eTec

My buddy(4drSi) just got pulled over today. The cop initially pulled him over for loud exhaust. Then the cop asked him if he could search his car. WTF! My buddy said "why?". The cop said "for suspicion". My buddy said "do you have a search warrant?". He said "if you want to sit here and wait I can get it". So my friend just said **** it. Well of course the cop pops the trunk and see's a gym bag in the corner of the trunk...hehehe. Unzipped it and BAM!! Bright blue bottle inside. So the cop tells him that he would give him a warning but if he really wanted to, he could give him a ticket.

So my question is, what really is the law on nitrous? I thought that as long as the bottle is not open then you’re cool. What would the ticket be? And also can cops just ask to search your car for any reason? I would have waited for a damn warrant. I think it was just harassment even thought he let him off.

Mrfirefox

bump for him cause I wanna know too

Jonathan_ED3

my experience (dallas) is that if the cop is 'suspicious' he can search your vehicle...just like if he suspects drugs or what not. i never have anything to hide, so i always let them search if they want to....but a cop can seriously give you a ticket for just about anything if he's that big of a *****. some of the laws are so vague and indirect that he/she can make the laws work for them. my advice, just be as nice as possible to them...don't give them any flack, and they usually just let you go

BTW: my understanding of nitrous is that's it's only illegal if the bottle is open and the cop can prove that it was/is going to be used.

poison

that's definantly ******* harrassment.

but having nitrous HOOKED up and driving it on roads IS illegal, usually cops say it's OK to have it in your car, but it needs to be fully DISCONNECTED. so what i'd do is completely disconnect it and fight whatever he got in court, and find out for sure if he has a search warrant, if he has all paid tickets, fight his ***, that's all bull ****

eTec

I was just thinking. What if the cop finds the bottle and then you tell him it is not open. Then you tell him to try to turn the valve **** to the right and he will see that it is closed.

The cop always has the video camera filming so its on tape. Proof!

Jonathan_ED3

that's not harrasment...the cop ASKED if he could search the car. the guy said okay. if the guy didn't want his car searched, he should have said 'well then get a search warrant'...at which point the cop prolly would have figured it wasn't worth the time and not bothered.

tonyxcom

it shouldnt be against the law to carry nitrous.... but nitrous has been known as a party drug so depending on the circumstances he might be able to make a case... (at a house full of people laughing with a nitrous bottle on the table).

But to have it in your trunk in a legit NOS or ZEX bottle etc shouldnt be against the law.
If your car has nos, it must be disconnected. Not just bottle closed, but hose disconneted.

And if you tell the cop to turn the **** and see that it is closed, it wont end up on camera, unless there is a COPS film crew following him around.

Mario

What's nitrous?

Mrfirefox

...

eTec

I thought all crusiers have a dash mounted camera and is always on when they're on their shift?

blackANESE

iTrader: (2)

Well the difference between nitrous for your car and nitrous for recreational use
is that the N2O that you use in your car has sulfur added to it so that it can't be
used by recreational drug users.

And about filming, most cop cars have camera's in their dash's so that the police officer, or if the person has a complaint they can review the footage.

Sq_91Si

I agree! It's only illlegal if it's hooked up! Also, some else already said it but I'll say it again! he gave the cop "PERMISSION" by saying he could search the car! Now if your friend really wanted for his car not to be searched he could have said NO!!! Then YES the cop could have kept him there untill he got a warrent! Take hours!!!!! Then he could have searched the car regardless! and at that point could have planted whatever he wanted while searching the car!!!!

My advice is be polite and you'll find that the cops aren't always that bad! Trust me I've been pulled over aleats 30 or 40 times and I only have recieved a handfull of tickets!

tonyxcom

Will a dash cam be able to see the nos bottle inside of your trunk??? Especially with the cop standing in front of it???

CRX_VTEC

Cops dont even need a warrent. If they ask and you say no.. then they will usually call for K-9 for a narcotics search. They will cearch anyway with or without a warrant.. its "probable cause" and you are on a public road. If you were in a house or any private home...then yes they will need a warrant. but that is also falls under probably cause..its really a grey area.

eTec

Who says the cop will stand in front of it the whole time? How the hell can the camera not pick up a BRIGHT BLUE bottle!

LiLn81224

well **** the police anyway

stocker

huh? the guy agreed to have his car searched, the cop did nothing wrong. However, some cops like to push you around a bit. If you're nice to them no matter their attitude they will generally treat you with respect. It also doesn't hurt if you know a policeman or two. You can usually get out of tickets if you say something like "do you know officer so and so, he's a good friend of mine."

usuck

i'm so glad you said this

Dave421

ok, i don't know if this goes everywhere but in NC, it works like this. A cop can ask you for permission to search your car for no reason whatsoever. A cop can LEGALLY search your car WITHOUT your permission if they have probable cause (suspicion) for anything. Now if you stop to consider it, if you have nothing to hide, there's no reason to say no. So, if you do, the cop can automatically search due to probable cause ("seemed suspicious that he said I couldn't search it.....") and get away with it. As for nitrous, the law says that it cannot be hooked up so if there are hoses connected, it's illegal.

And for the party drug comment, whoever said it first was correct. Nitrous in your car is not the equivalent of medical nitrous (which will get you high). You'd get busted just for having a bottle of medical nitrous in your trunk if you couldn't give a reason that could be investigated.

afstlsvtec

you can only get a ticket for nitrous if it is hooked up with all the lines running to the bottle! Thats why you should go all motor, you don't have to worry about a nos ticket

2080EK

Cop in Training here

Ok here is the deal, Bottle in trunk all good as long as it is not hooked up.

Bottle hooked up, all bad. My department will give you a ticket (not sure the VC#) and also fill out a FI (Feild incdent) report. The FI report will include a Polaroid of your bottle hooked up.

In a suspect is Shifting weight, palming areas of his body, and had constant eye movement. These are all signs of hiding something IE Weapon or Drugs and a Search is ok, for officers saftey and Publics saftey.

So follwing these guide lines a lowered civic, with stickers and a funny or PISSY driver will also get your car searched.

Common retards think mouthing off to a cop or acting tough makes you look cool, but in my training i have learned being polite and driving normal gets you nothing but a warning.

Another common thought, COPS ARE AFTER IMPORTS!
In my area Civics and Integras are the most commonly stolen car. Pulled over quite often in hopes of it being a stolen Car or having Stolen Parts. In order to cath the people stealing the cars. In the early 90s Mustangs were the Ill na na, and were watched often. Huge rings were uncovered after awhile of mustang chop shops and such. its a huge cycle, when the imports dye out like the 5.0s did, it will be something else!

tonyxcom

"And for the party drug comment, whoever said it first was correct. Nitrous in your car is not the equivalent of medical nitrous (which will get you high). You'd get busted just for having a bottle of medical nitrous in your trunk if you couldn't give a reason that could be investigated."

Well I guess you didnt see that special on 20/20 with kids that transported their NOS (medical) I suppose in a NOS branded bottle!

"Who says the cop will stand in front of it the whole time? How the hell can the camera not pick up a BRIGHT BLUE bottle!"

My whole point is that the dash cam CANT SEE INTO YOUR TRUNK

The camera is mounted on the dash of the cop car, the cop car is at least 5 feet away from your open truck. The bottle is mounted in the trunk. I am sure the camera can see part of the bottle, but no way in hell is it going to see the cop turn your valve and see that it is closed.

its not rocket science.

eTec

Ok the camera may not see the whole damn bottle but are you gonna tell me that when the cop goes to turn the **** and its closed, the cop is gonna say "oh no its open" in front of the camera when you clearly see that it is closed? Those cameras do pick up sound too. So what the camera may not see IT WILL hear!

you- "...Officer go ahead and try to close the valve. You'll see that it is clearly all the way closed."

cop- "Ok let me try..........yup looks like its closed."

All of this on camera. AUDIO AND VISUAL!!


[Modified by eTec, 9:00 PM 5/14/2002]

VegasVTEC

Here's a link with some great information on what to do when to Po Po sweat you..

http://www.aclu.org/issues/criminal/bustcardtext.html

VTECVillain

Cops plain out SUCK!!!! I know people are going to bitch to this reply and say well, my friend's a cop and he's a nice guy, blah blah blah, they all suck. They tend to have nothing better to do than enforce the "stupid + insignificant" laws while real **** is going on right behind them. For instance "look here comes one of them there riceburners, man those damn exhausts, i'm gonna get this bastard....." You're pulled over and he's saying "oink oink oink" about nothing and someone's getting murdered 3 blocks away! to all cops everwhere - oink! oink! bacon boy