Is being an unlicensed driver probable cause for a vehicle search warrant?
What was in the glove box? If the dog alerted them outside of the car that something was up, they have probable cause to search the car, although just the fact that you were unlicensed was likely enough. If you had drugs or whatever in the glove box, accept your punishment and quit screwing up your life. It is amazing to me how many people break the law and then try to get out of it by finding a technicality. Man up and take it.
They didn’t need a search warrant to inventory the entire contents of your car. Most departments routinely inventory the contents of an impounded car and provide a list of the contents to the registered owner of the car. This prevents any claims after the fact that “there was a priceless gold ring in the car, and it isn’t there anymore!” Driving without a license is enough to get your car impounded, part of the impound process is a full inventory of the car and it’s contents. This whole problem has just one big root, you were driving without a license! Yes the police can impound your car for driving without a license. Yes, the police can (and in some departments MUST) inventory the entire contents of a vehicle they impound, including all locked consoles, glove boxes, and luggage in the car!
An interesting version of events. . . You were stopped, you had no license, so you can not drive the car and you are arrested. The car gets impounded anyway and an inventory search is usually done at the impound yard. As to the search itself, yes it was probably legal. The drug dog, despite your colorful description, detected the presence of some illegal item. That gives the police the probable cause for a search warrant, which, I suspect, allowed them to search your entire car. Since you are not an expert on drug dog behavior, your comments about not seeing an alert will be ignored by the court. The car was impounded because you were arrested, that is a standard procedure, it was not done just to get a warrant. Once the dog alerted to the presence of some illegal substance, that gave the police their needed probable cause to get the warrant. A warrant is supposed to be issued in a timely manner, but, in your case, that could be several hours to a couple days. The delay would make no d
