"Stop, Don’t Consent to that Search!”

[Joe Wicked]

I will say that my experiences with LE have been like Earl described. The more senior officers tend to not disrespect and push the issue too far too quick. I have only had real issues with 2 different cops. 1 was a Border Patrol stop in California. They selected me for random questioning and I pulled over. They asked to let a dog sniff around my car and I said ok. The officer came back and said that the dog had signaled for drugs and hidden people. He then asked to search my car. I said no. He went off on me how he could arrest me for refusing and then search it anyway. I told him to go ahead and arrest me then. If the dog had actually signaled drugs or hidden people, they would have all the PC they needed to go ahead and perform the arrest and search. Since he was asking me, I knew he was lying. While he was yelling a couple of other BP officers and a CHP officer came over to see what was going on. The CHP officer advised the BP to release me as they were currently violating my rights.

The second time was here in Texas. I had just bought my 03 Mustang and I got pulled over during lunch. The cop asked the usual "Do you know why I stopped you?" I said, "No, I do not Sir." He said that he had reason to believe that my car was not legal (it was completely stock, no mods at all yet). I asked him what the reasons were that he believed it to be illegal. He would not tell me. He called in the license plates, inspection sticker serial. He had me test the lights, blinkers, horn, and even pulled out a tint meter (35% tint was done by the dealership before I bought it, 30% was legal then 25% is legal now). After he was done he wrote me a ticket for my license plate light being too dim. Keep in mind it was noon on a sunny day. That ticket was quickly dismissed by the judge.

Both cases were young officers that thought that they could intimidate me and tried.