Air2TheThrown

"If you're not into street racing, why would you need that?" Why would you want more power going to your car?" says the cop with a crown victoria modded with a non Crown Vic ECU and nitrous oxide.

nickahhh

What are you talking about? I'm sorry to say this, but common sense has been long abandoned in our government. This is just one of the examples...

etli

Well, at some point, the government can just up the fines to $1 million for a modified exhaust. Then, if you can't pay they can seize all your property to auction it off, and then garnish your wages for the next 30 years.


Regarding the legality of the searches, they are all perfectly legal because the officers could observe people breaking "the law" (no front plate, dark front tint, modified exhaust, etc.) - Which then gives them probable cause to do all the searching.

theboxman

that is illegal period.yes a ticket for tint or exaust is one thing but searching requiers a warrent unless the person alows the officer to search the car. probable cause is b.s. theys simply cant do that. i know they will be having law suits cuz of this.

aaronle06

wow talk about the police limiting our hobbies because they are "unsafe." Let's take skydiving for example; if you jump out of a plane you risk having a chute failure, and if you are instructing in a tandem configuration you risk the life of someone else. First its going to be cars, Commiefornia has already taken your gun rights, now they are taking your hobby. All hell will break loose for everyone if hillary gets voted and bans our ammo. (because the second amendment doesn't say anything about ammo.)

but all in all, the government will try to kill our hobbies one by one. you know, the stuff that keeps us sane, and from going crazy. Its a good thing that the last time I went into a postal office with a firearm, it was to send it off because a firing retainer pin was missing. Good luck to all the other employees in the future who see a deranged worker of the man with a loaded firearm with a score to settle. I'm not inferring anything, but the term going "postal" didn't come from mailing letters.

aaronle06

they dont need a warrant if it is in plain view.

theboxman

im saying a ticket for tint or something visable is legal but under the hood is something else

SCIONshane

"Commiefornia"

HAHA

Iateacricket

Ah Kalifornistan!

senseiturtle

Yup... People's Republic of Kalifornia.

Dwatts5250

Remind you any of that crap that went down in West Covina...?
Ticket, Tow, and then crush.

SCIONshane

Enlighten me...

etli

"Probable Cause" - Facts or evidence that would lead a reasonable person to believe that a crime has been, is being, or will be committed and the person arrested is responsible. In terms of seizure of items, probable cause merely requires that the facts available to the officer warrants a "man of reasonable caution" to conclude that certain items may be contraband or stolen property or useful as evidence of a crime. U.S. v. Dunn, 946 F.2d 615, 619 (9th Cir. 1991), cert. Denied, 112 S. Ct. 401 (1992).

So the facts or evidence is that the cops can see that you're breaking the law with the minor piddily stuff. Now the questions becomes;

"Would a reasonable person believe that having the usual bits of illegal mods means you're violating other laws in terms of mods to your car?"

Case law and judges pretty much always side with the judgement of officers. That whole "innocent until proven guilty" no longer applies in CA for vehicle violations since they stopped having jury trials for Vehicle code stuff.

etli

Try looking at "www.flexyourrights.com"


http://www.flexyourrights.org/traffic_stop_scenario
http://www.flexyourrights.org/street_stop_scenario

IANAL
YMMV

Who know if any of it's really true or applicable in your state.

It'd be nice if someone had a video and audio of the bust so we could see how the officers conducted the searches.

BTW - the police are allowed to lie to you at pretty much any time except when you ask them a couple of key questions;
"Am I allowed to leave?"
"Am I being detained?"
"Am I under arrest?"

The officers will NOT tell you what your specific rights are at the various stages of police interaction. If you don't know them, you're SOL

GQQSE13

hmm can you say lawyer and lawsuit? yep that'd be me

TheScionicMan

It's important to society to keep a lid on things like this. With all the mods I've done to my car, I pull a solid 17.95 1/4 mile. How are normal cars supposed to compete with that???

The irony was thick at the SF HIN last year. The cops are circling the place pulling over slow, barely modded cars and writing tickets. Inside the show, you could test drive a new Chevy Cobalt with a supercharger and take it as fast as you could through their slalom course. Why would anyone need a supercharger? Impound and crush all F/I vehicles, factory or not...

90% of the jerks that pass me and drive dangerously are driving bone stock cars.

Scion_Promos

I wasn't there, nor do I know anyone that goes/went to those gatherings, but.. sounds like back in the 90's when we all used to meet up at certain spots in san diego before we went racing.. after a while we used to have raids like those every weekend.. SD totally put a lock down on all racing with the different laws they passed. maybe they weren't racing at the time, but were they going to if the cops never showed? i'm not saying i agree nor disagree with what happened, but just reminds me a lot of what used to happen to us back in the day.

SCIONshane

The whole car crushing thing is ridiculous. Regardless of whether or not you were racing, speeding, have illegal parts, or whatever, that's your time, money, and effort that gone into that car and honestly I think noone should have the right to take it and simply crush it.

and x2 on the fact that the majority of idiots that fly past me and just in general drive wrecklessly, are in stock cars.

Now I'm not gonna say that I never stay on the gas for a couple of extra seconds, but when I do: 1) I'm the only one in the car, I don't wanna risk a friend or family members life because of my fooling around. 2) I'm away from houses and stuff, because it's not uncommon around here for some kid to come flying to the end of his driveway on a bike or fourwheeler, etc. 3) If anyone else is on the road I'm on, there not anywhere close to me, and I don't go whipping around cars when I pass people.

I don't doubt that I'll be flamed for saying this, and as stupid as it might sound, I consider myself "Responsibly Irresponsible."

RodC

You can't honestly believe that. If someone steals your tC and strips it for parts, would you say they can just keep the parts because of the time and effort they invested? If people are dumb enough and low enough to steal someone else's car parts, then they deserve to have their sh*t crushed. If anyone stole my engine, I would love to throw their car in a crusher. But having law enforcement do it for me would be the next best thing.

SCIONshane

Honestly...I can believe it.

If someone stripped my tC for parts, and that person gets caught, then I expect my parts back.

It just seems completely messed up that they're gonna bust you for stolen parts, and then just go and crush them as opposed to finding out who their original owner was.

Undoubtedly their gonna be charged for stealing the parts, but if those parts are gonna be crushed with the rest of their car, then they might as well count as if they actually belonged to them, meaning they shouldn't get charged with any sort of theft.

If someone stole my engine, I'd love to throw THEM in a crusher, not MY car's engine.