Originally Posted by
Bailey Guns
It's not likely that an officer will apply for a warrant for a vehicle search unless there are some really unusual circumstances. There are much easier ways to get into the car legally. Here's an example of a stop I did:
I stopped a car in the middle of the night (about 0230) for a minor traffic violation...don't recall what. Talked to the driver and asked for DL, registration and proof of insurance. The guy gave me his DL and then opened the glove box to look for the other stuff. When he opened the glove box I saw a stack of cash about 4" thick with a $100 bill on top, wrapped tightly in a zip-lock bag. He couldn't find his insurance card. His address was in the metro area, about an hour from where I stopped him. I mentioned that was a lot of cash he had...didn't ask why he had it. The guy said he was going to look at an appt in a nearby community. That seemed pretty odd because it was 0230 in the morning. I asked where was this appt and why was he going at 0230. I think he realized he'd opened a can of worms and tried to evade my question...so I asked again where he was going. He couldn't give me a location. I asked if he was going to meet someone and he said he was but couldn't give me a name or location of who he was meeting or where.
The more I asked questions, the more evasive he became. I got him out and and gave him a pat-down. I asked for consent to search his car. He refused. I then arrested him for NPOI. I told him I was going to impound the car and, since he had such a large amount of cash, I was going to conduct an inventory search. Then he told me I could go ahead and search and he signed the consent form. In the trunk I found a lot of burglary tools and other misc property items. Turns out he was a fairly prolific burglar and the arrest cleared over 30 burgs in the area and nearby communities.
The point is, it's pretty unusual to arrest someone for NPOI. But, in this case, it was an easy way to get into the car and there really wasn't anything he could do about it. His lawyer tried to suppress the search as coercive during the prelim but the judge ruled it was perfectly legal.
