As an America citizen, you comes up many rights during a traffic stop, get pulled over or stopped by police. In most of the states, police cannot be pulled over without a solid reason but still there are many cases has been reported all around the country where police stopped vehicles for no reason or for a minor reason which does not come up under any law.
Being a driver, you should aware about your rights during a traffic stop. Usually, there are two things happened if you get pulled over; first, you think about your mistake like over speeding, seatbelt, using the mobile phone or any other traffic rule you have breached where the second thing about the frustration, especially when you have been stopped for no reason and you know that. So, having knowledge about your rights if you get pulled over is very important to deal the encounter or situation in short time and easy way.
What are my rights if I get pulled over?
You have the following rights if stopped by police. While I am writing this content for American citizens but in most of the countries, the rights are same whether you are living in Canada, Australia, and the UK etc. There could be more rights in different states of America like California and Texas but the following are your main rights during a traffic stop.
1. You have right to stay silence:
This is the most important right which people really don’t know. You don’t need to answer each and every question of the officer until you want to. Being silence in the encounter can actually help you and this is a big advantage. In hurry, frustration, anger or depression, you can speak something negative which can cause a problem for you.
2. You have right to stay in your car:
An officer does not have right to ask you to come out from the car. To do this, the officer needs a warrant for this. Even at checkpoints, you are not liable to come out for search etc.
3. You have right to stop officer to search of your vehicle:
Indeed, the police have many rights but it does not mean that they have right to do anything. You can stop the police to search of your car. They are not even allowed to open the doors of your car until they have a search warrant. You have this right if you have been stopped at checkpoints.
4. You are not liable to answer the question:
Like mentioned before. In all countries like USA, UK, Australia and Canada etc, you are not liable to answer any question of police. They could not force you to say something until you are willing or you get arrested. You can simply stay silent on a question which you believe that not necessary to answer.
5. You have right to video or audio record the encounter:
I am sure that you have already seen many videos on Facebook and YouTube of different traffic encounter. You can also record your encounter if you wants to whether in audio form or video form. Although, most of the police cars have dash cam which is already recording everything.
What to do if stopped by police:
Stay calm as police have right to stop any vehicle they want to. Being calm will give a good impression to the police. Try to corporate with police as much as possible. Usually, a cop stops a car to check license and car registry. In case if you breach a traffic rule, then accept it to end the encounter as early as possible by getting the ticket. Remember that police has the latest technology through which they can easily track that whether you were wearing the seat belt, using the mobile phone or breached any other traffic rule. So, lie or false statement will not help you.
Things you cannot refuse in a traffic stop:
The police has right to check your driving license, your vehicle’s registry, take a test to measure your blood alcohol level and asked you to breath in a device to confirm that you are not taking any drugs etc. You cannot refuse any of these requests of officer
No comments: