Rep Power: 721

I know many of you people get pulled over every day because cops think you have illeagal mods or some . The fact is I was wondering what laws protect us as civilians when it comes to searches and full clompliance inspections. These cops in Toronto fine me for everything, hell they even said my paint has too much metal flake in it. In NY those cops would just look it over and joke around unless if you had some hardcore like stage 3 turbos or some like that. I've heard a few things, such as they need a good reason to search your car like the suspicion of gang activity or something. If someone could help me out and possibly give me some advice in stopping these TO cops from cashing in on me it'd be great.

 
Rep Power: 722

You speak of 2 different issues within your post, being mechanical and another that appears you are refering to the interior.

MECHANICAL: This falls under several acts that I can think of, the Highway Traffic, a Dangerous Goods Transportation Act, Enviromental Protection Act
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Highway Traffic Act, section 82 (1)Examination by Officer: Every police officer and every officer for the purposes of carrying out the provisions of this Act may require the driver or owner of the vehicle to submit the motor vehicle to the examinations and tests that the police officer or officer may consider expedient.
(3) Penalty - Every person who refuses or fails to comply with this requirement made under subsection (1) is guilty of an offence.
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HTA, Ont Reg 611, schedule 1 ...is very long, but does describe many vehicles components and how they should be installed etc......however you need to cross check back to the appropriate HTA as well
EG: Lighting: 611 refers to aiming of lights, no coated lights etc, and HTA 62 refers to white/amber light only to front, white light only on licence plate etc
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Dangerous Goods Transportation Act: Officer must present a business type of card to you upon your request to identify as a DGTA Inspector and then can search for dangerous goods. (this would an appropriate thing if there is a problem with nitrous oxide use in vehicles)
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Enviromental Protection Act: this is carried out by the MOE / Enviromental Swat teams checking emissions.
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INTERIOR: There are a vast variety of warrantless searches for the interior of a vehicle, all with varying grounds for each incident.
- Liquor Licence Act (open liquor, minors possess)
- HTA (speed measuring warning device)
- Controlled Drug Substance Act
just to name a few
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It appears that you get stopped quite often....you must have some questionable items on your motor vehicle, which catches the attention of the police. Although I do not know what your vehicle entails, here are some ideas to avoid attracting police attention, if they apply:
- turn down the stereo
- put the silencer in the muffler, unless you are at a car show
- speed, drive within norms in city limits (less than 15km above)
- lights, turn off all accessory coloured lighting unless at a car show OR in a parking lot

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HINTS for better interaction with police when stopped.
- put 4 ways on when stopped on side of road
- turn off radio
- put out cigarette (an officer might consider it rude if you are blowing smoke out towards them)
- take off sunglasses (shows officer you have nothing to hide, psychological effect)
- turn on all interior lights at night
- place hands on steering wheel
- when asked for documents, advise officer where documents are and ask if you may now get them
(all this will put the officer more at ease with your demeanor and lets the officer know you are level headed as well)
- be polite, don't argue (this might be hard, but saying thank you, yes sir/mame, goes a very long way, apologize for the mistake)
- advise your passengers to be polite as well
- turn on all interior lights at night

The EASIER you make the stop on the officer will usually make the result more favourable for you.
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Hope some of this helps out

 
Rep Power: 721

Cops can do warrant less searches under acts mentioned above, but they still NEED REASONABLE and PROABABLE grounds....


If you honestly are being searched without cause, than you should notify the civilian aggency here: you have about 6 months to file complaint...

http://www.occps.ca/


Recently a judge dismissed a case of drug trafficking because cops didnt have reasonable grounds to search the car.... It was all over the news.

 
Rep Power: 731

My old ladys kid , Trinidadian born, lived in bramaledesh and worked at airport for fedex, nightshifts . Driving a 4 cyl stang he would get pulled over at least 2 times a week going to work at like 3 am . He used to get mad about it . I made up a set of glow in the dark letters . Like the ones that go neon when light shines on them. The words said ...Hi, Fedex nightshift employee . I,m just driving to work.... Put them right across the bottom of the deck lid . When the cop pulled him over again , he made him 1/2 hr late for work checking all kinds of stuff. So I told him next time same guy pulls you get his cop business card . Which he did . I gave that card to my lawyer . He didnt get pulled over for 2 months after that . The next stop was for 1 burnt out lic bulb, stangs have 2 lic lights . He didnt get stopped again for 2 -3 weeks . Next pull over , he asked cop for a card, no lawyer call , but no stops for about a month or so.
He used to have his fedex employee card on a long key fob/rope around his neck and when he got pulled over , he would put his window down , lean over , and let his id card hang out the door , picture side up.
A while later he moved to another place and came to work in another direction . Got pulled over once in a years time . It was a road side spotcheck set up.
My advice , if its the same cop(s) that are jacking you up . Get legal advice . Look around , there ARE lawyers that arent sympathetic to this kind of police behaviour.
On the other hand though , if your driving a ground scraping , louder then , windows tinted so dark you cant see in kinda car , then you got a different set of problems..77.

 
Rep Power: 722

"If you honestly are being searched without cause, than you should notify the civilian aggency here: you have about 6 months to file complaint..."
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This is going a bit too far for a 1st step, and generally is used when a complaint to the police department itself does not investigate fully or you are unsatisifed with the result.
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1) I would immediately go to the local division/detachment and ask to speak to a supervisor, this will give you more credibility rather than waiting days/weeks etc

2) Explain "your" version of what events took place and why.

3) Supervisor should then investigate into the incident, and follow up contact to you within a week (shift work, calls for service, possible delays) or advise you of a day you can expect a reply.

4) Advise Supervisor that you will take this matter to the "OCCPS" if you do not hear a reply by date provided to you.

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As long as the officer can explain/articulate why he/she did what they did, there should be no reason to go any further.
If an error in officer judgement was made, you can suggest that the officer receive additional training or be warned of the actions or have something placed on the officers file OR in real extreme cases a Police Services Act investigation to determine if charges are warranted, usually done by an Police Standards Bureau within a department.

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In EVERY single profession, there are people that cross the line and should be made accountable for their actions OR need to be re-educated to proper standards and expectations

EG: from carpenters putting in cheaper wood TO water testers not recording bacteria results TO mechanics not doing proper safeties TO McDonalds hamburger flippers not cooking meat all the way through TO movie theatre employees not mopping up the spilt pop ETC.......................

Just a reminder that the issue of not doing a job properly is not just directed towards police, but every profession has the BAD APPLES!

 
Rep Power: 721

Wow thanks for all your help. I didn't that I had options when it came to dealing with harassment from OPP officers. I've had problems in the past with them. I remember 2 years ago they would just sit in their car for hours just drinking coffee doing absolutely nothing while they were supposed to be processing my information. I have had enough with most of them abusing power, and I can take them down a peg without resoriting to something similar that Alberta sniper bit, I'm happy. At least now I can take my case to them with some professionalism and credibility, unlike before when I'd just accept their accusations and just bottle up my anger towards the useless and abusive Toronto Police.

 
Rep Power: 722

Be PATIENT, especially more so with OPP members. The OPP have just introduced computers into some of their cars but not all. To my understanding Metro,York in GTA have on-board computers for several years now.....so OPP officers have to call in all the information and wait for a response from a dispatcher, which this dispatcher could have 10plus units to deal with at the same time, so priority of calls etc....whereas the city police have instant access to the information at their finger tips instantly.... the new terminals in the OPP are in early stages (1yr) and I'm sure are still working out some bugs, so maybe the computer crashes and then they have to call it in after trying on a computer first..........so this would explain a longer delay on most OPP stops, thus they ARE processing your information, but the technology being used makes it seem SLOW

Also good to know, the OPP are also the 1st force to be using a driver card swipe system to "print" a ticket at roadside (no writer's cramp) to give several to one driver IF needed.

 
Rep Power: 721

Very good advise! Show respect and you deserve to recieve it back. If you show respect and still get harrassed, keep it civil and take the appropriate actions.

 
Rep Power: 722

AWESOME idea.... this would show you are concerned about safety and being cognitive of the dangers....this obviously showed remorse on your part (knowing you did something wrong...brain fart perhaps and don't normally think like that) and the officer took that into consideration and let you go on your way. Also shows how officer discretion was used as well. Good job on your interaction with the officer and the positive feedback you received.

 
Rep Power: 747

cops bein :supergay: too much metal flake.. WTF?