Can a cop ask to search a bag or pockabook thinking your carring something illegal?

Question

Can a cop ask to search your pockets or anything your carrying with you for just being suspicious if you didn't do anything wrong.

Answer 1

He can ask you; you do not have to consent.

Answer 2

You have gotten some interesting, correct and incorrect, answers so far.

All of the below are general rules and each state may have some very minor differences. Check with a lawyer in your state for exact legal advice.

A police officer can ask any person anything, including asking for permission to search. He needs no probable cause or even suspicion to do this. Any person can ask you for permission to do almost anything. You can give permission or deny it at your whim. All of this is legal and Constitutional, and has been all along (no recent changes to your waiving your rights).

The real question is what can you do when the cop does ask. You can say no. If you are not under arrest, or being detained for an investigation ( a very fuzzy line there BTW), you can walk away and there is nothing the officer can do. Think about that part like this: You are shopping in the mall and a cop walks up and say 'Do you mind if I search your purse?' You can ignore him and keep walking, without ever even answering, just like you ignore lots of other solicitors in the mall.

If you are being detained for an investigation, you cannot leave, but you do NOT have to consent to the search. You always have the right to deny consent. If you do not consent, the officer may search anyway if he has probable cause for a search (not for an arrest) and has exigent circumstances that a court will recognize as a justification for not getting a warrant. If he does not have the exigent circumstances, he needs to get a warrant to search.

If you are actually placed under arrest, either based on probable cause or on an issued warrant, the officer needs no consent for the search. There are limits to what can be searched and how, but the search of you and your immediate possessions (like your purse) are legal. Of course, if the arrest is not legal, then the search is also not legal, and normally the evidence found during the search is thrown out. There are still ways to get it used in court, but it takes a lot more work.

Be careful. Search and seizure is a constantly evolving are of the law that takes a lot of study to fully understand. It is based on the 4th Amendment, state constitutions, various other laws, and then court decisions at both the state and federal levels. It does change a lot based on where you are at the time.

And legal advice received over the Internet is usually worth less than what you paid for it.

Answer 3

Sure he can ask. Unless the officer feels that there is the potential for immediate danger or directly observes a person attempting to hide something he can not violate your constitutional right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. If the purse is left inside a vehicle or on the premises of a concensual or warranted search the officer may search. In addition, personal property such as pockets and handbags may be searched following an arrest.

Answer 4

yes they can in some cases I am very sorry to say. The expansion of powers given to police over the past years go way beyond what I think is right.

If they say you are suspicious, then they can pat you down for weapons, if you are in a known drug area, they can search you for drugs in many cases.

In any event, even though you may refuse to give permission to have your property searched, like a car trunk or whatever, they can then hold you to bring out the drug dogs, or take you and the car to be searched after getting a warrant. Great laws we have eh?

Answer 5

In general, a cop may "ask" to search without having probable cause. If a person gives their consent to search their vehicle, for instance, and the cop finds fruits of a crime therein, the person may be subject to arrest. However, if the fruits of a crime are located during a nonconsentual search, the cop will have to be able to articulate, in court, how he developed probable cause to conduct the search. If he has probable cause to believe the fruits of a crime may be present in a vehicle and may be destroyed or disposed of before he can obtain a search warrant, he may seize control of it under what are called "exigent circumstances" and hold it till a search warrant is obtained. Search and seizure law is ever changing and a complicated issue to understand.

Answer 6

A cop can ask pretty much any question you want.

Here's my advice, speaking from experience.

9/10 times, if a cop is talking to you, it's either to try and arrest you, or to try and arrest a friend.

Think of it like this. It's not an officers job to "protect" you, it's an officers job to put people in jail.

I recommend telling them nothing, telling them you do not consent to any search. If they search anyway, lawyer up.

Most importantly, Don't confess to anything. They always tell you "yeah we will work you a deal." What that translates to is "You make our job easier, but you still get screwed."

Don't talk back or be rude. Just don't do anything that you don't have to.

Answer 7

Yes, he can ask you, but you don't have to consent. If you don't, he can either arrest you (if he has probable cause to believe you have committed a crime), and then he will end up being able to search it anyway (or another officer will, back at the station), or else he'd hafta go get a warrant. But since that's a lot of extra paperwork, usually, especially if he has good reason to believe you've been involved in a crime, he'll just arrest you, and avoid the judge's order.

Answer 8

Yes they can but if you refuse they then have to go before a judge
and request a warrant. At the time it is presented to the judge they would have to show probable cause and state what they are looking for. They cannot state that they are looking for a stolen piano by someone fitting your description and look in your back pack knowing full well that they could not find a full size piano in a back pack.

Answer 9

Basically yes. They have to have probable cause but unless you already have a good lawyer they always have probable cause. So better just to go fine and let them do it then file a complaint with their department chief later. That is the best you can do for free.

Answer 10

If he has probable cause that you've done something illegal. If you're going to a public place like a sporting event or something you consent to that search prior to entry.

Answer 11

Permission to search denied without a warrant.