{"id":1048,"date":"2020-09-15T19:51:48","date_gmt":"2020-09-16T00:51:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/neuvillelawoffice.com\/?p=1048"},"modified":"2020-09-15T19:53:11","modified_gmt":"2020-09-16T00:53:11","slug":"know-your-rights-when-police-ask-mind-if-i-search-your-car","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neuvillelawoffice.com\/know-your-rights-when-police-ask-mind-if-i-search-your-car\/","title":{"rendered":"Know Your Rights When Police Ask — “Mind If I Search Your Car?”"},"content":{"rendered":"

According to data compiled by the Bureau of Justice Statistics of the U.S. Department of Justice<\/a>, traffic violations represent one of the most common reasons for contact between police and civilians. Being pulled over for speeding, failing to signal a turn or other type of moving violation usually would not allow police to search your vehicle. Both the U.S. Constitution and the Minnesota Constitution<\/a> protect you from unreasonable searches by law enforcement. The law defines the circumstances under which police may search your vehicle without violating your rights. It helps to understand your rights when asked to pull over and to know how to respond when an officer asks: “Mind if I search your car?”<\/p>\n

Police need justification to stop you<\/h2>\n

Police cannot stop and detain you without justification. They must act on more than a whim; otherwise, they are violating your rights to be allowed to move about freely and without interference. At the very least, police need reasonable suspicion based upon specific and articulable facts that a crime has been or is being committed in order to stop your vehicle and conduct a further investigation.<\/p>\n

For example, if the police see you driving a car with a license plate attached by wire rather than by screws, it would not be unreasonable for them to suspect that the car or the plates may have been stolen and want to question you about it. The Supreme Court of Minnesota<\/a> upheld such a stop even though affixing a license plate to a vehicle with wire is not a violation of the law. The court reasoned that police, through their training and experience, know that wire may indicate stolen plates, which gave them reasonable suspicion to make the stop.<\/p>\n

Limits on what police may do after stopping your vehicle<\/h2>\n

Simply because the stop was lawful generally does not give law enforcement the right to search you or your car. The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and Article I, Section 10 of the Minnesota Constitution protect you against unreasonable searches and seizures by law enforcement.<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court of Minnesota ruled that that searches conducted by police without first obtaining a search warrant<\/a> from a court are presumed to be unreasonable. However, giving police consent to search you or your car eliminates the requirement to first obtain a warrant.<\/p>\n

Obtaining consent to conduct a search<\/h2>\n

All it takes for police to obtain consent to search your car is for you to answer the following question in the affirmative: “May I search your vehicle?” The officer may need not use the word “search” when asking for consent. For example, “mind if I look in the trunk?” would be enough for police to search the trunk of your car assuming you answered “yes” to the question.<\/p>\n

Two factors must exist for the consent given to be a valid waiver of your constitutional rights:<\/p>\n