When can the police search my car without a warrant?
Hripsime Bagdasaryan's Answer
Criminal Lawglendale, USA8 years experience
Hripsime Bagdasaryan's Answer
In California, police can search your car without a warrant if you consent, there’s probable cause, you're arrested, items are in plain view, your car is impounded, or if you're on probation/parole with search conditions.
Illegal searches may lead to evidence being thrown out in court.
Resisting a search can result in extra charges.
Not understanding your rights can lead to unjust searches.
Being on probation or parole increases the likelihood of a search.
Below is an AI-generated transcript of the video answer.
So when can the police search your car without a warrant? In California
there are several circumstances that the police can search your car without a warrant.
The first one is the most common one is that you give consent. You allow the police to search your car.
That's the first one. The second one is they have probable cause to believe that there's evidence of a crime inside of your car.
The next one is if you're arrested. When you're arrested, they can do a SITLA,
which is a search incident to a lawful arrest. Those are also very common.
If you're arrested, they can search your car. They have reasonable belief that there's a weapon in your grab area or in the area that you could reach.
They can search for that weapon. Plain view. If there's illegal items in plain view,
meaning like there's a meth pipe sitting on your dashboard or something like that,
and the officer can just see it, that gives them the right to search the car.
If your car is impounded, they can do an impound search, which is like a full vehicle search.
They also do an inventory of all of the items. If you or a passenger in your car is on probation
or parole with a search condition, then your car can also be searched. So you have the right to
say that you don't consent to searches, but I always recommend do not physically resist
the actual search that's happening. If the search was in fact illegal, anything that was found as a
result of that illegal search can and will be thrown out in court at a later time. So it's not
worth it to pick up other charges for resisting that search. Fight it out in court.
Criminal Law Lawyer
glendale, USA
