Have you ever had your car searched by the Police

[dcmdon]

With all the worry of transporting firearms within the law, but possibly in a way that could land you in trouble with ignorant LEOs, I thought I'd poll this community and see how many of you have actually had your vehicle searched by the Police.

Thanks,

Don

 

[Da_lucche]

never have been searched nor asked.

 

[45collector]

Yes, but only once and that's when I was 19 years old. No firearms involved.

 

[binary]

Yes, but nothing to do with firearms. I was ~18 at the time and he was looking for weed/alcohol. He started off the stop by immediately "smelling weed" aka "I want a reason to search your car". I think he was expecting me to refuse, his 'search' consisted of sticking his head in the open window.

 

[DarthRevan]

It wasn't a search in the sense that I was removed from the vehicle, I was passing through a sobriety check point on 1A (Lynnway) and he flashed his light into my back seat and saw my blanket in there and asked if we had been camping. Internally said **** you, quit looking at my shit illegally; externally said it was laundry, which it was.

 

[kalash]

Asked to step out, subjected to a field sobriety test, and visual inspection or the interior of the vehicle without opening any compartments. Lesson learned: when taking an exit off the highway, make sure it's an exit and you're not just following a state trooper down a police access ramp. I was sober, FYI.

 

[tk421991]

Yes, but only once and that's when I was 19 years old. No firearms involved.

+1 but I was 18, the only time I've been pulled over with gun related stuff was when I was pulled over with two boxes of .45ACP on the passenger seat. The cop asked where I was going and I said the local gun club. No further questions or to do.

 

[45collector]

Lesson learned: when taking an exit off the highway, make sure it's an exit and you're not just following a state trooper down a police access ramp.

Haha! Nice. I can see myself doing that after a long day of work, exhausted and distracted.

 

[drgrant]

Never been searched, politely got the 3rd degree at least once though, mostly because I think it was 2am and the trooper was bored. My car is either completely clean and boring inside or filled with junk. I think either acts as a deterrent, LMAO....

-Mike

 

[Chet0729]

Long ago, I got stopped by a Statie, 4 kids in the car, still on my pink slip. He went through the car but found nothing. I knew nothing about what they could and couldn't do back then

 

[teaser452]

When I was 18, with my 19 yo buddy. He was driving. We had a 30 pack in the back seat. Got pulled over by 4 town cops. Something about there was a party that had been broken up in the neighborhood, and they wanted to know if we had been at it. Made us get out of the car. Searched it. Let us go, with the beer. This was Natick. circa 1992. No searches since then.

We figured since they saw the 30 pack, we had better let them search.

 

[Zappa]

In nearly 30 years of being in the towing business, I've probably witnessed a thousand police searches of vehicles.
It's actually rare if they don't search a vehicle that's being ordered towed.
A very common scenario is when a car is stopped and found to be unregistered or the driver unlicensed/suspended.
The cops call for a tow and search the vehicle under the guise of taking "inventory".
And if they just happen to find something illegal, they confiscate it and add additional criminal charges against the driver.
Happens all the time, even for many vehicles that are towed for parking violations, without an operator present.

 

[jjman15]

In nearly 30 years of being in the towing business, I've probably witnessed a thousand police searches of vehicles.
It's actually rare if they don't search a vehicle that's being ordered towed.
A very common scenario is when a car is stopped and found to be unregistered or the driver unlicensed/suspended.
The cops call for a tow and search the vehicle under the guise of taking "inventory".
And if they just happen to find something illegal, they confiscate it and add additional criminal charges against the driver.
Happens all the time, even for many vehicles that are towed for parking violations, without an operator present.

That's not right. Most of them go by their own rule book.

 

[jtnf]

Had one open the cross-bed toolbox on a pickup before even saying a word to me. He then searched the cab "to inventory contents, because the drivers for the tow company have been known to steal things." Lapsed registration warranted the tow.
This was in a town where "shitboxes are driven by shitheads."
I knew the owner of the tow company... an old family friend. He was pretty unhappy that his name was being thrown about to justify 4th amendment violations.

- - - Updated - - -

In nearly 30 years of being in the towing business, I've probably witnessed a thousand police searches of vehicles.
It's actually rare if they don't search a vehicle that's being ordered towed.
A very common scenario is when a car is stopped and found to be unregistered or the driver unlicensed/suspended.
The cops call for a tow and search the vehicle under the guise of taking "inventory".
And if they just happen to find something illegal, they confiscate it and add additional criminal charges against the driver.
Happens all the time, even for many vehicles that are towed for parking violations, without an operator present.

That's not right. Most of them go by their own rule book.

Heh - I typed my previous before reading page 2 and this response.

 

[A1850]

Yup. Back in early days of college. No firearms involved. We squeaked out of that one with no jail time.

 

[P-14]

Yes, once, when crossing into Canada by the Canadian Customs Police. The 2 officers were wearing blue body armor including shoulder armor and crotch armor (a la "Super Troopers"). They were armed with batons, mace, cuffs, and side arms. No helmets though.

Skip to 1:48 for crotch armor:


They asked me to step out of the vehicle and proceeded to search everywhere accessible (passenger compartment, glove box, under seats, and the trunk and under the spare tire). They did not remove seats or flooring or look under the vehicle.

They were sorely disappointed that they did not find anything and let me go. It took about 10 minutes.

 

[daekken]

"I'm sorry, officer, I don't consent to searches."

Had to go through one of those DUI check points once, though. Hadn't had a drop.

 

[thormx538]

I was asked once, I refused.

Supervisor came, kept me on the side of the road for over an hour, eventually told me to leave.

I was 17 at the time, pulled over for having the parking lights on but not headlights (old Chrysler, where you pulled the knob out -- didn't pull it out far enough). Road was lit with street lights so I couldn't tell by the time he saw and pulled me over.

 

[spcantwell]

Ive worked on military bases and had a 'visiual' inspection of my truck, it always pissed me off because I could have hid a howitser in there and the guy would never have noticed. They wanted to 'ban' my kindel (because some have cameras), though the smart phone in the center console was ok, but they didnt bat an eye on a barrel sticking up in the air (picked it up at a local shop the night before) or the 40mm ammo box.
never been stopped by cops though... (though i do want to get a few 'kilos' of dry lettace leaves in shrink wrap to leave on the trunk just to see their reactions when I tell them I am makeing a salad...)

 

[Prepper]

Ive worked on military bases and had a 'visiual' inspection of my truck, it always pissed me off because I could have hid a howitser in there and the guy would never have noticed. They wanted to 'ban' my kindel (because some have cameras), though the smart phone in the center console was ok, but they didnt bat an eye on a barrel sticking up in the air (picked it up at a local shop the night before) or the 40mm ammo box.
never been stopped by cops though... (though i do want to get a few 'kilos' of dry lettace leaves in shrink wrap to leave on the trunk just to see their reactions when I tell them I am makeing a salad...)

Use oregano.... It works better for alarming them.

Sent from my LG-H810 using Tapatalk

 

[Wrench75]

Several times. All when I was under 20. Firearms involved only once. Mauser 30-06 loaded in a soft case in the trunk. No locks of any kind on the rifle or case. It was not an issue. I didn't get so much as a ticket. That was westport PD. in 1994

 

[Gdbrz]

When I was about 17 my girlfriend, and now wife, were "talking" in my car in a dark corner of a parking lot. Car was searched looking for signs that we were running away. Officer failed to notice the backpack full of her clothes, in the back seat.

 

[Evadd]

Never searched, but have been pulled over twice for absolute BS reasons just so they could see what I was up to. One asked to see what was making smoke in the ashtray (a cigarette), but that was the extent of physically poking around.

 

[SpeedOften]

Sort of? Back when I was in the Navy, early 2009. Coming off shift ~0200 AM down in Hampton Roads. I was pulled over for a loud exhaust - (questionable - Ford "Performance" exhaust) and a I had a ball of plastic wrap from a homemade brownie I had on my way in 12 hours earlier still in the center console. I had all windows open since it was nice out. The second officer asked me to "open it up" to show him what was inside which was nothing but a few chocolate crumbs.

I've also had a couple random base inspections of the contents of my car.

No firearms in either case.

 

[fitter]

Yes, In the 60's when i had long hair and they were looking for drugs. Had to add 30 min. to every trip to the Jersey shore.

 

[jbehuniak]

It was on Fort Rucker so it doesn't really count. I had two pistols in the truck but nothing came of it.

 

[ochmude]

Aside from inspections when entering secure locations, I never have had my car search. I've done plenty of searches, though.

Blame Forum Runner for any typos and such.

 

[Alex9661]

Asked to step out, subjected to a field sobriety test FYI.

You mean you for some reason consented to a field sobriety test.

 

[Horseman508]

First time I was searched I was just a dumb 19 year old kid. I was stopped by the Taunton Police, they confiscated the 30 pack of Budweiser in my back seat and laughed at me. The Pats had a playoff game the next day and shared the news that it would come in handy. This was before the package stores were open on Sundays.

Second time I was around 30 or so and was pulled over because "It's 2 a.m. you're in Whittensville and your license says Somerset." "Can you tell me exactly what you're doing out here right now?" To which my reply was if I haven't done anything wrong and you're not writing me a ticket, I'd rather not say. He then proceeded to call in back up. At that point I informed him I was carrying a Glock and handed him my LTC. He still ransacked my car, and found nothing except a bottle cap. Definitely an anti-gunner. Oh well, I learned after that to stay away from the girls in Whittensville on the online dating sites.

 

[PilotRPI]

Never searched, but have been pulled over twice for absolute BS reasons just so they could see what I was up to. One asked to see what was making smoke in the ashtray (a cigarette), but that was the extent of physically poking around.

Holy sh#t you use an ashtray! I thought in MA smokers were required to throw garbage out the window at every opportunity? Thank you sir, for not being a jerk.