I was stopped by DOT other day in Ohio..... im curious

Exactly. The case I cite why I am against ELDs United States vs Jones 565 U.S. 400 didn't deal with a house. SCOTUS held that the tracking violated "His reasonable expectation of privacy". Now contrary to what @Ridgeline wants to say, the 4th amendment has no exceptions for those engaged in interstate commerce.

I do agree with him that cooperating is the best policy. When I get inspected, I deal with them as allies instead of adversaries. I get clean inspections that way.

 

I agree to cooperate as well, but I don’t allow my vehicles to be searched unless they have a reason. “Cause I want to” is not reason enough..

 

This is way too good

 

That’s funny, linking to Wikipedia.

if you read the actual cases cited, only one of them dealt with a commercial vehicle and that search was legal.

the issue is this … a sleeper has never been defined as a personal space with a legal expectation of privacy, never.

The courts never addressed it but avoided it many times when the subject was brought up.

The courts have been clear on the distinction between commercial regulated and personal vehicles and this is where there it counts.

you guys are using blanket terms without knowing what has been ruled on and what the courts have told cops to do, it is very complicated and thinking it is simple by considering all vehicles as private spaces seems to be rather not a good idea - a lack of better words.

rv are different, here is a qualifier for a proper search, whether it is mobile or tied to utilities (one point of I think four).

I wish the fourth was absolute but it isn’t thanks to the courts allowing latitude, the first isn’t even absolute thanks to the courts too.

so one thing I am going to add is customs/border patrol does not have forth amendment restrictions operating within 100 miles of the borders. They don’t have to get permission and many times don’t ask for it, and this is a clear indication that they can do a search for a state or local law enforcement agency. The law that allows them to operate within 100 miles is very unconstitutional because it trashed our rights and has yet to be addressed to be overturned.

 

I will say this .
When I was trucking I had my rig searched a few times during dot inspections at scales

Only once , did they search ME .
And that wasn’t at a scale .
I was broke down in a turn lane in a podunk town , under the truck looking for an air leak, saw the cops drive by a couple times , so when they stopped I figured they were gonna offer to call a tow truck .
Nope, they grabbed my legs and pulled me out , handcuffed and searched me , locked me in the back of the car and asked permission to search the cab.

initially I said no, and they said we are looking for drugs , we don’t care what else you got in there , any thing illegal that’s not drugs , we are not interested in.
If you give permission that’s what we’re gonna do, if not , we will call the dog , and then we will charge you with everything we can think of .

for some odd reason I thought these cops were actually not lying (most cops lie with every word) and gave them permission and after they got done
He handed me my .38 that was now unloaded , and said that’s the dirtiest gun I’ve ever seen , you really should keep it clean . Sorry for the delay, have a nice day.


Arguing with bullies with badges just escalates the confrontation.
You WILL lose the roadside encounter .
Go to court and many times you will win in court , usually without ever having to actually show up in court .

 

This is actually very disturbing. What podunk town was this?

 

Whitewright texas
Bout 70 miles north of Dallas ?

 

At the end of the day, the side of the road isn't the place to argue about all this. Don't give them permission to do things you think violate your rights, but don't try to obstruct them either. Just make note of what all happened and take it up in the courts, if you want. If they ask to search, tell them no, if they do it anyway, let them. You aren't going to win that fight on the side of the road.

There are 3 general types of officers. One that thinks he is making the road safer by doing his civic duty. One that is doing the inspection just to go though the motions so he can show his superiors that he's doing them (I know they will say there aren't quotas, but they are expected to do a certain number of inspections). And then you have the ones that got that job just so they "rule" over people and are on a huge ego trip. The one just going through the motions will give you the easiest time (if you are respectful), the one that thinks he's making the roads safer will write you a pile of tickets, if warranted, but won't have a attitude about it (again, if you treat him with respect), then you have the one with the ego trip, who will talk to and treat you like you're a piece of garbage, don't worry about being nice to this guy, but still treat him with respect, because he is the one that will inflict the most pain if provoked.

Most of the officers I've interacted with in a CMV have been respectful. It hasn't always been this way, but I think with years of public outcry the departments try to instill this in current officers. Last inspection I had was in the pouring down rain. I was stopped for a tail light out, and I offered to let the officer climb into the passenger seat to get in out of the rain while we talked. While he did write me a ticket and put me OOS, he did allow me to go the truck stop at the next exit to get a new tail light. I'm confident that if I had an attitude with him I would have sat right there on the side of the road and would have had to call roadside service to fix the light.

 

I did that one time. There was a wide shoulder but it looked soft. The officer jumped out of his car screaming for me to pull out of the road. I told him the shoulder looked soft and asked him if he was taking responsibility for what happened if I pulled onto the shoulder. It was only a 2 lane and traffic was already backing up bad, he finally just screamed "get out of here" and I left.

Honestly, I'm sure the shoulder was fine, but I did not want an inspection. I was in a log truck and when I left the woods a root had grabbed a air line, and had the chamber caged on one of the rear tandems and the line crimped off with a pair of vice-grips. It was the last load of the day and I was just trying to get back to the shop to get it fixed.

 

Only time I’ve had a cop enter my cab was in Illinois, and he asked first. It was summertime and he figured checking my paperwork there without having to schlep it to his cruiser was easier. He was calm, considerate, and professional. I was the same. He thanked me and I told him to be safe out there.

No problems or violations.