Legal Question in Traffic Law in Florida
Do we have to accept this type of treatment from law enforcement?
My husband was pulled over for an expired
decal on his boat trailer.It was the second
time in a period of 4 months. On both
occassions his vehicle was first searched by
policedog then by policemen.He has never been
in any serious trouble with the law. They
sa
id in both instances that the reason for
the searches were that the dog had signaled
the presence of drugs, and in both instances
no drugs were found.
The second time he was searched I was very angry and called the officer's commander and asked what gave the officers the right to search. The commander said that the dog had alerted them to the presence of drugs thereby giving the officers the right to search. I then asked him if the dog is not considered an officer. He said they considered him a dog. Then I asked him if a person were to shoot the dog would that person not be tried for murdering a police officer. At that point he became angry and refused to discuss the subject any further by hanging up on me.
So I ask you, is that d..... dog an officer? And if so, what gave him the right to search?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Do we have to accept this type of treatment from law enforcement?
As a matter of course, N E V E R piss off the police (POP cases are always bad). ALWAYS say yes sir no sir to the police, whether you think they are right or wrong. If they are wrong settle it in court later. If they are right, settle it in court later. Probable cause can be established in many ways... too many to discuss in this forum. BUT in your case keeping a person at the scene longer than it takes to write a citation could result in an improper stop and perhaps suppression of the evidence. A police dog is considered police/public property and hurting him could result in numberous charges. Basically leave the dog alone, and attack the way the search was done. But since you have not been charged lay low and go on your way.... GOOD LUCK.
Re: Do we have to accept this type of treatment from law enforcement?
I would add to Mr. Casanova's reply that probable cause may be established by a trained, reliable police dog. Clearly, this dog was not reliable, since he allegedly allerted where there was no contraband. I would contact some criminal lawyers in your area to see if anyone is maintaining a list of inaccurate police dog alerts, in an effort to contest their reliability in future searches. If so, your information might be valuable to someone in the future. My experience is that these many of these dogs alert whenever the officer wishes, and something should be done to discredit them. It won't help you, but might make you feel better.
Dan
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