A Different Kind of Hiding Important Stuff

[Canine]

Interesting....
I wonder how the law would view a small safe? My previous van (it was formerly owned by the local police dept.oddly enough)had a small gun safe mounted to the partition in plain sight.

A search warrant is needed to get into the safe. Same with your car. Or you can always give them permission to look, but that is a stupid idea. While most LEO's are nice and do their job well, they are not your buddy. They are out to enforce the law and if they can trick you into giving up your rights to make their job easier and to make your job harder, then that is what they will do. Most LEO won't give you a hard time for doing the responsible thing by using an extra deterrent to keep a gun safer from being stolen by kids or the bad guys.

 

[marigold]

I've had the opposite experience with LEO where defying them has created a power struggle and unconsented search vs being compliant and voluntarily leading a search (opening bags, drawers etc) has been fine. Cops can always find a
Reasonable cause for a search, even if it's just saying you seemed nervous. I also wonder if a safe is an invitation to see what's inside. My friend had some money from a safe taken by a LEO and she has to prove it was hers to get it back. In my experience being polite and compliant is always good.

I am trying to figure out where to stash my couple valuables while on the road. Where are the obvious places that thieves look? Glove box? Drawers and cupboards?

 

[Canine]

I've only been arrested once (so far. lol) and somehow my money disappeared. While exercising your rights might cause you more trouble, that is the price of exercising your freedoms. You may lose them in the short term, but keep them in the longer term. That is how these nanny states grow. We are scared of having confrontations with the police, so we give up our rights. Then many of those same people complain about losing our rights.

Another example is a guy that purchased old cars, restored them, and sold them for profit. (As best as my memory tells me, anyway. Whatever the specifics were, he traveled for his business legitimately.) Because of the nature of his business, he carried a lot of cash. Many thousands. People won't take out-of-state checks and private sales preclude credit cards. Cash talks.

Anyway, he got pulled over for a light out or something very minor. The cop was nice and asked him some questions. One of them was if he carried cash on him. The driver said he had a large sum of money. The cop was thinking drugs, so he began an investigation. Eventually, the cop decided he should confiscate the money and did.

Normally, when you are suspected of a crime, the burden of proof lies with law enforcement. With confiscation, that is reversed. The burden of proof lies on you! In my opinion that is illegal, but that is the law. Anyway, the guy lived out-of-state, so he had to travel back and forth to attend multiple court hearings. This ate up thousands of dollars- most of what the cop legally stole- I mean "confiscated". The last I heard he probably wasn't going to get reimbursed for attorney fees, court fees, etc.

As far as valuables, depends on the size and amount. If it is long and skinny, you could stick it between the dome light and headliner. You could create a false bottom on your center console if you wanted to get fancy. Don't hide your stuff in flour jars, cereal boxes, and the like; that is a common hiding place and thieves will tear those open. Money in books is a bad idea for the same reason. Sowing money in curtains is also a bad place for the same reason. Just to be safe, I am going to state the obvious in case you accidentally might: don't post what your valuables are.

 

[anewbiewannabe]

I am trying to figure out where to stash my couple valuables while on the road.  Where are the obvious places that thieves look? Glove box? Drawers and cupboards?

Marigold, if they are small things that you couldn't bear to lose I'd suggest instead of keeping them with you get a safe deposit box. If they are things that for whatever reasons you want to keep with you then I would suggest that you think of at least 10 places you might hide them---then don't hide them in any of those because if you thought of them off the top of your head then so has everyone else including the smash and grab thieves.

X2 on not giving specifics of hidey holes here or anywhere public.

I have things it would make me sad to lose that I want to keep with me, but they have minimal real value so if it makes me happy to use them then it's a risk I'll take. For example, I'm not switching to paper plates when I have perfectly good dishes that I can use---yeah, they might get broken, but some have been broken in the process of living already. No point in them sitting in storage somewhere getting dusty since that's not much better than just being gone.

I think I would keep copies of important papers on a flashdrive tucked away somewhere just as added protection on those.

Haven't figured out the medication or money thing yet myself.

All we really can do whether in s&b or mobile is to minimize risks. We all have to find our personal comfort level.

 

[marigold]

I guess there's a fine line between being compliant and being 100 % forthcoming, and no perfect formula for safety.

I thought about doing a detailed blog post about my secret compartments complete with blueprints and photos of corresponding valuables, but decided against it

 

[anewbiewannabe]

I thought about doing a detailed blog post about my secret compartments complete with blueprints and photos of corresponding valuables, but decided against it

Well, darn, that would have been helpful.