Has a police officer ever searched your vehicle?

[Paperback Writer]

I learned from my time on the grand jury in my county that if they suspect drugs and don't get consent that they often call in the unit that has a dog so he can walk around the car. Apparently all they have to do to establish probable cause to do a search is for the dog to give the signal he sniffed out drugs. Apparently, in Collin Co. Texas on 75 in far north Richardson there is a Econo Lodge where the cops frequently hang out just to find a reason (speeding, illegal lane changing, etc.) to pull over cars that come in and out of there. It seems they find a lot of drugs. It's actually a nice part of town with several high tech companies with offices in multiple high rise office buildings nearby. Despite being a lower end brand of hotel, it really doesn't look seedy or anything from the outside. I never would have known.

Interesting, for many years I worked in a building in the telecom corridor about a mile away from the infamous Econo Lodge and still drive by there on my daily commute. I would have thought the motel was in Dallas County but it must be just across the border into Collin. The only time I had to actually serve on a jury in Collin County was a high profile case where a guy decided to shot at a swat unit who were serving a search and arrest warrant flash bang grenade style.

[All-American]

I learned from my time on the grand jury in my county that if they suspect drugs and don't get consent that they often call in the unit that has a dog so he can walk around the car. Apparently all they have to do to establish probable cause to do a search is for the dog to give the signal he sniffed out drugs. Apparently, in Collin Co. Texas on 75 in far north Richardson there is a Econo Lodge where the cops frequently hang out just to find a reason (speeding, illegal lane changing, etc.) to pull over cars that come in and out of there. It seems they find a lot of drugs. It's actually a nice part of town with several high tech companies with offices in multiple high rise office buildings nearby. Despite being a lower end brand of hotel, it really doesn't look seedy or anything from the outside. I never would have known.

Exactly. The dog can smell what is in the car while outside of the car. So hold the car, get the dog. Dog perks up, bam, probable cause. You get your search.

That raises problems in Colorado and other places that have legalized pot, though, because the dog perks up when he smells a substance that is no longer violative of state law. A lot of judges will toss that as lacking probable cause. (Not all will though.)