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Speak Up! - View Question #18 |
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Question: What if you are driving a car and a police officer pulls you over. He thinks that you have been smoking marijuana and requests to search my car. Does he have the right? Can I refuse him from searching my car? How far can a Police Officer use "probable cause" as an excuse to search/test/arrest me?
Answer: Yes, he or she can search your car. As a general rule, the police have quite expansive rights to search cars. In addition, if the officer 'thinks' you have been using drugs or alcohol, he or she will most likely have probable cause to search your car.
Probable cause exists when an officer, drawing on his or her experience as a police officer, believes that a search will find evidence of a crime. In this case, if the officer "thinks" you've been using drugs or alcohol, they have probable cause to believe that they will either find drugs or alcohol in the car or on your person.
If you refuse to allow the officer to search your car, he or she would most likely get a search warrant from a court and search it anyway.
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