Don’t Invite the Police to Search Your Car

When my grandson was 17, I gave him a Toyota 4-Runner with 200,000 miles that I took as a fee in one of my cases. He promptly blacked out the windows and put in a booming sound system. When I tried to explain that he was going to get tickets, he scoffed, “Everybody knows that you can’t get tickets for blacked-out windows or loud music.”

When I asked who had told him that, he replied, “Timmy. He’s 18.”

“18-year-old knows more about the law than a lawyer does?” I asked.

“That’s right,” he responded.

Within a week, he had received tickets for both the dark tint and the loud music. Just getting a ticket is not the only problem. Once a police officer pulls you over, if he suspects anything, he will come up with a reason to search your car – either a genuine reason or something that he fabricates, and if there is anything illegal in your vehicle, you will likely be arrested and taken to jail.

The problem starts with doing something illegal, which gives the police officer a reason to pull you over. It is like you are inviting the police to search your car.