Have you ever been subjected to a search (both digital and physical spaces) by law enforcement? When, where, and what was searched? Did you consent or no? Was it lawfully conducted?

I’ve had my car searched before. It was unlawful.

This was over 20 years ago when it happened. I was about 19 at the time and in college. The cop ordered me to sit on the curb while he tore up my car. I was a dude with long hair at the time and when he pulled me over for the tinted windows he said that he, “saw shake in the backseat.”

The shake in the backseat was fiction.

Car got torn up, he said he thought my eyedrops were GHB and that he wanted to test them. I told him that’s fine.

He came back to me after a few minutes and said that his test kit is expired and that he was going to call someone else out to test it.

Second cop comes up, he’s less of a dick than the first guy. Goes to his trunk, fucks around, determines his kit is also expired.

A third cop comes out. Also, less of a dick than the first guy. They test my eyedrops and determine they are eyedrops, not GHB.

First cop resumes tearing up my car.

First cop asks me, “where are you going?”

I tell him I’m on my way to work.

He asks me if I am in school. I replied, “yes, UCF.”

He asks, “what are you studying?”

“I’m a junior in the pre-law track with a minor in criminal justice.”

He then decided he was going to “let me go.”

The whole time this is happening there’s an older dude with long grey hair sitting across the street with a couple of grocery bags watching the whole thing. Cops asked him what he was doing a couple of times and he would tell them he’s watching what’s happening on the walk home from the grocery store. After the cops were gone, and I was doing my best to reassemble my car, he came by to say he was going to be a witness for me in case something went down. He went on to explain how he was a Vietnam vet and when he got back to the states he had been arrested for smoking a joint, and has subsequently hated cops ever since. He then told me his son is a lawyer and if I needed help with this scenario to get in touch.

Awesome guy. He was 100% the shit.

The second and third cop were pretty reasonable for cops.

I hope the first cop ended up getting repeatedly gang raped in a prison.

I was moving from Alaska to Boston, so I had to pass through Canada. Everything I owned was crammed into my Honda Element and I was driving it solo across North America.

I re-entered the US at a border crossing in North Dakota. I pulled up to the window and without saying anything else the officer pointed at a detached garage and told me to pull into it. As I slowly pulled into the garage, there was only enough light to see the outlines of the walls. When I turned off my car, super bright lights were switched on and I saw 6-8 heavily armed border officers with bulletproof vests on either side of the car. One of them instructed me to get out of the car and give him my keys. He also took my passport and took me into a small room in the garage that had 1-way mirrors (so they could observe me and I couldn't see out) and then he locked me inside. There was nothing inside the room except a few folding plastic chairs -- nothing to read and nothing to look at, nothing aesthetically pleasing at all. I could hear them going through my car, removing my plastic totes full of shit and searching through them. After what was probably 20 minutes, they opened the door, handed me my keys and passport and told me, "You're free to go, welcome home."

Important context: White male 20something, big expensive sedan, Early 2000s YMMV.

On the highway in the Deep South United States. Pulled over for speeding. Police wanted to search the car. I refused, they called in a K9.

I was pulled to the side of the road and sat down in the grass while we waited for the dog. Bunch of other officers started rolling up and just hanging out expecting what I can only imagine to be the biggest bust in a while.

The K9 got a hit and they searched the entire car. They found a glass pipe buried in an old cigar box in the back of the car in a book bag. The cops were absolutely and completely confused. “There has to be more, the dog woulda never hit on this if there wasn’t more.” The cops kept searching.

I wasn’t handcuffed or anything, someone was just watching me. A pipe was a misdemeanor where I’m from, but jail time/probation where I was stopped.

After an hour of searching they found nothing else and handed me my pipe and box and told me to throw it in the woods and to leave. Wasn’t worth the paperwork.

My brother, not me, so I don’t know all the details ……

He was buying cars at auction, then fixing them up to sell. He took one on a road trip and got stopped in Ohio because he was profiled (white 300z with blacked out windows) as a drug dealer (and probably speeding). They emptied his car and threw everything on the ground. When they didn’t find anything, they impounded the car and dropped him at a bus station. He had to go back to Ohio a few weeks later to get his car back and found it undrivable because they tore apart the interior and slashed the upholstery.

I was for stuff that is so mundane I don't feel like typing it all. I was profiled for driving a cheap car at 2am in a nice area. I'm super white in the worst kind of privileged way, like tall, broad shoulders and can easily turn my slight southern accent on and off. I refused to let them search the car on principal alone, so they did a light search of my person. There was an issue with my license that let them do whatever to search me, but I know exactly what to say. By that I mean I know better than to say anything or interfere with a cop. They are not a judge and whatever they do is their own thing.

The cop made up that my tag light was out. I took pics the next day including all of the original DOT markings on the lamp and included a newspaper in the background with the date because that is enough for a court to accept the date in question. I then brought my business license, business cards from two businesses, and a picture of my old shop to show I am a professional auto body painter. I then testified that the vehicle was unaltered from the night before I was pulled over and that it was in full working order as it was originally designed and equipped. The judge dismissed my ticket, told the cop to approach the bench, and for me to leave the courtroom first. I did as instructed. A few minutes later the very pissed off cop came storming out of the courtroom and left immediately. I have no clue what was said or what happened, but it felt good to see it.

Cops can say anything. You must comply with anything they tell you to do, even if it is illegal. Cops are not judges. If they break the law, you must be able to testify precisely how and what they did for the whole incident. They get home field advantage so you have no room for error or questionable conduct. The trick is to know your rights and give them no room to maneuver. Never roll your window all the way down. If you are instructed to exit the vehicle, do so after rolling up the window, removing the key, and locking the door behind you. Never talk or volunteer any information whatsoever. When you're pulled over, put both hands either on the steering wheel, or better yet, put them palm up at the window like anyone that is carrying a legal concealed weapon is supposed to do. You will be asked about a concealed weapon at which point to tell them what you do or do not have and that you are only doing your best to put them at ease for their safety. When they must start off testimony with that detail, you greatly diminished their home field advantage with a double play out of the gate.

Absolutely not an issue, but I'm not living in the US, so we have real police, not just cops.

I had a large bag with a white powder on the passenger seat, but they were probably a bit disappointed that they did not catch a drug lord. It was just sodium alginate to make ice cream.

Yes, in the US, at an airport, I was selected for additional screening by a TSA agent. The agent put on gloves and patted me down. He had me extend my arms out and said he was going to check my waistband. When he got around to the back, he shoved a finger down my ass crack and wiggled it, then continue on. It took half a second. My mind blanked.

I called to make a complaint the next day but got nowhere. Too late, too "minor", not enough details or evidence from me. I was told it didn't really happen, because if it had I would have spoken up in the moment.

If I am ever selected for patdown again, I intend to ask for an agent of the same gender as me, to have a supervisor observing, and cameras recording.

Whitey here. I once got stopped by border patrol at an immigration checkpoint on the freeway. They had me pull off to the side, pulled all the shit out from under my seats, out of the door pockets, etc. Opened the trunk and took everything out. Brought a dog over. Then said I was good to go. Took me a little to get everything put back in place.

Last time I was stopped was flying back after taking a solo surf trip to Central America. They just couldn't handle that I went by myself. Took me into a little room at the airport. Took my boards out of my board bag, emptied my carry-on and suitcase, then tried to grill me about what I had been doing. I had a 5 hour layover, so I wasn't overly concerned. Just seemed so stupid.

I didn't get searched, but I did get pulled over once and interrogated for about 20 minutes while the cops tried to dig up some reason to ticket me. This was during Obama years, I'm Hispanic and was driving a beat up car.

The cops implied that I had been drinking (false), I had been on a party boat (also false, I was on a transport ferry and couldn't even go inside because of my dog), and that my dog was dangerous (she was asleep on the passenger seat), among more.

i just had both sides of my sack and my ass felt up by TSA

even after removing my shoes, my belt, and going through their backscatter machine

and now my wife is mad at me for being vocally unhappy about it to them

In Japan I got stopped, asked for my documentation, and asked to empty my pockets once. Was about to fly back to the US within a day or two and was trying to use up all the loose change I had accumulated during my 3 months. I guess a passing cop thought it was weird when I was counting it up outside (didn't want to do it inside in line and hold everyone up).

Later, after living in Japan several years, got asked for ID, everything taken out of my pockets, and my backpack searched. I had gone from a bar to the convenience store and was headed back to the same bar. It was humiliating and infuriating. I've never been an English teacher, but I can't imagine how that must feel to be a teacher and have the kids or parents go by. They had apparently received a tip that there were drugs in the area so were searching people. Apparently not only foreigners, as I ran into a Japanese guy who got the same treatment. They were polite and all but it was incredibly violating and basically put me off from wanting to interact with law enforcement here again (and I had previously turned in lost items to the closest police box on two separate occasions for people to claim).

I worked in a high school for a number of years where my role was to manage things like after school programming, spring break trips, and certain things during the school day. We would also do weekend adventure trips when possible. At one point during this, I had an awful roommate who was into a lot of illicit substances.

During my time living with said roommate, I took students on a two night backpacking trip over the weekend. I came back to see that my room had been (from my perspective) ransacked. I could not reach my roommate, and decided that one of their drug buddies may have robbed me. Later that evening, roommate came back and I learned them and a friend got too wild, cops were called, and a search was performed on the entire apartment. Including my room. Nothing was found in my room, but I had a lot of putting away to do. At least I was not robbed, I guess.

My landlord called me the next day to tell me they were called by cops for consent because I was unreachable, and landlord knew I would have nothing to hide, but felt terrible and began immediate eviction on roommate.

Bro are you okay?