Many people feel understandable stress and anxiety when a Georgia law enforcement official pulls them over. If you count yourself among them, you may be able to ease some of that stress and anxiety by learning what rights you have in this situation. While, in some cases, you may have no choice but to let a law enforcement officer who wants to look through your car do so, in other cases, it may be completely within your rights to refuse the search request.
FlexYourRights.org reports that authorities, in most instances, need to have a warrant in their possession when they want to look through your home. The bar is lower, though when they want to search your car. In this case, all a law enforcement official has to have to do so is something that counts as “probable cause.”
Defining probable cause
For an officer to have probable cause to conduct a search of your vehicle, the officer must have something he or she considers to be proof or evidence of legal wrongdoing. For example, if you have drugs or contraband in plain sight within your car, this may give the officer valid grounds to search the rest of it. Sometimes, smelling an illegal substance is enough to give an officer probable cause for a vehicle search.
Refusing the search request
Without probable cause, a warrant or your permission, you may refuse the officer’s search request. Always be polite and respectful when doing so, and once you do so, you may ask if you are free to go on with your day.
It is important to know that most minor offenses, such as speeding, do not count as probable cause for a vehicle search.