theoretical question ... police stop

[ordnance]

As far as I know the police don't have the right to mooch around your car if they pull you over unless they have a suspicion you've got something in the car you shouldn't have. If they pull you over for speeding, broken brake light etc then that's all. So what you have in the boot is of no concern unless they tell you they want to search the vehicle.
Correct me if I'm wrong though

Theoretically correct, in practise they they can search your car if they want. All they need to do is make an up excuse.

[breacher]

As far as I know the police don't have the right to mooch around your car if they pull you over unless they have a suspicion you've got something in the car you shouldn't have. If they pull you over for speeding, broken brake light etc then that's all. So what you have in the boot is of no concern unless they tell you they want to search the vehicle.
Correct me if I'm wrong though

Theoretically correct, in practise they they can search your car if they want. All they need to do is make an up excuse.

Not so common now in these days of camera phones and Dictaphones and what not.

[bradaz11]

As far as I know the police don't have the right to mooch around your car if they pull you over unless they have a suspicion you've got something in the car you shouldn't have. If they pull you over for speeding, broken brake light etc then that's all. So what you have in the boot is of no concern unless they tell you they want to search the vehicle.
Correct me if I'm wrong though

yep, totally correct, BUT, don't you know all policemen are equipped with super strong spidey senses of smell? they can smell weed before they have even got out of their car.

So if they want to see whats in your pockets or car, all they have to do is tell you is that under sec 23 of the misuse of drugs act, they suspect you to be in possession of illegal drugs, and so are going to detain you for the purposes of a search. they then can search you, your car, and anyone else that happens to be with you

[Odd Job]

I was told that there is no longer a separate FAC database, any police officer who runs a check on you, will see a flag on the system which says you are "known to police" because of "firearms." It doesn't indicate you are a known criminal, it just indicates you are associated with firearms.

I asked the same question of my firearms officer at the time of my last renewal, which was about 2 years ago. His advice was to carry the FAC or a copy of it, when carrying firearms. Not because these documents are mandatory "in your pocket" proof that you have authority to be in possession of the guns, but to make it easier to check.

Unofficially, he advised that the ordinary police officer on the street wouldn't have the skills to determine whether the stuff written on your FAC matches the stuff in your bag. They wouldn't know the difference between my BR99 shotgun and my SIG522 for example, or even be able to locate the serial numbers of these items or know whether the barrel lengths are in spec or not.

Probably it would take a firearms officer to clear that up, but it's unlikely it would go that far unless something else about you was fishy.

[Chuck]

So if they want to see whats in your pockets or car, all they have to do is tell you is that under sec 23 of the misuse of drugs act, they suspect you to be in possession of illegal drugs, and so are going to detain you for the purposes of a search. they then can search you, your car, and anyone else that happens to be with you

So what happened to "reasonable suspicion" then, which is very broad (like reasonable force).

[Demonic69]

I thought they had to radio in before they stopped you with their reason?

[bradaz11]

So if they want to see whats in your pockets or car, all they have to do is tell you is that under sec 23 of the misuse of drugs act, they suspect you to be in possession of illegal drugs, and so are going to detain you for the purposes of a search. they then can search you, your car, and anyone else that happens to be with you

So what happened to "reasonable suspicion" then, which is very broad (like reasonable force).

pass

I thought they had to radio in before they stopped you with their reason?

yeah, still need to have a reason to pull you, but once they do, you're fair game.

my understanding anyway

[Demonic69]

I thought they had to radio in before they stopped you with their reason?

yeah, still need to have a reason to pull you, but once they do, you're fair game.

my understanding anyway[/quote]

My understanding was the opposite, they can only act in accordance with the proposed offence they pulled you over for.
My opinion came from chatting with a copper, albeit not traffic, about the video of a scrote getting pulled by the police, then being rude but sure of his rights. In the end there were loads of police called and he just ended up driving away.
The copper I was talking to said the scrote was in the right, even though he was being a d!ck and the results of the video just confirmed it. They couldn't get him out of the car, or even to wind down his window, let alone go mooching around his car to find something wrong.

To be fair he was just a retired Bobby with no traffic experience

[ordnance]

With the anti terrorist laws now, they can stop and search I would think. I know they can here.