What to do During a Traffic Stop?

Hi, I’m Jay Cohen from Blass Law and I wanna talk about what to do during a traffic stop.

When you see those lights in your rear view mirror pull over immediately. Let me tell you you would much rather have an officer say you need to pull forward or pull over somewhere else instead of saying you were trying to evade.

Once you’re stopped, officer is gonna come up to the window, give them your license and insurance. We recommend having your insurance printed out on paper. You’re certainly allowed to have it on your phone. But if you start looking through your phone, trying to find your insurance, you’re giving the officer more time to look around maybe see something you don’t want them to see.

No word vomit. The officer pulls you over because they believe you committed a traffic offense. There’s probably not anything you can say that’s gonna change their mind. They probably don’t care that your cat really wants you to come home and it’s not the best time to see if the officer wants to have dinner with you. They bring a citation to the window, sign it, get out of there.

Now for my rule followers, that’s probably where it ends. For my more adventurous clients officers are probably gonna say, “I smell weed,” or “I see a gun.” If this happens, remember you have rights. If they ask you to step out of the car, you need to do that. But you have the right to refuse a search. You have the right to shut up.

So if an officer asks you if they can search, you have the right to refuse. If they start to search because they have probable cause don’t fight with them. You need to be polite, but being polite doesn’t mean be a pushover. If officers do find something may ask if it’s yours or if you know where it came from, remember you have the right to shut up. You don’t have to take ownership, you don’t have to claim ownership, you don’t have to have any knowledge of it, you don’t have to say anything.

At Blass Law we’re here to help. If officers search your vehicle and it was illegal, anything they found can be suppressed. Let us figure it out and fight for you.