The COPS program often features police officers asking for someone’s consent to search their car, pockets, or home. Most of the time, the person consents to the search, which leads to the police finding drugs or other illegal contraband. What would happen if the person did not consent to the search? The alternatives are not as bad as many believe.
Police officers may not search areas that are within your expectation of privacy without a warrant, consent, or some emergency circumstance. Your car, your pockets, and your home are examples of places where you have an expectation of privacy. Police officers know that these areas are protected and can only be searched in special circumstances. They are taught that asking for consent is the easiest method of conducting a legal search. Most people will consent even if it leads to the police discovering drugs or other illegal contraband.
Denying search consent might be a much better solution if you have something to hide. If you choose to deny consent, the police only have a few options: 1) just walk away, 2) get a warrant, 3) find another reason to search you, or 4) search you anyway. That’s right, the police can leave him alone and move on to the next case. If it’s a very busy shift, the police can just leave and go find the next guy who will consent to the search.
Police can obtain a warrant from a judge, but that is a lengthy process that requires substantial resources from other police work. Typically, you must be supervised while another officer returns to the station and completes an affidavit explaining why there is probable cause for a search warrant. The officer then has to find a judge, which can be very difficult late at night. The judge will read the affidavit, talk to the officer, and decide whether or not to issue the warrant. Due to the effort involved in obtaining an arrest warrant, the officer may decide to let you go if he denies his consent.
There are several other emergency reasons that the police may use to search you, your car, or your person. The most used circumstance is that the police ask a drug dog to approach the place and “sniff” the premises. If the drug dog is not available because it is being used on the other side of town or if the police do not have a drug dog on duty, they may let you go.
The police can always search you without a valid reason. If this happens, your criminal defense attorney can now argue that the search was illegal and possibly get your case dismissed. Because the police know you didn’t have a valid reason for the search, they may decide to take your drugs or contraband and let you go.
The worst consequence of not giving a police officer consent to conduct a search is that you end up being arrested. This is the same position he would be in if he had consented to it. The benefit of not consenting is that there is a chance that you will walk away as a free person. There is no benefit to giving your consent to a police officer if you have drugs or other illegal contraband with you. You will be arrested and you will end up with criminal charges.