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I must say all this is a moot point. If an officer wants in your veh he will get in. Whether it be through a consent, probable cause, or an inventory subsequent to an arrest.

Of course criminal defense attorneys will tell you to say no. That way when their dope slinging client goes to court, they actually have something to fight in the probable cause hearing, and make an argument to exclued any contraband that was found.

I obviously have not been at all the traffic stops that have ever taken place in the State of Texas, so I can not say that people are not pulled over for type of car they drive, ethnicity, etc... I will say from my personal experience that I have had drivers that would not accept any other reason why I pulled them over than because they were (insert whatever here). Never mind the fact they have no license plate light, failed to signal prior to lane change, etc... Many times they never hear the real reason. Tom, I would assume (I konw I should never assume) when your son-in-law was pulled over, he was not told, "I pulled you over because you are Hispanic in East Texas."

All in all, I would have to say though, that if it makes you happy to say no, then go ahead. I'm not here to say not to, I just wanted to list some of the reasons, we as law abiding citizens, should embrace police looking for criminal activity which may be afoot.

Glenn

I think a FTF at Luna's after CHL Range Day would do wonders on this issue. Maybe I'll put my gun in the car and have a couple of margaritas.

For those of you familiar with Cheers, you may remember Cliff's theory (to Norm) on how and why alcohol makes you smarter.

Glenn

BTW, I hope none take this as a personal slam, it is not. I just differ in opinions with some on this issue. (it is not because i am a cop)

Glenn

If a search is concentual, then it in no way cheapens the 4th Amd.

Tom, honestly, if you don't know if you have nothing to hide or not, then you need to evalutate who you let into your car. There is no mental list as to what my dept is enforcing at the time, it is a written list. Most of it is found in the Penal Code, but some may be found in the Health and Safety Code, Alcoholic Beverage Code, or sometimes the Texas Transportation Code. You can count on all of those laws being enforced. It is the individual officer and their discrection that sometimes people slide on.

Citizens are the one's that suffer in the long run when it comes to get warrants, PC, and or K9's in order to look in a car that has nothing that the driver could have consented to in the first place.

Just because you do not want to let an officer to take a quick look in your car, does not mean you get to just drive away. I think many people think if you say "no", then you get to go on down the road. You can be detained for a reasonable amount of time in order to call for a K9 to do a walk around.

Honestly, how many here have ever had an officer ask to search your car? Before I was an LEO, I was pulled over many times (over 10) and never once did an officer, trooper, deputy, etc, ever ask to look in my veh.

This is not a personal thing, but it just amazes me that there are so many here that are so leery of law enforcement. Like there is this great conspiracy out there to haul Honest John Q Citizen off to jail.

We all sit here and type "God forbid" anytime we write about the possibility of shooting someone, yet we want to hinder those who are able to get the killers, robbers, rapist, etc..., off the street by tying them up on proving a point. :?

If we weren't out doing these "unreasonable" searches, then tons, no exageration here, of marijuan, meth, cocaine, and pills would go right down I-10. I could sit in my car all day with my thumb stuck up my butt doing nothing to find the root of most our crimes (drugs) and make some happy, but others would complain about those "lazy cops."

Sometimes we don't have a choice in special assigments like this either, but it is called a job, and I do it to feed my family and buy my toys. I sure there are things that you do at your job that you may not want to do, but you do it any way.

I will stop here before I get really spooled up.

Glenn

Actually profiling is allowed when doing drug interdiction. The liberal media has made "profiling" such a big issue that we all think "racial profiling". "Racial profiling" is illegal, "profiling" is not.

There are and number things that the DEA has listed in doing studies for officers to look for. For obvious reasons, I am not going to detail them here. These interdiction sites are great for allowing LE to talk to more people to look for those things. Some check points are set up to stop say every third car or every fifth car, whatever. It has to be consistent though.

I have always been big in my freedoms and those of others. I will also say that I will consent to a search if I have nothing to hide. It allows me to get down the road quicker if I consent, plus it spends less of the officer's time on me and let's him find the bad guys and spend time with them.

For guys who say they don't consent because of "principle", duly noted on your stance, but who are you really hurting by trying to prove a point? Us, that's who.

Glenn

If we ever set up check-points they have to be in a racially diverse area, or if it is not in a diverse area, we have to have the next one in a different area of a different make-up. We vary the time of day as well.

This could be the case with Beaumont as well.

Glenn