There are plenty of reasons for a police officer to pull a driver over. From speeding to weaving to improperly maneuvering between lanes, it sometimes doesn’t take much for an officer to turn on those flashing lights and bring an otherwise carefree driver to a screeching halt.
Of course, getting pulled over can come with its fair share of ramifications. Most people have heard stories about drivers getting pulled over and subsequently getting into trouble for things having nothing to do with the initial traffic stop. This knowledge, in turn, causes the average driver out there to be automatically put on edge the second an officer approaches his vehicle. It is therefore important that each driver be aware of his rights in the event that he is pulled over by a police officer. Elliot Wiesner is a New Jersey attorney who has been helping clients fight a variety of traffic-related offenses for over a decade, and he feels that New Jersey drivers really ought to know what police officers are allowed and not allowed to do.
If an officer approaches your car to ask for your credentials and discuss the violation at hand, then he is allowed to reasonably look around at the same time. If the officer happens to see something suspicious-looking in plan view, then he is, by law, allowed to pursue it. Similarly, if the officer can clearly detect the smell of something illegal such as open containers of alcohol (which are illegal inside a moving vehicle) or marijuana, then he is allowed to search the vehicle to locate the illegal objects in question.
A police officer can look for and subsequently seize any illegal objects in your car that are in plain view even if the items in question have nothing to do with his initial reasons for pulling you over in the first place. If an officer pulls you over for running a stop sign but then has reason to believe that you are hiding illegal narcotics in your vehicle, then he may pursue that angle even though the presence of said narcotics might have nothing to do with the fact that you failed to notice a particular stop sign. Furthermore, if an officer notices a weapon inside the vehicle or comes to believe that you are armed, then he has the right to “pat you down” and search the rest of your automobile for his own safety.
Based on all of this, it probably sounds like you don’t have too many rights as a driver. However, keep in mind that in order for an officer to act on any of these aspects of the law, he has to have a reason to perform a vehicular or bodily search. If an officer notices a questionable vial of white powder sitting in the center console, then he has every right to sniff it and look around for similar objects. However, if an officer approaches your vehicle and doesn’t see, smell, or hear anything suspicious, then he can’t simply start ransacking your vehicle just because he feels like doing so. Of course, the officer can very well still give you a ticket for whatever traffic violation he suspected you of committing in the first place. Luckily, you do have every right to fight such a ticket in court.
