving with busted headlights isn't too bright in the first place (no pub intended), but follow that up w/ illegal tags, suspended licenses and finally wacky tobacky just proves that these suspects have no business driving! I applaud the officers for their work, they may have saved lives as a result of their due diligence.

Good to know that some of my tax dollars are being wisely spent.

-d

[Srebeiro]

The suspect is pulled over for no headlights. AKA reckless driving.



WTF?
No its not. Its driving without headlights.

[mcsap]

The suspect is pulled over for no headlights. AKA reckless driving.



WTF?
No its not. Its driving without headlights.

I would guess it would depend on how FAST they were driving without headlights, how many intersections they went through and how many near crashes they caused.

[HiTech]

I would guess it would depend on how FAST they were driving without headlights, how many intersections they went through and how many near crashes they caused.

That is true, but without reading several other violations into the original story it is a driving without lights violation.

[JimDeGriz]

I would assume that on the admission of an illegal inspection/registration sticker + no license the officer would have PC to search the vehicle for other items of question ie. more stickers

[HiTech]

I would assume that on the admission of an illegal inspection/registration sticker + no license the officer would have PC to search the vehicle for other items of question ie. more stickers

That is true. But also, here in the Peoples Republik we have a law that allows a car to be impounded for 30 to 90 days if the driver has a suspended license.

People get more time for suspended licenses here than alot of other crimes. There is mandatory additional time for each prior conviction for suspended licenses also. It adds up fast, and it is rare to get someone for a suspended license violation that doesn't have a bunch of priors.