Motel security when using drugs in your room

[dan0125]

One time several months ago I had a spooky experiene with the police while staying in a motel partying with a couple friends. We were smoking weed and drinking beer all night in a somewhat seedy motel. We just decided we'd get a cheap room to spend the night partying, to get away from our parents (we were still living at home at the time, this was about 2 years ago). Well we hadn't smoked any marijuana in the room in a couple hours and my other friends were asleep at this point and I was still awake and trying to watch TV. I was doing a couple lines of coke from a small bag we had. The damn channel indicator kept staying on-screen which was kind of distracting, I tried everything to try and stop this, so as a last resort I unplugged the TV for a few seconds and plugged it back in to see if I could reset it. Well it didn't, so I resigned to seeing the channel 25 indictator stay on the screen. Well anyway about 10 mins later the phone starts ringing and I don't answer it because I'm spooked. Finally after 10 rings I pulled the plug. This didn't even wake my passed out friends.
I should mention that I had already done up all the remaining coke, and the bag of marijuana was hidden in a dresser drawer, along with the pariphanelia, (bong, rolling papers) etc. The only thing that was left was a bunch of beer bottles around the room, which didn't matter since we were all over 21.
All of a sudden there is a knock at the door and the visitor identfies himself as the police, so I look out the window and their is a cop car, and fire engine out there! I opened the door a little nervous, since I was unaware that unplugging the TV set off an alarm, it never crossed my mind that was why the front desk was calling. I told the cops my friends were passed out from a little too much beer, and I told him the truth about the TV. He could see that the TV wasn't moved or anything, so I offered him my license, he ran it and it came back clear, so he just left.
Moral of the story is, don't fuck with the plug on your TV in a motel room! Who would think they'd wire up an alarm on those 20inch pieces of crap? I should've known becaues the plug was modified, had a big ass rounded plug on the end that looked like it was off an old iron from the 50's, even though it was a modern TV.
My question is what would've happened if we had happened to smoke marijuana in the room and the cop had smelled it, but all the paraphenalia was hidden in the drawers, could he have searched the room?
This story got me to thinking, because I happened to be staying in a Motel 6 the other night while on business. I had a small amount of marijuana with me (3grams) and I was smoking up in my room after work before bed. If the smell drifted outside could the cops bust me? I'm just interested in motel security practices. I noticed a local police car patrolled the parking lot every couple of hours at night time, I don't know what he was looking for? Maybe drunk guests driving off the premises? Or people breaking into cars?
What are your thoughts on this? I'm sure a lot of us stay in motels and do not so legal things in our rooms.
[ 08 March 2002: Message edited by: dan0125 ]

 

[quale]

You unplugged the government camera in your TV...that just isn't allowed.
In general I believe that a cop saying he smelled weed is probably cause for a search. It is just cause for a personal/car search. While I believe the hotel cannot give them consent to search your room I don't know...esp not if you expressly sign this away on the room contract.
The legal aspects should probably be moved to legal Q&a tho

 

[dan0125]

The whole incident with the cops could've been avoided if I just answered the phone, I could've told the night clerk desk what happened. Oh well, at least the cop wasn't overly suspicious. I'm glad we put all of our gear away. I was just wondering what your rights are at a motel. I'm always afraid of the law knocking on my door while I'm in the middle of smoking up or whatever.

 

[RaverMadness]

Nice...
I can't say that that would be very common in many motels (most of them just like to bolt the TV to something immobile), but smaller motel managers are an odd bunch.
Most of them are aware that illegal activity does go on in their rooms, and they usually take steps to limit this (see above). Another concern is meth labs, since they usually have to foot the bill for cleanup.
If the motel manager calls the cops on you and your friends for drinking/etcetera in a motel room, they're usually afraid that you're going to thrash the place or ruin a matress. Places that do a lot of business from "weeklies" are probably going to be a lot harder on you than chain motels (Best Western, etc.).
You probably did the best thing. Blame any intoxication on alcohol, and hope anyone nonresponsive is of age. One big plus is that any motel room worth it's salt will have a fan (invariably wired to the light switch) scavanged from a jet aircraft installed in the bathroom. If smoking weed, use this to your advantage.
Motel rooms don't offer a *lot* of hiding spaces, so if you find any convenient little crannies a small bag of some illegal substance can be tucked into in case of search, make note of it.
<i>Really</i> old motels will have a slot in the bathroom which goes into the wall - this was for getting rid of dull razor blades before disposable and electric razors became common. This is the best "get rid of a bag of meth" paranoia drop slot ever invented, and it doesn't make noise like a toilet. Chances of recovery are minimal, though.

 

[adamKY]

I always use the bath room when I do anything that has an odor / fumes. Be sure to turn on the exhaust fan. I will run the shower. Water spraying through the air "cleans" it some. Also, the clorine smell can mask odors to an extent. There's never a smoke detector in the bathroom. Good house keeping like putting your gear away/out of sight is always a good move. I always try to stay where my room door opens to the outside, not into an interior hallway. That way if some odor does leak out my door there is a chance a wind will blow it away. The seedy places are great to party. So long as you don't make noise or trash the place I've never had even a hint of a problem.
On the issue of your legal rights: Where I am strong identifiable odors are probable cause to search. Meth labs are often busted because of their distinctive odor. Besides, if the cop wants in he can always go to the management. Management doesn't need a reason. Discretion is the way to go.
[ 09 March 2002: Message edited by: adamKY ]

 

[SovietContin]

<i>Really</i> old motels will have a slot in the bathroom which goes into the wall - this was for getting rid of dull razor blades before disposable and electric razors became common. This is the best "get rid of a bag of meth" paranoia drop slot ever invented, and it doesn't make noise like a toilet. Chances of recovery are minimal, though.
Describe these slots a little more. Because if I ever go to an old hotel, I'd like to be prepared to recover meth that someone else may have possibly left behind.

 

[privateparts]

i've heard that unless they can see it, they cannot enter without a warrant, but that might be only for your home or privately owned property. just remember if he asks if he can come in say no .
most of the hotels also have those payperview thingies on the tv. they have silent alarms on the plugs and shit so you don't steal movies or try to swipe the tv. my friend and i attempted to steal some pay television from a hotel room and took the cable wire out from this little box on the tv. a little blue light on the back came on so we plugged it back in. but the front desk called like 30 seconds later and asked if we wanted a movie. it was surprising but we played it off ike we tripped over the wire or something.
p.p.

 

[RaverMadness]

It's literally a tiny slit in the wall. I've never seen them more than an 1.5" wide and 1/4" tall. For any drugs you could potentially find by knocking a hole in the wall, you'd have to dig through 60 year old razors and god knows what else.

 

[jp411896]

I don't know about cops smelling stuff, but management can come in whenever they want to. The best you could hope for would be to charge them with tresspassing (good luck). This means getting kicked out when they ask you to hand over the drugs and you refuse. They can't call the cops and let them search unless they have seen illegal activity or heard you admit to it. Reporting a smell is not enough to have the cops search (a cop smelling something might be a different story). Be careful where you hide your stuff. Owners are allowed to search thier own property, so drawers, closets, etc. are a bad idea. Bring a lockable box. If the owner reports a smell, the best the cops can do is run a dog past your door and see if it hits. This is why you should open windows immediately and leave them open if management knocks and you know you're screwed (even if the wind is blowing into the room). If the wind is blowing into the room, when the owner holds the door open, the whole hallway will end up smelling (gee, officer, I think it was those shady characters down the hall). That means the dog might go into a fit, but it's not going to pinpoint your room. Another important tip is DON'T TOUCH THE DOORNOB ON THE WAY OUT! This will leave a concentration on your doornob and the dog will definately hit on your door (your hands pick up a lot of scent when you mess with drugs). The cops are usually going to search and take your shit anyway unless you hide it real good, but at least no charges will be filed provided you don't make any stupid statements. This would, of course, not apply to the more crooked cops. Some of them play by most of the rules, some don't. I survived my one and only encounter with the cops this way (through sheer luck, it turned out I had done all of these things right.) This happened in an off campus college residence hall (not university owned), by the way.