Are police liable for damages done to a car that was searched, but nothing was found?

Answer 1

they should be but they usually do what the hell they want and never have to answer for it.

Answer 2

Finding anything has NOTHING to do with liability. If the search was legally justified, and the damages did not result from unreasonable search methods, the police are not liable. If the search was not legal or the damage resulted from unreasonable search methods, they may be liable.

It is unusual for a police search to cause damage. What are you not saying?

Answer 3

Depends on the circumstances. Police would generally be protected if they are doing something that normally wouldn't result in damage.

For example, they open the glove box and the handle breaks. Not the officer's fault and the PD wouldn't be responsible.

Now if they are cutting open seats and not finding dope. Well the PD is paying for that and there is going to be one pissed off Sergeant.

People on here kill me. I don't know about the rest of the nation. But around here police departments fall over themselves to pay for things and make it right. An officer damages anything around here, on purpose or accident, right or wrong the PD cuts a check as fast as they can to shut up the complainer.

I just don't see this whole "The police set fire to your car. Get their badge number, a lawyer and be prepared to fight it in court for the next 20 years"

Answer 4

Unless they pulled out knives and slashed the seats, ripped out panels or in general did wanton damage to your car, then the answer is no.
Of course..know why? Police (for the most part percentage-wise), just don't abritraily seacrh a car without some reason. And you can bet it can be articulated for the most part in court. So...whatever you may have been doing gave them the reasonable suspicion. Find something? Now they have probable cause.
My advice? Shut up and let it go. Chalk it up to doing something silly and slipping away quietly.

Answer 5

Your explanation does not give enough detail. Why did the police search the vehicle (consent, probable cause, search warrant, search incident to arrest, etc)? What was damaged and how? Flesh this out some.

Answer 6

Only if you press charges, just complaining will do nothing, I wouldn't threaten I would just file a small claims law suit against the officer(s) involved, a written complaint to the chief of police might get the officers a smudge on their record. You can't sue the police, you have to sue the officers that did the damage!

Answer 7

It depends. If they had probable cause then it might be more difficult to recover monetary damages. If it was an act of malicious prosecution, then that's a whole differnt story. Either way, the police department isn't going to just hand over a check for the damages. You will have to sue them for it. (Tort claim)

Answer 8

No, unless they were unreasonably reckless and damaged the car on purpose under the guise of a search.

Answer 9

Probably not. It is one of the big, unknown injustices of our society. Lots of propaganda about all the "good" they are doing us covers up the horrified cries from the few that are oppressed. If they were excessively abusive, you may have a case. But I have even heard of people being locked up in jail for decades, only to get found not guilty and set out with no compensation for lost homes, jobs or time.

Answer 10

i'm getting the reliable impact which you and Police could be on a prevalent call foundation. Am I top? maximum automobile stops are no longer subjected to such strikes. Are you telling us "each little thing?"

Answer 11

Nope