Protect your Fourth Amendment Rights
DON’T GIVE UP YOUR FOURTH AMENDMENT RIGHTS
The main reason police are able to search you is...because you let them! Don’t give police permission to search you, your belongings, your house or your vehicle...EVER!
The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees the rights of Americans “to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures...” This means that the government cannot search you, your belongings or your house without a search warrant or under a few other supposedly narrow circumstances.
It is absolutely vital that you understand your rights against search and seizure in order to protect them, because the Twentieth century was one long assault on your individual liberties by courts and governments that sought greater powers for the police. Nowhere has the Constitution been so eroded, ignored and trampled than in the area of your rights against search and seizure.
In brief, a police officer may not search you or your belongings without a search warrant. Two exceptions to this rule are 1) officer safety and 2) your consent. An officer may perform a severely limited search of someone he or she is talking to if the officer feels it is necessary for his safety. That search is limited to a pat-down of the person’s outer clothing and only for weapons. If the officer feels something suspicious during the pat-down that is not a weapon, he may not legally search further.
Much more commonly, officers simply ask for and receive permission to search people, their cars, homes, purses and clothing. NEVER, under any circumstances, give this permission. It is important to understand that any agreement may be taken as “consent”, or permission. If an officer says “I’m going to search you now, okay?” most people will say yes because they believe they have no choice. Courts, on the other hand, will pretend that this is no different than actively giving permission. It is therefore important that you be clear: the answer is “No, it is not okay for you to search me.”
This is equally true of searches of your car and your house. Many people consent to a search in the belief that the police will just search anyway. So let them, but do not give permission. You can still say “I am not giving you permission to search my car.” If they do search anyway, that sort of illegal search may cause the case to be thrown out in court.
It is very important that you remain polite and professional in your dealings with the police, even when they are not. Physically resisting a search of your person will only get you hurt and facing more charges. The key is never to give permission.
As always, except for denying permission to search, say nothing to the police. “I have nothing to say,” is your best defense.