Question 3

What happens if someone is pulled over in Arizona and given a warning ticket and the officer askes to search the car? What should somebody do at that point? (transcribed from video interview with Dwane Cates, Attorney at law Phoenix AZ www. azlaw4u.com)

Well, that's a real common accurance in Arizona. Most of the DPS officers in Arizona are trained as drug interdiction officers and many of them have drug dogs in their car. They're looking for drug traffickers driving up and down Arizona highways. One of the main things they look for is rental cars. If you're driving a rental car through Arizona there's a very good chance that you're going to get pulled over. What they do is they look for minor traffic infractions. They look for any reason they can find to pull you over. LIke the GPS stuck to the middle of the windshield. A head lamp out, any reason they can find to pull you over. Once they pull you over, they'll give you a warning ticket and then they'll want to ask you after they give you the warning ticket, they'll want to ask you if you can answer some questions. And the answer to that question should be no. Because the stop's over once they give you the warning ticket. Once they give you the warning ticket you should ask them "am I free to leave"? And if they say you're free to leave, you should get in your car and drive off.

I appreciate what you're saying but, by not answering questions or allowing the officer to search your car, doesn't that bring up a red flag?

You have an absolute constitutional right to not make statements to a police officer without your attorney present. You've seen it on all the cop shows where they read people their rights, that you have the right to remain silent and that's what people should do, is remain silent. Many people try to explain things away or they think that they can talk their way out of it. I see it all the time where people have a marijuana medical certificate from California or Colorado and they try to explain to the officer that they have a medical card and that the marijuana in their car is legal but in Arizona it's not. Any amount of Marijuana in Arizona is a felony, whether you have a medical card or not and they will arrest you for a felony.