The Greensboro City Council, at a virtual work session on Tuesday, Aug. 11, by consensus agreed to require police officers to obtain written consent before conducting a search of a vehicle, residence, business or person.
The actual vote was to direct City Manager David Parrish to come back to the City Council with a policy for approval. The council by agreement doesn’t take formal votes at work sessions, except when the majority decides to do so.
The motion by Councilmember Tammi Thurm passed on a 6-to-3 vote with Mayor Nancy Vaughan and Councilmembers Thurm, Justin Outling, Nancy Hoffmann, Michelle Kennedy and Yvonne Johnson voting in favor. Councilmembers Marikay Abuzuaiter, Sharon Hightower and Goldie Wells voted no, or actually in this case didn’t vote because those in favor were asked to raise their hands but those opposed were not, which is not unusual for the informal votes taken at work sessions, even virtual work sessions.
The City Council discussed the matter of consent searches for over an hour before voting.
A consent search occurs when a police officer does not have probable cause to search and asks permission. If police officers have probable cause they do not have to obtain permission before the search. Consent searches most often occur during a traffic stop and the driver of the vehicle can refuse to allow the vehicle to be searched. One of the issues the written consent form is supposed to help solve is that people say they didn’t know that they could refuse the request from the police officer.
Hightower said, “People are afraid if they say no they are going to get searched anyway because of probable cause.”
According to a report, when Durham implemented a written form, consent searches went down and probable cause searches went up.
Outling asked a number of questions about the burden requiring a written form would place on police officers. Parrish finally answered saying that the burden would be having another form to keep up with and having to get it out of the car and have someone sign it before the search.
Outling said, “I see that as being a reasonable thing and think that city staff can figure out how to do that in an efficient way.”
The meeting was chaired by Abuzuaiter with both Mayor Vaughan and Mayor Pro Tem Johnson participating.
Vaughan did leave the meeting briefly. She said her batteries were low and came back to the meeting by phone without visual participation.
Of you have nothing to hide why is such a big deal?
Search without cause is tyranny. It is the same as spying, recording your phone calls, etc. It’s called PRIVACY, my choice not yours. You can do as your like.
Police will 1) Bring stacks of forms with them on patrol or 2) stop pulling people over
The officer could be shot and killed taking the time to retrieve the paper form and pen from his vehicle. Its not an issue of paper work, its an issue of safety. Hire good quality policemen whom we all can trust and then THRUST THEM. Good law abiding citizens will be safer and the communities will be better places for all of us to live.
The City Council just don’t want to “INCONVENIENCE” the criminals by letting a fine law abiding Police Officer do his job working and risking his life to keep us ALL safe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Talk about over reaching for our city council . You want our GPD to get a piece of paper , read it to someone, then have them sign it or not, and still keep in charge of the whole scene while on the side of a road or highway!! You act like our brave men and women are in a office somewhere and not in all kinds of weather trying their best to protect us and get bad people off the streets. Please , I ask you, get off your butts and ride with a patrol officer, at night. They NEVER know how a call is going to go. And you just burdened them with something else that is already captured by video and sound. I am so looking forward to voting. This is the worse City Council and Mayor that Greensboro has ever had and it shows.
So where does the Greensboro City Council get the Authority to devise whether a Police Officer should use a written form? Is this not the purview of the Court System or the District Attorney’s or the Legal Department of a Police Agency. The Councils job is supposed to legislate ordinances, that will pass muster in the Courts, and Recommend Policy & Procedure to its agencies. NOTE I Said “Recommend” . The State Legislature is the ONLY body in the State with the Authority to effective legislation and Criminal Procedure with recommendations from the Attorney Generals Office and District Attorneys. If the council would just concentrate on doing their job and leave the administration of various city and county departments to those selected to Administer them.
Why did you feel this is such an important issue Ms. Thurm? How many of your constituents get stopped and searched in a month? Seems to me that if you have nothing to hide you’d be willing to consent to a quick search .
What happens if you upset Ms. Thurm and she has a cop friend that would love to tear everything out of your car and leave you by the side of the road just because you upset her. But you had nothing to hide.
Just making it harder for police officers as usual. Why should you have a problem with it if you don’t have anything to hide?
Like I said in another article, the officers have body cameras that record all interactions. The officer’s request to search will be recorded as will the citizen’s response. Done.
If the citizen later alleges coercion, a quick review of the video will prove or refute the allegation. A form can be easily doctored or the citizen could say they never signed it, but the video will not lie. The form is useless.
For those who’ve never done police work, here’s why this matters. No state law requires cops to utilize a form to document consent. In Greensboro consent is recorded on camera. Which is the better evidence, a video of the interaction or a signed form?? People will often times verbally consent but most criminals are opposed to signing any type of paperwork when they are being investigated. Just like us they watch “The First 48” and know that once you start signing stuff you’re probably getting screwed. This action only serves to hamper the police and protect the criminals. The funny thing about it is this. The council members who represent the areas plagued by violent crime know this. Look at the breakdown. Those council persons want cops taking guns and drugs out of their neighborhoods. Good old Tammy and her woke council friends who represent the safer areas of town could care less. They know that less police searching cars doesn’t affect their constituents. Nobody’s being shot at Friendly Center or in Irving Park. 34 murders and counting….but don’t worry about that. Your virtuous gesture is duly noted on the east and south side of GSO
So the Grand Poobahs think they’re gonna change federal law? I guess they can take the Stars and Bars down, but Nancy and crew are still Confederates at heart.
I would like to know who the hell put you in charge of the POLICE? We the taxpayers pay their pay check and yours. We the people could have a say in this by voting. You City Council people are doing too many bad things behind the backs of the people. How dare you. We the people will get to the bottom of all your mess you people are up too. Enjoy your time because we will you all out. We don’t trust none of you.