[xm177e2]

In other words, the officer asks, "will you give me consent to search your car, or should I arrest you on trumped-up driving charges and use that as an excuse to search your car?"

[supercat]

In other words, the officer asks, "will you give me consent to search your car, or should I arrest you on trumped-up driving charges and use that as an excuse to search your car?"

I would like to see a law passed requiring police officers to record indeliby, before seeking consent for any search, the nature of the search, the probable cause justifying such a search, and all outstanding issues to be cited. The intended target of the search should be informed of all of these. Cooperation with a search should not allow any cited charges to be dropped, nor should an officer be able to add charges if a search is refused, unless the officer can make a reasonable case that he had no way of knowing about the to-be-cited conduct prior to the search request.

[The KG9 Kid]

"... In other words, the officer asks, "will you give me consent to search your car, or should I arrest you on trumped-up driving charges and use that as an excuse to search your car?"

That must have been part of their 'extra 40 hours of Constitutional instruction'.