Many festivalgoers think that as long as they don’t break the law, they won’t get in legal trouble. But sometimes even law-abiding folks stumble into legal trouble simply by not understanding their legal rights or misunderstanding the law.

This often happens because people buy into and spread “legal urban myths”—statements that sound true but are completely, legally wrong. Here are the five most common legal urban myths I see being repeated on the Internet. Knowing the truth behind these urban myths can save you some serious legal headaches.

Legal Urban Myth #1: “If the police don’t read you your Miranda rights, your arrest is thrown out of court.”

Certain things look so cool on TV that they keep showing up in show after show. For example, a character sets off a giant explosion and just calmly walks away like it’s no big deal. I’d wager that 90 percent of crime shows end with a suspect in handcuffs, pushed against a police car by an officer dramatically reading, “You have the right to remain silent…anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.”

TV shows treat the reading of Miranda rights as a kind of legal high-five for detectives when they get their suspect. Sure, it looks cool, but it leaves the false impression that Miranda rights are legally required to be given whenever someone is arrested.

What’s the Actual Law? Miranda rights don’t have anything to do with whether an arrest is legal or not.

Miranda rights are basically a warning police officers have to give you, telling you they are about to interrogate you. The Supreme Court handed down the original Miranda decision because they worried that questioning suspects in police custody leads to a high potential for coerced confessions or other police abuse.

To avoid abusive questionings, the Court defined one form of police questioning as “custodial interrogation.” This occurs whenever police question someone who is either under arrest or what the law calls the “functional equivalent of arrest.” Miranda rights are required to be read in any such situation. This means before any custodial interrogation, police have to remind people of their Fifth Amendment right to remain silent and Sixth Amendment right to a lawyer.

If the police screw this up and don’t read your Miranda rights when they should, the arrest is still valid. The legal effect is that any statement you made will be tossed out of court.

What Festivalgoers Need to Know

I have written in prior articles about why it is never a good idea to talk to the police, especially without a lawyer. So really, you should know what to do whether or not the police read you your Miranda rights.

Bottom line: If you are EVER questioned by the police, do not give a statement. Instead, calmly and politely tell the officer, “I am choosing to remain silent. I want a lawyer.” Remember “anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.” It is your right to let your lawyer do the talking.

Legal Urban Myth #2: “If you ask an undercover officer if he is a cop, he has to tell you the truth.”

If you think about it for a second, you realize this myth can’t possibly be true. Criminals would merely have to ask, “Are you a cop?” and by law the officer would have to say, “Aw shucks, Mr. Violent Gangster, you got me. I’m an undercover cop trying to infiltrate your organization. Guess my cover is blown…No hard feelings?”

What’s the Actual Law? Police can completely lie to your face whether working undercover or not.

In fact, the law says that an undercover cop can lie to you about anything, including whether or not they are really a cop. Didn’t everybody see that Breaking Bad episode where Badger learns this the hard way?

What Festivalgoers Need to Know

Realizing that the police can lie to you is really important information for festies. I occasionally hear of some pretty borderline tactics being used by undercover cops at festivals, like cops aggressively asking for people to “help them out” in their search for drugs.

The beauty of the festival community is its open nature and willingness for strangers to help each other. Sometimes people think that this “pay it forward” mentality should extend to drugs. But from a legal standpoint, giving someone drugs or introducing them to someone who has drugs is legally the same as selling them drugs in most states.

In fact, the Washington Post talked about the unfairness of some of these aggressive undercover tactics in one of its editorials.

Bottom line: Never, under any circumstances, give, sell, or take a drug from a stranger. Never help someone find drugs. Taking drugs from strangers is medically dangerous. Giving them away is basically Russian roulette.

Legal Urban Myth #3: “Cops need a warrant to search your car.”

I blame Jay-Z’s “99 Problems” for this myth.

The second verse of the song is fictional but based on a true story. The cops want to search his car (loaded with cocaine), he refuses, they wait for drug-sniffing dogs that never show up, and Mr. Carter gets away with it. Jay-Z raps:

“Well, my glove compartment is locked, so is the trunk and the back, and I know my rights so you gon’ need a warrant for that.”

Wrong.

What’s the Actual Law? Police only need “probable cause” to search a car.

The courts have defined an “automobile exception” to the normal requirement for a search warrant. Because cars can easily be moved to destroy evidence and are usually in a public place, the Supreme Court has ruled that you don’t have a “reasonable expectation of privacy” that would require a search warrant.

Although they don’t need a warrant, in most cases cops must have “probable cause” before they can search your car (unless you agree to it being searched). This could be the sight of drugs in plain view or the smell of pot coming from the interior. Police can also have a drug dog sniff around your car as long as they don’t detain you too long.

Adendum: The US Supreme Court has ruled that cops do not need a warrant to search a vehicle however, there are some states (primarily in the South) where the individual State Constitution does require police to get a warrant. As always, check your local state laws!

What Festivalgoers Need to Know

Sometimes, police officers will hide along the roads leading into a festival the same way bears will wait on the narrow spot of a creek where salmon swim upstream. Because of this, I recommend you take precautions to avoid attracting attention to yourself in these situations.

Cops call vehicles with expired tags, broken tail lights, or some other obvious reason to stop them, “rolling probable cause.” Your goal is to never be rolling probable cause. Keep your car in running order, have your license and registration current, and maybe avoid those “Wakarusa or Bust” paintings on your car. Even if you aren’t doing anything illegal, don’t give police an easy reason to pull you over.

Bottom line: Keep a low profile, avoid being “rolling probable cause,” and NEVER consent to a search of your vehicle.

Legal Urban Myth #4: “Because medical marijuana is a ‘medicine,’ you have a ‘right’ to bring it into a festival.”

A lot of festivalgoers believe that if you live in a state where medical marijuana is legal, you have a right to bring it to a festival as long as you have your medical marijuana card with you.

What’s the Actual Law? Federal law says marijuana is a controlled substance.

Marijuana is still illegal and classified as a “Schedule I Controlled Substance” under federal law. Schedule I is the category reserved for our most dangerous drugs. To qualify, the drug must have “no currently accepted medical use” and a “high potential for abuse,” like heroin and MDMA.

That’s right. Legally speaking, federal law considers marijuana to be just as dangerous and prone to abuse and addiction as heroin.

This puts medical marijuana usage into a legal grey area. For example, in California, a doctor can’t “prescribe” marijuana for you. The doctor can only make a “recommendation” that you may be in possession of certain amounts of marijuana necessary to treat a diagnosable medical condition. She can’t prescribe weed for you because the drug is by definition illegal under federal law.

Why does this matter for a festival? Well, every festival has the right to limit what you bring into the concert. Because marijuana is illegal under federal law, festivals have an absolute right to prohibit you from bringing it in. Some festivals have liberal smoking rules and just ask people to be respectful by not smoking around kids, for example. But for the most part, festivals have a strict “no medical marijuana” policy.

What Festivalgoers Need to Know

Like anything else, check the festival’s website before bringing anything questionable (glow sticks, totems, etc.) into the fest. Understand that for most states, a medical marijuana card gives you no “right” to bring pot into a festival. Instead, any rules about it are at the absolute discretion of the venue.

Legal Urban Myth #5: “If you are on private property and your ticket says you consent to a search, you have no legal rights at a music festival.”

This myth that festivals are “Fourth Amendment free zones,” like an airport, is almost universally believed and accepted. After all, it seems logical. Your ticket does say you agree to a search, right?

What’s the Actual Law? You actually have a lot more rights than you think.

When you first enter a festival, festivals have a right to conduct a reasonable search for weapons. Legally, this is probably okay, as long as you were previously told about the search and given the option to refuse the search by not entering the event.

What Festivalgoers Need to Know

When you first enter a festival, you basically agree to be searched at the initial checkpoint. However, once you are inside the festival grounds, your Fourth Amendment rights are no different than if you were walking down the street.

Legally, this is true even if the festival grounds you are walking into are private property. The owner of private property can absolutely bar your entrance or kick you out. But the owner can’t waive your Fourth Amendment rights for you.

Think of a situation where the police come to a house to break up a party. The owner of the house can let the police in to search the house. And the owner can absolutely kick people out of the house. But the owner can’t tell the police, “See my guest over there? Go ahead and search her without her permission.” That’s because Fourth Amendment rights belong to the person, not the landlord.

Festival Lawyer Tip

As always, I need to stress that I am a lawyer, but I am not your lawyer. I can’t give you specific legal advice because I don’t know your individual situation. However, I summarized your legal rights in a “Know Your Rights” infographic that could help you navigate any encounter with police.

Final Tips

Probably the biggest myth of all is that somehow only people who intend to commit crimes need to know their rights. In fact, it is common sense to know what to do if you ever run into an overly aggressive cop or other bad legal situation. As I always say, “Not knowing your rights and not having any rights are the same thing.” They are called your rights for a reason. Know them and use them.

It is just about impossible to enter a music festival, concert, rave or any kind of a major sporting event these days without being searched as a condition of entry.

This isn’t likely to change. If anything, the trend is towards more security at big events. For example, Electric Zoo recently announced new security measures including drug-sniffing dogs stationed at all entrances and the use of undercover narcotics officers to patrol the festival grounds.

Obviously, festivals need to be able to search folks for weapons and keep people safe. But what about the festival goers? Do you have any rights if a search goes too far or you run into an abusive security guard? Or did you give them all up at the entrance?

Here is some legal knowledge (and practical tips) that can help you navigate that entrance search like this guy:

TIP #1: KNOW YOUR RIGHTS 

In general, The 4th Amendment prohibits the police from randomly stopping you and searching you.

If you are stopped at a festival, I’ve advised people to ask the question “Am I Free to Leave?” to determine if they are being detained. If you are detained, you should never consent to a search of your person or property by the police. Instead, keep calm, show your ID and continue to ask if you are free to leave. You should always insist on your right to remain silent and ask for a lawyer. Whenever possible, have your festival buddy witness or document the encounter.

The following infographic lays out these rights in a simple “flowchart” form.

From a legal standpoint, you clearly have these rights once you have passed through the entrance search. But what rights apply when you first are searched entering a fest?

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TIP #2: SEARCHES BASED ON TICKET LANGUAGE ALONE ARE GENERALLY ILLEGAL

Almost every festival has ticket language and signs at the entrances stating that you are agreeing to be searched as a condition of coming into the venue. For example, here is Electric Zoo’s ticket language:

“Your use of the ticket is contingent upon your unconditional and voluntary acceptance to be searched…prior to your admission to the venue and/or at any time thereafter.” (Electric Zoo)

This is what is called an “Implied Consent Waiver”. “Implied” meaning that you knew you were going to be searched and decided to come in anyway.

Here’s the thing. Courts really don’t like any kind of an “implied” waiver of Constitutional rights. In fact, courts often throw out these kind of implied waiver searches when they are challenged by festival goers.

Courts look at several factors to determine if an implied consent search is legal:
1) Did the sign and ticket language make it clear you were going to be searched?
2) Were you deprived of a benefit if you refused to be searched?
3) Did you know you had a right to refuse to be searched?
4) Did you demonstrate “affirmative conduct” agreeing to be searched?
5) Was the search necessary to a “vital interest” of the festival?

The point is, it is NOT legal for festivals to just put up a “You agree to be searched” sign up at the entrance and then conduct a blanket search without any limitation. The courts instead look at what is being searched for, what you agreed to in your ticket and how the search is being conducted on a case by case basis.

TIP #3: “LIMITED” ENTRY SEARCHES FOR A “VITAL SAFETY INTEREST” OF THE FESTIVAL (LIKE PAT SEARCHES FOR WEAPONS) ARE GENERALLY OKAY 

Normally, private security has a right to conduct a reasonable search on you as a condition of entry BEFORE entering private property if they are looking for weapons. This probably isn’t a constitutional violation as long as it’s made clear to you that you’re free to walk away.

Courts have long recognized that festivals have a “vital interest” in keeping their patrons safe from weapons and other dangerous items knuckleheads might bring in. Because of this, courts have allowed “limited” searches if they are for the purpose of looking for weapons and projectiles and dangerous items. (“Limited’ meaning a pat down search for large/hard objects or screening through a metal detector.)

That’s reasonable right? I mean, I love music festivals. But I REALLY love the festival and EDM community and want people to be safe. Any responsible festival goer should want a safe place for all of us to play. Even if this wasn’t the law, I’d agree to a “limited” search like this because nobody has any business bringing a weapon into our space.

(Fun fact: The song “Smoke on the Water” by Deep Purple refers to a fire started during the Montreaux Jazz festival by “Some stupid with a flare gun.”)

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TIP #4: OVERLY “INVASIVE” PERSONAL SEARCHES ARE NOT OKAY

In State v. Iaccarino, 767 So. 2d 470 (Fla. Dist. Ct. app. 2000) the Court struck down “invasive” entry searches at the “ZenFest” festival. (“Invasive” is legalese for “Wait, you touched people where?”)

I mentioned above that festivals have to show that their entrance searches are being done for a “vital interest” of the festival to be found legal.

In this case the court rejected the idea that keeping drugs out was enough of a “vital interest” to allow this level of intimate and personal searching:

“If this court permitted the illegality of the substances themselves to rise to the level of “vital interests,” then a similar sign posting would justify any search of any person at any time and to any degree. For example, such a “vital interest” could seemingly justify a search at a high school football game, where each student, teacher, and parent could be directed to take off shoes and socks, pull out their bras, empty their pockets and the contents of wallets, and have their crotch and genitals frisked.”

In other words, courts draw a distinction between limited searches for weapons and “invasive” personal searches for drugs.

Part of the problem in the Iaccarino case was how far they were going in these searches. They were basically treating the patrons as if they were being booked into a jail. Searches included things like “genital taps” and “crotch frisking”(!?) (Which probably is not nearly as much fun as the name suggests.)

As a practical matter, often it’s not clear whether the searcher thinks they have the right to search you in a more personal way or if they are asking for permission to do so.

Asking in a calm, polite way, “Are you asking for my permission to search further?” or “ Do I have a choice to be searched in this way?” can clarify if you are being “ASKED” for a further search or being “ORDERED” to submit to a more invasive search. You can then make an informed choice as to how to handle that situation.

TIP #5: SO FAR, FESTIVAL ENTRANCES HAVEN’T BEEN DECLARED A “4TH AMENDMENT FREE” ZONE LIKE AN AIRPORT

There are certain places where courts have said the danger of terrorism is so high you are essentially entering a “4th Amendment free” zone and can be searched at will. The most typical example is an airport.

In a 2006 Valparaiso Law Review article the author recaps all the cases I mention above and notes that currently there is no legal way to randomly and invasively search people entering a sporting event.

Rather than thinking, “Oh that must be because WE FREAKING LIVE IN AMERICA” he argues that these cases are old and that after 9/11 we should start treating festivals and sporting events like airports.

In fact, the TSA has already assumed that festivals are like airports and sent its VIPR units out to randomly search festival goers.

A conservative court in 2014 might agree with this logic and treat festivals and sporting events like airports. Or after all of the overdoses we see at events a court might change its mind and now consider searching for drugs a “vital interest” for festivals. But it’s important for festival goers and promoters to understand that is NOT the law currently.

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TIP #6: ACT LIKE A FESTIVAL PRO 

You can improve your experience navigating these searches by adjusting your attitude and demeanor. I call it “acting like a festival pro”.

Keep the line moving. Be attentive. Have your ID out and ready, purse open, pockets empty, etc. Maybe skip the “Hey buddy, this is the most someone has touched me all week” joke they’ve heard a million times.

First impressions are important – The security guard will subconsciously make a split second decision about you. Paint the picture you want them to see. Present yourself in a non-threatening manner. Make eye contact. Be friendly. SMILE. Heck you are about to go into an awesome life experience, why wouldn’t you be smiling?

I always show deference to the security staff and say things like, “How are you doing today, sir?” Remember, they are people too and they are just doing their jobs. Many times the staff will be attending the festival too, and they aren’t trying to make your life difficult. You can be calm when you know in the back of your head that if something goes wrong you know your rights and how to enforce them.

And of course, don’t bring in dangerous items to the festival (do I really need to list that?)

TIP #7: IN PRIVATE SECURITY SEARCHES ASK TO BE “EJECTED” RATHER THAN ARRESTED 

The 4th Amendment prohibiting unreasonable searches and seizures normally only applies to private security guards when they are acting as “agents of the government.”

To decide this, courts look at whether there is such a coordinated effort between real cops and private security that they are the same. (Things like a unified command structure, same communication system, coordinated arrests etc.)

The bad news is that if private security officers aren’t found to be “government agents,” you can’t get a judge to throw out the evidence against you in a criminal case.

Technically, a private security guard only has the right to arrest you the same way a private citizen does. (A so called “citizen’s arrest”). What I’ve seen as a practical matter is that private security will typically do the initial search and then call the real police in if they find something interesting.

But there are cases that say that private security is only allowed to search you for the purpose of deciding if you should be ejected or allowed in. And if you have something you aren’t supposed to, you can withdraw your consent and ask to be ejected instead.

The Nebraska Supreme court talks about this in a case called, State v. Smith, 782 N.W.2d 913 (Neb.2010)

“The State argues that Smith impliedly consented to the search because he was aware that Club patrons were subject to a pat down and search. That may have been the case when Smith got in line, but Smith withdrew his consent before his pocket was searched. The Club may have been free to turn him away but it was not free to turn out his pockets.”

If private security feels something in your pocket and asks to see it…you don’t have to show them. Respectfully and politely say,

“I am withdrawing my consent to any search. I am asking that I be ejected and my ticket price refunded.”