Legal Question in DUI Law in Nebraska

Re: Police officer Stop

Whether an officer can search a car depends on the particular facts available to the officer. Generally, an officer conducting a traffic stop can search a vehicle and its occupants for weapons without any probable cause, this is for the safety of the officer and the public. It is a limited search for places where weapons may be hidden. An officer can look under a car seat or in a glovebox, but can't open an envelope that contains only soft materials which could not be a weapon. If an officer makes an arrest, he can search the person arrested and the vehicle as part of the arrest. If she/he has knowledge of other facts which would reasonably cause her/him to believe that a crime has or is being comitted, and that evidence of the crime is likely to be present, she/he has probable cause to search in accordance with that suspicion.

If you do not consent to a search to a vehicle, the officer will likely search for weapons anyway. If they believe that a search is appropriate, they will try to develop probable cause for the search by looking at the vehicle for things in plain sight which would give them probable cause for further search. If the vehicle smells like bongwater, or alcohol, etc. the officer may search based on these observations together with any other facts known to him/her. Also, the officer may detain a vehicle and its occupants for a reasonable period of time to obtain a written search warrant from a judge or magistrate.

The practical view is this. Police will usually look around a vehicle carefully, in look into the vehicle from the outside. They will separate the occupants and ask them a number of questions, looking to see if the stories of the occupants match. They will check for the odor of alcohol, marijuana, heavy smell of insense or air fresheners etc. They may have a drug detection dog sniff the exterior of the vehicle. None of this requires a warrant or particular suspicion. Once this is completed they hope that they either have evidence to use to search further, or can be satisfied that you are okay and can go.