truck search by police

No need for CONSENT if the officer feels he / she has PROBABLE cause.

 

But a crafty lawyer could argue that checking for passenger safety restraints in a truck where no passengers were present was an uneccesary search since there were no passengers therefore any items found during the inspection are "fruits of the poisonous tree".

 

What if i said "no" when the officer asks me to sit in his car while he makes out the citation? Oklahoma likes doing that for some reason.

 

Like how Uncle Sugar slipped that one in? That's the things they do when they have us distracted and divided. Create issue like pro-anti abortion, pro-anti immigration, and the minions of other non-issue, issues that gets folks riled up. In the mean time, ol Unca Suga is running our rights out the window!

 

Let them know that your truck is muchsafer than his car if it gets hit.

 

Id have to laugh and tell him that line is so old it has gray whiskers.

Commercial vehicles do have a different standard though.

 

well, we have a truck stop lawyer. I have seen teams ops stopped in multiple states before, and both drivers checked. It is not illegal for DOT to inspect the sleeper of a team operation, they can and often do order the co-driver out of the bunk. In fact, the last time I watched this happen was mid-March, WB I-76 P.O.E., Ft. Morgan, Colo. with a CR England Trainer/Trainee operation. The trainee failed to follow the lights rolling across the scale. He put his steers on and kept rolling, on a red stop light. When his drives hit he was still rolling, on a red stop light. The scalemaster finally came over the loud speaker and the CB: "CR ENGLAND, STOP!! WHY ARE YOU IGNORING THE RED STOP LIGHT THAT IS DIRECTLY TO YOUR RIGHT? Since I was the truck behind them, with my window down, I heard every word she said. When he finally stopped, since I was stopped a truck length from the scale, she told him quite simply: DRIVER, YOU WILL LISTEN TO EVERY WORD I TELL YOU, NOW, TURN YOUR HAZARDS ON AND BACK UP VERY SLOWLY TILL I TELL YOU TO STOP.

When his steers were back on the scale she stopped him. Then very directly told him to roll forward till she told him to stop. When his drives hit the scale she told him to stop. Then she told him: DRIVER, WHEN I TELL YOU TO, YOU WILL ROLL FORWARD UNTIL YOUR TRAILER TIRES ARE ON THE SCALE, AT THAT TIME, I WILL CHANGE THE LIGHT AND MESSAGE BOARD. YOU WILL PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT THAT MESSAGE BOARD SAYS OR I WILL RUIN YOUR ENTIRE WEEK.

When his tandems hit the scale, she switched the light to yellow, and the message to PARK COME IN, BRING PERMITS, LOG BOOK, CDL. As he was parking, I rolled on to the scale, she parked me as well for a paperwork check (it was the end of March and the computers weren't up to date). He walked in ahead of me, the first words out of the Supervisors mouth, are you a solo or team operation. He said team, that he was a trainee and his trainer was asleep in the bunk. He was told to wake his trainer up, and have him come inside also.

By the time I was back rolling, both of them were heading inside.

 

As for the OP's comment, I've run ND a few times. Considering the problems they are having in the oil patch, I could see this happening. I know there have been a few fatal accidents lately with oil field drivers being, "too alert" while driving. My niece and her AF hubby, are stationed at a very tiny AF Base in eastern N.D. (not Minot), she was just here visiting and we were talking about this. She said there have been several fatals or very serious accidents caused by oil field or oil field supply trucks where the driver fell asleep or something else. So I could see them doing more serious inspections.

Personally, whenever I have a cop ask me if they can search my truck, I turn my phone to voice record (using a password protect app) and ask the officer very specifically who, what, where, when, why of the search. Then, if he finds something else, he best come up with a warrant real quick, or it's not admissible in court. Now, since I go to a lot of military bases, where a casual search of the sleeper and a dog inspection are normal, it behooves me not to carry anything that might raise suspicion.

 

I always loved those searches at the Canada border. They looked thru my bunk and made the bed.