Getting pulled over by police is never a fun experience and makes most people nervous. Ideally, you hope the police will give you a warning or simply issue you a ticket and let you go.
When the stop turns into something more, it is important for you to know your rights. The police may ask you to get out of your vehicle or ask if they can search your vehicle. They are usually doing this to find evidence of a crime, such as drugs.
Search warrants and probable cause
Generally, to perform a legal search, police officers in Minnesota must have a search warrant. Search warrants are based on probable cause. This means that the police officers have a reasonable belief that evidence of a crime will be found in the vehicle.
Therefore, A search of a vehicle without a warrant is presumed to be unconstitutional. However, there are certain situations that allow police to search your vehicle without a warrant. Some of these exceptions to the warrant requirement include:
- Inventory search
- Motor vehicle exception
- Plain view
- Search incident to arrest
Inventory and motor vehicle exceptions
Police officers can typically search your car for evidence if they are going to tow your vehicle after a traffic stop. However, an inventory search is part of a policy that most police departments have for impounded vehicles.
This means the police officers can only conduct this type of search for inventory. They cannot search your vehicle for the purpose of finding evidence of a crime.
Police officers can develop probable cause to search a vehicle by having reason to believe evidence of a crime will be found in the vehicle. This exception applies specifically to motor vehicles. The idea is that since they are mobile in nature, the evidence could quickly be lost or destroyed and the officer must search in that moment or risk losing the evidence.
Plain view exception and search incident to arrest
The plain view exception to the warrant requirement means that police officers can seize evidence of a crime if it is in plan view when they conduct the traffic stop.
For example, if a police officer sees drugs in your passenger seat as they approach your vehicle during a routine traffic stop, they can legally search your vehicle for additional evidence of a crime without a search warrant.
The plain view exception requires that the item the officer sees in plain view be evidence of a crime. A police officer cannot grab a bottle of clear liquid and test it to see if it is alcohol. They must see a bottle of beer or other type of alcohol and know immediately what it is to conduct a further search.
If you are arrested during the traffic stop, the police officers may search your vehicle. They must have a reasonable belief that evidence of the crime for which you were arrested might be in the vehicle.
The consent exception
Consent is another exception to the warrant requirement. If you give police officers permission to search your vehicle, they can, even if they otherwise would not have had another legally justified reason to search.
The police officer must still have a reason to suspect criminal activity before asking if they can search your vehicle. They generally cannot pull you over for a minor reason, such as having a headlight out, and ask to search your vehicle without any additional reason.