A question for California Police (LEOs). Detained for sitting in car with out of state plates?

Yes, it is legal. The requirements to detain is much less stringent that the requirements for arrest. The officer can do a pat-down to insure his own safety. You permitted the search of the vehicle. Had you not done so, he would have had to get a warrant, or come up with a stronger cause for suspicion.

From your description it appears that this was all proper and legal. If you feel that you were treated excessively rudely (accusatory or other "tones" do not qualify), you can certainly go file a complaint. They will investigate, but I feel certain nothing would come of this at all as it all seems above board.

Knowing what you do about life these days, consider that you are the officer in a patrol car. You are cruising in an area of motels where perhaps there is a history of drug trafficking. You see a car with out-of-state tags and a paper DMV tag, with someone just sitting in the car. This ought to cause you to think this is unusual behavior that needs to be checked out.

You don't know this guy from Adam, so you have to be firm and make sure you are not shot or assaulted in the process.

Bottom line - you really were under suspicion until they confirmed the situation. That it only took 15 minutes for them to release you when you didn't even have valid ID is somewhat miraculous. Another thought - what if you were in your room and some drug activity was really taking place outside your door. Would you want the police to investigate that and clear the scene or just drive by because nothing overt was going on?

This is technically a consensual encounter, and it is perfectly legal. It may not have felt that way because of the tone they used. Using such a tone is a common technique that police use to find out information from suspicious people when they don't have probable cause for detention.

An easy thing to do in this situation is to ask "am I being detained?" or "am I free to go?" They are required to tell you whether they are detaining you or not. If not, you can leave.

You are not required to give consent to search the car, however if you do, they can search it.

Sorry this happened, but honestly it does seem a bit suspicious to be sitting in a car at a motel all alone, especially if it was late at night. Many drug dealers do that type of thing.

Not in Ca but can tell you - many are like this in ALL states! Many people do drugs at motels and there have been increase in stolen cars so they are doing their job. Once you cooperated however they should respect you but just like some people who work in fast food - some are nice and some are just jerks!

If I see the front i think of it relatively is somebody from right here (Michigan) with a California plate in front for adornment (very straightforward for some reason) considering we don't have front plates. no rely if it relatively is a professional California automobile i think of wow what a lengthychronic

Honestly, so big deal it took them 15 minutes to prove you were innocent which you knew all along. Life is to short to dwell on such incidents.

Welcome to the police state of Amerika.....and you want to ask a LEO if they were fair...WAKE UP.....you have a lot to learn about standing on your rights