Quote Originally Posted by Irving View Post
We are missing an important piece of information here. Did the police inform the drivers why they were searching the cars?

If I'm pulled over and told they want to search my car, and only that, I'll inform them that they are welcome to search my nutsack with their tongues. If they say, "Hey handsome, we're lookong for a little girl in a red car, mind if we see if she is in your trunk?" Or "OMG, a bank just got robbed, can we make sure it isn't you?" Then I would likely comply.
That is a big difference there, my money being on the fact that they weren't like the second example....
I got into some hot water with (what I assume was a rookie) a Jeffco Deputy a few years back while on leave. I was in my mom's pickup truck, got stopped in Evergreen at 11:30ish PM for going 40 in a 35. He asked for consent to search, I refused, he claimed that refusal alone was probable cause because I was "hiding something." A supervisor was called in- who turned out to be a friend of mine- and in the end a 20min traffic stop turned into a 40min one, but at least I didn't have my rights violated. Stick to your guns. YMMV.