question about... THE LAW
 

Alright so my buddy just called me up and told me what happened today and i dont think what happened to him was right and i want someones feedback on this... (his dad is a cop so idk why he called me)

so anyways my buddy went to truro today, there was a couple of them in cars messing around with gopros doing some pulls on the highway messing around you know, the usual.

apparently someone driving called it in to the police and later on in town when they werent speeding my buddy gets pulled over, the cop takes the gopro, suspends his license and hands him a stunting fine... doesnt sound right to me...

The cop cannot do that, he has to actually see him commiting the crime. As well he has to have a reason to pull him over. Either way, the only way to get out of it is to hire a lawyer, or the judge will always side with the state, no matter what.

The cop has the footage from the camera now

he never should have given the cop his gopro. big mistake. im pretty sure that screwed him if he tries to fight it.

From what he told me, he was in the back of the cop car and the cop went and took it

If he didn't have a warrant and the kid didn't give permission otherwise then I think that is illegal search and seizure. Not able to be used in court.

Well it just all depends on the officer's discretion. He probably did what's called "Search incident to an arrest" basically that means it's a warrantless search of an arrested individual to ensure the safety of the officer. So by all means the officer probably took his gopro as evidence to use against your friend for the fine he issued. Also he should have a warrant for your buddies camera. By all means what he did was wrong with the gopro, you can try to fight it but in the end, the judge can make a warrant for your bro's camera and see the footage that was taken and add more to the ticket like wreckless driving for example.

I'm no lawyer here but how could he justify a camera was a hazard to his safety and with that if it was part of an illegal search and seizure can they still use it even if a warrant is attained?

lol sadly he's screwed bud. if multiple people called him in then he'll probably have a hard time fighting it. they probably have the witnesses info so they could testify even without video evidence. not to mention they probably had the plate as well if they found him later that day.

i don't think a cop has to have a reason to pull you over if he's looking into a reported call about a crime involving a car matching the description given.

IIRC a cop can search without a warrant if he has reasonable cause. although he may not have been looking for drugs or weapons, im pretty sure if he has reason to believe the crime committed was saved on his go pro then you're SOL.

you can try fighting it but good luck!

lesson learned. going to mess around on the highway make sure it's clear and hide the go pro when you're done. haha

if his dad is a cop then that's probably why he didn't ask him. doesn't want his dad looking into it and giving him shit too.

Good luck if you take it to court.

If the police receive multiple calls on stuff like that they can stop you.

bingo!

one call and it may be heresay from someone who is out to cause you grief and it would probably end in a warning. multiple calls from other people then it's hard to contest.

that and if the go-pro was in plain sight (suspect it was) you don't need a warrant in the first place as was stated .. sounds like your buddy just had a rough day .. :(

All these Americans telling a Canadian what a Canadian cop can and cannot do........

exactly what I was thinking. I was like well...I have a friend thats a police officer but...I don't know crap about canada lol

Okay so first off you cannot search a vehicle without a warrant. At least where I am, not even for drugs.
I know this simply because I know a guy who got pulled over for something stupid, friend told the cop he had drugs in the car, cop searches the car, guy gets off drug trafficking charges due to illegal search of the vehicle.

Cops don't really need a reason to pull you over, however without that gopro he never should have taken, he couldn't have charged you with anything. You had no reason to be in that cop car in the first place.

The only thing going to save you now is a good lawyer. Those puppies aren't cheap, but they are worth it.

He is SOL, warrant or not the go pro is used for one thing, videoing the races. If the cop took the go pro he now has everything on tape. Same deal with taping a fight on your phone, the cop can take it without a warrant if he has reason to believe the fight or whatever was video taped. He didn't steal it out of your car, unless he told him your not aloud to search my car without a warrant he can do pretty much what he wants within reason.

And the way they view stunting now, it will be very hard to argue the case. I would cut my losses and plan some cabs for a few months, as by the time he pays the lawyer to do his thing it would be easier to just pay the fine and deal with it.

A cop CAN search your car without a warrant. it's called reasonable/probable cause.

if the officer has reason to believe a search is warranted they can do so. usually determined by illegal objects in plain site, distinctive odours or vehicle in question is being investigated for some reason.

Exactly

Here's the million dollar question, though - without the officer actually witnessing those acts, the officer taking the Gopro after heresay kind of indicates that the search and seizure of the gopro is premeditated, true?

If so, it sort of changes the game. From what I've heard, s&s in Canada is harsh for narcotic searches - but not for stuff like this, where impropriety is only suspected. This officer can't even claim he was pursuing the car - or if he claims he did, he has to have one whopper of a story to justify that! This would lend credence to the defense that the gopro was taken without due legal process. If any of that is proven reasonably, then anything submitted from the gopro is inadmissible. That much works in both the US and Canada.

Maybe where you are from. Like I said where I am they cannot do that. Sadly the person I am speaking of is someone very close to me, and he did in fact get off of drug tracking charges because it was an illegal search.

The argument was they could have towed the car and searched it, and his argument was that crack heads would have had that car cleaned out before the had a chance to search it.

The judge ruled illegal search of a vehicle, and he was off of all charges.

With the right lawyer you can get off of anything,

The gopro can in fact become not submissiable in court due to an illegal search.

Just like if you record someone without their knowledge of the recording it becomes useless.

Nope - if it's out in the open it's probable cause. Piggie had the right to take it

Your friend should probably get a lawyer right about now. ;)

This one might be true, but as for searching, your vehicle, house, phone, computer they need a warrant unless you give them permission.

If cop comes to your house in Alberta, they have to ask to come in. They cannot just step in.

This has happened to me a few times...Ppl have called me in and Ive been pulled over...never ticket'd tho but I have been pulled over due to ppl calling me in.

Did a little research since I am not familiar with Canada's traffic laws. Not sure how accurate this site is but sounds about right to me:

Traffic Services | Criminal/Traffic Offences

My bet is someone called about the racing, providing the officer with a vehicle description. The officer found the vehicle with a cool Go-Pro on it and pulled it over. I am sure the Go-Pro was in "plain view" and was seized as evidence consistent with the citation for "Stunting".

But what do I know..........

:)