Can the Police Legally Search Me or My Property in Illinois? Facing criminal charges in the state of Illinois? Combs Waterkotte attorney Joshua Boardman discusses probable cause and when police can legally search you, your vehicle, or our property in Illinois.
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Interview Transcript
Scott Michael Dunn: Can they legally search me or my possessions when I’m arrested in Illinois?
Joshua Boardman: So there would need to be established some form of probable cause to search. You can obviously, they’ll ask you if they can search, they’ll ask for a consented search. Traditionally, the advice would be no, but they would need some form of probable cause which can be established by contraband in plain sight, different exigent circumstances, things like that. But legally they can, but there are constitutional protections that outline under what circumstances they can search you. And keep in mind, though, they’re always going to ask for your consent, and so if you consent, a lot of those protections, you’ve waived those or those have gone by the wayside.
Dunn: As soon as you consent, that’s it. They can search everything and on your person or your property as soon as you give them consent to do that.
Boardman: Yeah, and they’ll ask you, can we search your person, can we search the vehicle, etc.
