Quote:
|
I have never willy nilly asked someone to search their car just as a general rule. If I have probable cause, I search. If I don't, away they go.
|
I was personally the subject of a "willy nilly" search, so I know that they do happen. My situation was this: I was traveling between Orlando FL and Gainesville FL at night with my girlfriend. No drugs, no drinking or anything like that. A state trooper stopped me for going 61 in a 55 (yes, back when it was 55mph). I was made to sit in the officer's car for about 45 minutes while they called out the unit with the drug dogs to sniff around my car, search my car. FWIW, I had short hair, was nicely dressed, and the car I was driving was an Mercury sedan. Obviously they found nothing - there was nothing to find.
So, bad stops and bad searches do happen. In cases of truly bad stops and searches (like mine) they don't find anything and they know nobody will ever pursue them on it.