ok so on this past friday night, me and my friend were driving and got lost in a strange neighborhood thinking i could cut through to the next major road. when i hit a dead end, i was in the parking lot of some club house or community center so i parked up and turned off the car while i called my friend that lives around there. the next thing i know, a sherrif dept vehicle is shining the spot light in my eyes and telling me to keep my hands where he can see em.

so he tells me and my friend to get out of the car, checks us for drugs and weapons then without asking he checks my car.
me knowing that i dont have any drugs or weapons, i didnt try to stop him. he said we were suspiciously in a neighborhood that has been having many burgularies so he had to check us. so he goes though my car and doesnt find anything... then he goes back after a minute and looks in my car again and pulls out my knife that i had been using at work for cutting, stripping and splicing wires (installing lights and eletrical devices). AND APPARENTLY, THATS A CONCEALED WEAPON!

so im thinking, "ok hes gonna take me down to the precinct and issue my arrest and whatever how that works"

but no, he writes me a ticket for it. not a ticket that i have to pay, a ticket for me to appear in court!

ok so the question is, does anyone know whats the reason i have to go to court for this? why cant i just pay or do community service or something? and also should i contact a lawyer?

im so lost.

Is that not an illegal search?

If he saw the weapon during the initial search and just glanced over it then went back for it it is still ok. I am doing a ride along right now and we did the same thing to a guy the other night. As for the ticket to appear in court. You should be able to get out of paying anything or if anything it will be a small fine. Chances are, the Deputy will not show up at the hearing anyways. If thats the case, you get to tell the judge what happened and there will be no one there to say otherwise. Hopefully that's enough information for you.

take a picture of the knife and where you work. take pics of work done using the knife and say you were harassed.

Pics are definitely a good idea.

thanks guys, ill try to have pics taken with me using it lol. so basically this means im just goin to court to tell a judge what happend? i guess technically the cop could have pulled a pencil out of my car and called it a weapon. its true i did have a weapon in my car so i have to pay anyway right?

When will people realize that just because you don't have anything to hide DOESN'T mean you should let a police officer search your car? I know it's a bit intimidating when a cop asks if you have anything to hide and if you're okay of they take a look at the inside of your car. But they can only search if they have probable cause, and in this case, they didn't. You were just sitting there not doing anything, so they had ZERO reason to search you car.

I hear a lot of stories about people getting pulled over, and saying the same "I don't have anything to hide, so go ahead and search my car" line only to have it backfire on them. Cops will find some little itty-bitty stupid reason to cite you a ticket (intake, header, box cutter in the trunk, empty beer cans, etc).

Again, if they don't have a reason to search your car DON'T let them search you car!

i know in California it is illegal to carry a fix blade knife in your car that is a certain size ( i dont remember off the top of my head, like 5 inchs or more).

Yes, never let them search your car, once you give them the OK you forfeit your rights, like your rights to remain silent.

Probable cause was recently been having many burgularies. You should be fine.

>That's a premium idea. Just dont say you were harassed The court ticket is the police officers way of "discouraging" future break ins. He dont know if it was you or not, And he obviously didn't think so, but by sending you to cort; You wouldn't dare to do it. Farthermore, INCASE your "know" the burglars, you'd tell them to stop. That's how it works in his head. it's happened to me. Just goto cort, take some pics to 100% gaurentee that nothing will happen to you. Even if he shows, just tell the judge the truth. It takes 5 min (after you get to the judge) and they'll throw it right out. If the cop is there, he'll only say that it looked suspisios, But has no evedince nor farther reason to believe that you are doing, nor have done anything wrong. "thank you sir, have a great fcuking life" is what i was told


>Yes. This is true.

I seriously doubt that you'll have to pay a fine. Especialy if you can prove via pics that it's a tool, not a weapon

Aaaand why was my post in here deleted?

>

This is a family orientated site, you talk about illegal activities and i'm gonna delete it, ok?

Was the knife in plain view? He needs to have just cause to search a vehicle, looking suspicious isn't enough.

^ If the cop was given permission to search the vehicle, even if it was in a shady way, then it's not an illegal search. He could've said "I'm going to search your vehicle" and if the OP said "okay" then that's permission, even if it's a shady way of getting permission.

I agree that getting a statement from your employer, or better yet, see if your employer is willing to appear in court with you to attest to the fact that the knife is a work tool. I'm willing to bet that if the OP has no priors, it'll get tossed. Sounds like the cop was just trying to save face for what was otherwise a waste of time and taxpayer $$.

True - but the OP also said "without asking..." so I didn't even address that.

officers cant search your car without a warrant. even if they ask you to search u can say no as long as they dont have a warrant.

sounds like a bad cop to me. and a BS write up.


fight him in court for sure

Oh man, people... this isn't law&order The cops are going to do what they want... They'll find a way, and in the end it's your word against theirs. Secondly, They're just doing their jobs, and are only human. You guys are acting like the police are robots... You're talking to a person, not to DOS code .

Just goto cort, explain that it's a tool and what you were doing. The Cop probably wont even show up; It'll be dismissed if it even goes that far. Usualy when a cop dosen't show then his "Victims" are release w/o having to even step foot into the court room.

>

They only need a warrant to search w/o just cause. If there is a weapon or illegal substance in plain view that is enough for them to search your vehicle. If they say can I search your vehicle and you say ok they can search. They don't always need a warrant.

yes i know. but im saying if they ask if they can search your car, you can say no and they cant do anything about it.


i just saw i 4got to say that they can search your car if u say yes. but u do have the option to say no. most people dont know that

This post has been edited by SeverX13: Oct 6, 2008 - 9:41 PM

wow thanks everyone for your input. but yea i think he tricked me into going into my car by him saying "whats in the bag?" (REFERING TO A T-MOBILE PHONE BAG) and as my friend told him its just a phone, he looked in the bag which was in my car......so he somewhat wondered away from the bag and continued to look in my car untill finding somethin to get me for. i mean he deffinately tricked me into letting him search the car by saying it like this "is there anything in the car i should know about befor i search it" and by me saying no i guess that gave him the green light.

hey wait u think i should get a lawyer? or just show up to court? lol

Get a lawyer.

>

Depends on where it's illegal, you're a couple hundred kilometers from my wonderful homeland where it is, in fact, not illegal.

But okay, won't happen again.