Legal Question in Civil Rights Law in Florida

Random Traffic Stop Searches

I was driving to school and the police were doing a random drivers liscense check. My friends car was searched. The looked into his trunk. We were not within 1000 feet of a school, park, or anything such as that. The car did not smell like marijuana and there was absolutely nothing in plain sight. Are police officers aloud to search vehicles randomly? And if so, what are the restrictions they must abide.


Asked on 2/13/02, 8:46 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Charles Aspinwall Charles S. Aspinwall, J.D., LLC

Re: Random Traffic Stop Searches

In a random traffic stop or "cowboy check point" the police are authorized only to check driving licenses and insurance certificates. They may not search at that point just because they want to. If you have accurately described what happened, they were wrong and the search was illegal, unless they had a particularized and reasonable belief that there was contraband in the car. From your post there wasn't.

You should report this behavior to a high-ranking officer of the PD, but don't expect much.

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Answered on 2/14/02, 12:41 am


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