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A cop can ask to search anyone or anything without suspiscion. A citizen is free to decline.
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No. I don't agree. What is the reasoning for picking someone to as for consent? So a cop could walk up to a pretty blonde in walmart at 9AM and out of the blue say " hi ma'am can I search you?
Can a cop ask for a consent to search, sure, if said cop has a REASON that he can ARTICULATE why he is there.
If cops just can walk up Willie nillie to anyone, we might as well issue cops warrant disks with their duty pistol.
This about sums it up, from the decision:
We do a disservice to the public and to police by moving the so-called ‘social contact’ into just another form of seizure, albeit without any cause or suspicion of crime or danger to the public or the police.”
Harrington, 144 Wn. App. at 564