TexasCHLforum.com

I DID IT!!!
My wife waw going to the little store down the road & asked if I wanted to go. I was a passenger (Not driving) I clipped on my IWB holster with my P95 & jumped in the car. guess what- I didnt bring my wallet with my DL & CHL. I believe I was still legal anyway. Im in the car & the gun is concealed.
Being the king of the Waiting Room i do know my DL number. LOL.
Still-NOt Good! Lesson Learned!

Pecos wrote:I DID IT!!!
My wife waw going to the little store down the road & asked if I wanted to go. I was a passenger (Not driving) I clipped on my IWB holster with my P95 & jumped in the car. guess what- I didnt bring my wallet with my DL & CHL. I believe I was still legal anyway. Im in the car & the gun is concealed.
Being the king of the Waiting Room i do know my DL number. LOL.
Still-NOt Good! Lesson Learned!

Only if you own the car or it is under your control.

cb1000rider wrote:My understanding is, in Texas, if you are detained that LEOs consider the phone part of what is on or about your person. They can take it and search it.

Not your fault that the article is wrong, but the facts make a big difference. Police cannot search anything on your person when you are detained. They may frisk you for weapons only. This was the results of the Terry v. Ohio decision. It has been added to in one small respect where an officer who is doing a frisk and finds other evidence than a weapon may use it (plain feel doctrine). I think that is the weakest link possible, but SCOTUS bought it.

The case concerned an arrest, not a detention. In the case of an arrest, an officer may search you and anything on your person. Searching a cell phone for its contents is a gray area of the law because it is relatively new technology. The original justification for the search incident to arrest included looking for evidence that could be destroyed, safety of the officer and institution (jail), and the identification of valuables to be protected for the suspect. If I arrest you for DWI, I am not very likely to find any evidence related to the arrest on your phone. If I arrest you for selling drugs, there is a good chance I could find evidence of it on the phone. I think the eventual court ruling is going to be very dependent on the specifics of the case that makes it up there.

The case in the article is a good one to me but others may disagree. As a general rule, the search incident to arrest could be delayed like the one mentioned, but SCOTUS has been narrowing that down a lot lately. If this one gets high enough, I could see it setting a precedent that the delayed search is not legal without a warrant or some other factor, but they will avoid the real question of the search of the phone incident to arrest.

srothstein wrote: Not your fault that the article is wrong, but the facts make a big difference. Police cannot search anything on your person when you are detained. They may frisk you for weapons only. This was the results of the Terry v. Ohio decision. It has been added to in one small respect where an officer who is doing a frisk and finds other evidence than a weapon may use it (plain feel doctrine). I think that is the weakest link possible, but SCOTUS bought it.

Thanks for the correction. I was looking for an article that supported the fact that LEOs are searching unlocked cell phones.
There are also indications on various LEO forums and conservative forums that cell phones should be considered weapons. They can be used by the bad guys to call buddies is one concern.
A bit of interesting discussion on it by LEOs, including an indication that there are guns that look like cell phones: http://forums.officer.com/t44827-2/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I don't know if that's true or not, but certainly I can understand taking a phone away if a thug is using it to call for backup.

References to traffic stops (California of course) and associated cell phone searches not incident to arrest:
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2011/10 ... fic-stops/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Michigan appears to do it too:
http://www.infosecisland.com/blogview/1 ... Stops.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The general case law currently seems to indicate that it's much more common when incident to an arrest.. That is, they arrest you, it's OK to search your cell phone.
The traffic stop.. Cell phone in hand, it's pretty easy to flip through an unlocked phone.