Automobile Exception to Search Warrant Rules: In a Warrantless Search, Probable Cause Still Required 

The automobile exception to the search warrant requirement: Warrantless searches of vehicles under the automobile exception require that there be probable cause to search those areas of the vehicle searched.   

Searches of Vehicles; The Automobile Exception; Probable Cause and the Scope of an Automobile Search  

The automobile exception to the search warrant requirement allows for a warrantless search of a vehicle anywhere in that vehicle for which there is probable cause to believe seizeable items are located.  

On April 1, 2021, detectives from the Stockton Police Department were surveilling a gang funeral expecting criminal street gang members connected to prior shootings to be in attendance. The detectives were in plain clothes and in unmarked police vehicles. One detective recognized a particular juvenile based on photographs he had seen and prior conversations he had had with other detectives after a recent shooting at the juvenile’s home. He was aware that the juvenile was on searchable probation with a firearm restriction. In his observations of this juvenile, the detective believed that he was carrying a firearm.   

This conclusion was based upon the detective’s observation of an unidentifiable object protruding from the juvenile’s right front waistband as the ....