After being arrested can a police search your car with no search warrant???

Question

Is it that a violation of the 4th amendment?????

How do they know what is probable or not????????

Answer 1

Boy. There are a lot of people answering this question who really don't know the rules in this country. I speak from 11 years of law enforcement experience, many of those specifically developing traffic offenses into greater crimes. So people don't think I am feeding you a line of police BS, I included the laws that established each of the rights and reasons to search. Feel free to research them yourself so you can see I am giving you the straight scoop.

There are many times when the police can search your entire car, including your trunk, glove box, and even locked containers within your car, without a warrant. I'll lay out four of the most common techniques I use to search cars.

(1) Consent. Can't go wrong here. If you ask for consent to search and the driver (or person in charge of the vehicle) gives you consent, you can search the entire vehicle. The consenting party has the authority to withdraw their consent and/or limit the areas you can search.

On reasons (2) through (4) consent makes no difference. If the police can meet one of these requirements, they will legally search your car with or without your consent.

(2) Probable Cause. If you develop probable cause during a traffic stop, you may search the vehicle without a warrant. This is commonly called the "motor vehicle exception" to the search warrant rule. The authority for the police to do so was first established under a US supreme court case called Carroll v. United States. The courts have since expanded on this case and allowed the police to search items within the vehicle regardless of who claims ownership of the items. Under this technique, the police can only search areas where it is reasonable to believe the contraband they are searching for may be found. For example, if the police believe they are lookng for a rifle, they would not be able to search a purse. However, if they find the rifle and now believe they might be looking ammunition, the search of the purse is good.

(3) Pursuant to arrest.This is the one you are talking about. If the police arrest you for a bookable offense (any bookable offense from driving with a suspended license to murder) while operating a motor vehicle, they may search the areas under your control (including the passenger compartment and possibly other areas of the car) for contraband or weapons that you may have discarded. This authority is established under case law named Chimel v. California.

(4) Inventory search - If the police have the authority to tow your car, they may search it under the premise that they need to inventory all items contained within the car prior to towing the car. These searches were upheld under the community caretaking doctrine established under South Dakota v. Opperman.

There are other ways to get into a car. Too many to go into here. Truthfully, there is almost NEVER a time when the police need a warrant to search a car. In my 11 years, I think I have obtained a warrant for two or three of the probably 1000 cars I have searched, and those cars were firmly secured in the police impound lot pending the warrant.

Answer 2

I see a lot of misinformation in some of the above answers. A couple answers however were real good but here is the truth...

As a Police K-9 Officer in Illinois this is the law. Someone above mentioned search incident to arrest. If you are arrested as a result of a traffic stop your car is searchable ....but only the passenger compartment area. That which is accessible to the driver prior to the arrest. Meaning not the trunk. ( Unless something is in plain view )

Here is where the law gets tricky. If the vehicle is being towed Illinois law recommends ( not a requirement ) agencies to inventory the contents of said vehicle prior to relocation. That does include the trunk.

So in a nut shell... Officers can search / inventory your vehicle but under 2 said laws not just 1. If your vehicle was not towed then an officer needs your consent to search the trunk.

There is only 1 exception to this law. Since I'm a K-9 Officer... If my dog indicates on the vehicle's exterior for drugs then the entire car is fair game to me. A dog's indication is probable cause and requires no further consent by the vehicle owner.

Hope that helped.

Answer 3

1

Answer 4

If you are stopped for a traffic violation and only for a traffic violation - A police Officer must ask you for consent to search your vehicle. You do not have to allow the search. If while being followed you were doing something of a suspicious nature. Lets say throwing something out of the window, moving nervously in your seat, bending over appearing to put something under the seat the officer might have enough suspicious circumstance to search the arm span in the vehicle where you were seated. If you are a suspect in a criminal act or major traffic violation then they may search the vehicle - as in an inventory search - any evidence found may be used against you in court - and then they would tow the vehicle to an impound yard - Inventory search is a search to make a log of all property in the vehicle so that at some future time the suspect cannot claim something is stolen from the vehicle when it never existed there in the first place. It also protects you if something is actually stolen.

Answer 5

No it is not a violation. Once you are arrested, even if it was just for a warrant on a ticket you didn't pay, they can search your vehicle.

If there is some sort of department out there that says they cannot search the vehicle after someone is arrested (which I doubt there is), whenever the officer is getting the car impounded he is supposed to go through the vehicle and itemize everything that is in it. If he finds something illegal, the person can then be charged with that too.

Answer 6

If the driver of a vehicle or its passenger is arrested for any Felony offense while operating the vehicle. Then the car falls under probable cause for a search. The Police do not need a search warrant. If a person is stopped for a minor offense or traffic misdemeanor then the driver must consent to a search, or the officer must supply a search warrant. NOTE: The local laws of the state of residence (or where vehicle is being operated in) need to be consulted because each state has different search and seizure laws and police regulations may differ from my above statement, but that is the situation from where i come from...

Answer 7

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Answer 8

It depends on what you were arrested for... If you were arrested for a simple traffic violation and you don't have any prior felony convictions then no they can not search. but if you were pulled over for D.U.I or something and they smelled weed or saw suspicious pills in a visible area of the car then now they have parable cause to search and they do not need a search warrant to search your car, but lets say your trunk locked and they found drugs in your car. They do need a warrant to search that locked trunk.

Answer 9

if you're placed under arrest then they can search your car if they have probable cause to do so. the standard for establishing probable cause isn't incredibly high, so it's easy to meet.

if you're pulled over for a traffic stop, the police can search your car if something (like drugs) is in plain sight. so for example, if you have a bag of pot on the seat next to you and if that's plainly visible to the officer, he can search the car

Answer 10

lonewoelf hit the nail on the head, if you are arrested and the police have the power to impound the car they are allowed to do an inventory search to which if illegal stuff is discovered its admissible evidence against you