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    Default Reasonable Hours when a Cop Can Go to a Motel Room and Search Someone on Probation

    My question involves police conduct in the State of: california

    Would 1:00AM be reasonable for police to knock on the door of a registerd guest of a motel and conduct a search simply because the guest was on probation? Additionally when they where knocking they made sure to stay out of view of the peep hole in the door and identified themselves as front desk in order to get the guest to answer the door. They never had permission nor concent to enter the room and barged right in once the door was opened. Is it even legal for motels to give out information to cops about their registered guests? I would understand if cops were to be able to get information about a specific guest but to just hand over thier entire guest list for cops to do what ever they want whenever they want seems to me a tad bit inappropriate and bad business because you can count on it that I will never stay at that establishment ever again and would advise everyone I know never to paitronise that establishment as well.

  2. #2

    Default Re: Reasonable Hours when a Cop Can Go to a Motel Room and Search Someone on Probatio

    Quote Quoting daizzd
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    My Would 1:00AM be reasonable for police to knock on the door of a registerd guest of a motel and conduct a search simply because the guest was on probation?
    It's possible - but without knowing what police knew at the time, how they knew it, and under what circumstances, no solid answer can be given. We've only got one side of the story to work with, and it's not the important one for the court.

    Additionally when they where knocking they made sure to stay out of view of the peep hole in the door and identified themselves as front desk in order to get the guest to answer the door.
    Keeps cops from getting shot through the door by people who don't want police at the door and are willing to do something about it. They teach that the first day. If people are willing to open a door when they can't confirm who it is, that's on them.


    They never had permission nor concent to enter the room and barged right in once the door was opened.
    Again, without knowing what police knew at the time, no accurate answer can be given. But if the door was willfully opened, and police had reason to believe that a probationer was inside, that may be all they needed.


    Is it even legal for motels to give out information to cops about their registered guests? I would understand if cops were to be able to get information about a specific guest but to just hand over thier entire guest list for cops to do what ever they want whenever they want seems to me a tad bit inappropriate and bad business because you can count on it that I will never stay at that establishment ever again and would advise everyone I know never to paitronise that establishment as well.
    What makes you think the hotel gave police a list of all guests? There are LOTS of ways law enforcement could have known that a particular person was at a particular hotel.

  3. #3

    Default Re: Reasonable Hours when a Cop Can Go to a Motel Room and Search Someone on Probatio

    Had the prelim and the officer did not disapoint. He took the stand told his side of the story and told a few lies and made a few
    omissions and the judge found that there was evidence to go to trial. What happens now?

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    Default Re: Reasonable Hours when a Cop Can Go to a Motel Room and Search Someone on Probatio


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    Default Re: Reasonable Hours when a Cop Can Go to a Motel Room and Search Someone on Probatio

    Quote Quoting daizzd
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    Had the prelim and the officer did not disapoint. He took the stand told his side of the story and told a few lies and made a few
    omissions and the judge found that there was evidence to go to trial. What happens now?
    .

    so, your original question was because they caught you with something illegal in the room, right?

    What you do now is let your lawyer figure out if anything improper took place in the search of your room. If there wasn't, then you might want to consider a plea deal if offered. If there was something improper about the search, then your lawyer can seek to have any evidence obtained suppressed.

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    Default Re: Reasonable Hours when a Cop Can Go to a Motel Room and Search Someone on Probatio

    Quote Quoting daizzd
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    Would 1:00AM be reasonable for police to knock on the door of a registerd guest of a motel and conduct a search simply because the guest was on probation?
    Maybe. However, as was pointed out, it may depend on what the officers knew or believed. Note that probation search terms do not preclude searches at inconvenient times of night. And if there was some indication of activity in the room - lights on, TV on, talking - then the contact becomes quite reasonable.

    Additionally when they where knocking they made sure to stay out of view of the peep hole in the door and identified themselves as front desk in order to get the guest to answer the door.
    Had they been seeking entry on probable cause, that ruse would be a potential deal breaker. However, since you were on probation and almost certainly subject to search conditions, it is not entirely relevant. Such a ruse might have been to provide for their safety or to prevent the destruction of evidence.

    They never had permission nor concent to enter the room and barged right in once the door was opened.
    Read the conditions of your probation.

    Is it even legal for motels to give out information to cops about their registered guests?
    Absolutely! In some cities the local municipal codes even require it. In San Diego County some of the cities used to require many hotels to obtain photocopied IDs of registered guests ... not sure if that is still the case.

    I would understand if cops were to be able to get information about a specific guest but to just hand over thier entire guest list for cops to do what ever they want whenever they want seems to me a tad bit inappropriate and bad business because you can count on it that I will never stay at that establishment ever again and would advise everyone I know never to paitronise that establishment as well.
    I am not sure that the hotel really wants patrons that are conducting illegal activity in their hotel, so they may not be too concerned about the loss of that sort of business.

    One way we used to do it was to drive through the lot and run the license plates of certain vehicles. If we came a cross a local vehicle, or one with a hit on someone on probation or parole, we might follow up with a contact tin the office asking who was registered in the room and then run them for warrants, probation or parole. I can go on to explain why we did this, and what we were looking for, but that's not entirely the point here. The point is that the police do make these sorts of inquiries and do act on them when they have the discretionary time. It might also be that they responded to a call concerning odors, sounds, or activity in your room either from the desk or a neighbor. No matter, you were on probation and subject to search, and apparently got caught with the goods (contraband) as a result.

    If you had the prelim and were bound over, chances are it is plea deal time (if the DA wants to deal). Many counties will hold the suppression hearings before prelim, but yours might be different. I am not sure what grounds there might be to suppress a probation search, but if your attorney is creative and convincing, maybe a judge will buy it. Maybe.

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    Default Re: Reasonable Hours when a Cop Can Go to a Motel Room and Search Someone on Probatio

    In San Diego County some of the cities used to require many hotels to obtain photocopied IDs of registered guests ... not sure if that is still the case.

    I know of at least two states (my own and the state where I most often vacation) where it is required of all hotels state wide. In my days as a hotel night auditor, I have never given a police officer a list of all registered guests, but I have told an officer whether a particular individual was or was not registered.

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    Default Re: Reasonable Hours when a Cop Can Go to a Motel Room and Search Someone on Probatio

    It really is not practical to provide such lists these days as old-fashioned ledgers have given way to computerized databases. And i think many hotels - understaffed late at night as they are - would tolerate officers coming in on continuing fishing expeditions asking for printouts and info on people in every room. Thus, the way that we tend to cull the herd is by limiting our queries to certain vehicles, questioning the clerk as to any suspicious activity, driving by and making observations, or even responding to calls at the hotel. I used to park in an alley near one of our no-tell motels down south and sit in the shadows and watch. If there was foot traffic in and out of rooms at 2 or 3 AM that was the room I would inquire about. Usually we uncovered drug activity or prostitutes.

  9. #9
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    Default Re: Reasonable Hours when a Cop Can Go to a Motel Room and Search Someone on Probatio

    I can remember three times having an officer come in (other than once when I called for them to come and remove an unruly guest).

    Once, he saw a suspicious car in the lot and came in to ask if everything was all right - it was
    Once, he asked for a specific individual whose family had put out an alarm - she was mentally deficient and had not been seen for several days - she was, in fact, registered with us. He took down the information and left since she was not causing any trouble and he had not been asked to apprehend her.
    And once, he came in to warn me that a store down the street had been robbed and that perhaps I should keep the door locked that night.

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    Default Re: Reasonable Hours when a Cop Can Go to a Motel Room and Search Someone on Probatio

    Quote Quoting cbg
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    I can remember three times having an officer come in (other than once when I called for them to come and remove an unruly guest).

    Once, he saw a suspicious car in the lot and came in to ask if everything was all right - it was
    Once, he asked for a specific individual whose family had put out an alarm - she was mentally deficient and had not been seen for several days - she was, in fact, registered with us. He took down the information and left since she was not causing any trouble and he had not been asked to apprehend her.
    And once, he came in to warn me that a store down the street had been robbed and that perhaps I should keep the door locked that night.
    That we still do - and the other things. I just didn't want anyone to get the impression that cops everywhere are regularly romping into the hotel office and demanding to see lists and ID info on all the guests.

    Where I live and work we have a number of power outages each year, so when they happen late we run the rounds of the hotels near the freeway because they might be vulnerable (and with one female clerk at each of more than a half dozen hotels, that can be kinda scary for them - especially if they have drunk or unruly guests angry about the power outage). I find that the clerks get real happy to see us ... I sometimes even get chocolate chip cookies, oranges, coffee and fruit juice when I meander by at oh-dark-thirty.

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