It’s only a search if we are looking somewhere where you have a “reasonable expectation of privacy”. The air around the outside of your car doesn’t qualify for that.
That’s an exception to the search warrant requirement that’s known as “plain view”. If I can see something from a legal vantage point, then it isn’t a search.
In Washington, the similar law refers to a “sand club”, i.e. a sap. I’m assuming that’s what they meant by sand bag. Pretty poor definition, though.
Depending on the facts available, I would probably get a search warrant and force entry into the house. I’ve seen too many kids nearly kill themselves with alcohol to take a chance on leaving them inside and just walking away. Once I’m on scene, there’s too much liability for me if I don’t make sure the situation is safe.
Again, this is how I would handle it in Washington state. In most states, they could probably just force entry without a warrant because they had probable cause to believe a crime was being committed.
A small bag partially filled with sand (think, a sock with a couple of rolls of quarters in it ala Bronson in Deathwish).
Similar weapons include blackjacks (British English slang version) and saps/slapjacks.
CMC fnord!
But what would be the probable cause? I thought refusing to talk to the police or consent to searches are not to be considered probable cause? Assume this all started only as a noise complain. The police has no other evidence that there is alcohol or pot inside.
re: ds
you must be right, because we police the way I mentioned and we’re constantly getting fired down here. or, we’re not and thats just how things work in the real world. if we search, we usually find something, I’m not one of the cops (yet) who can just look at a vehicle and tell you if it has drugs or guns or whatever, but there are those who are just that experienced. without turning this into a debate, I’m trying to answer the OP’s question. you can say all you want, I’m telling you how it is, not how you think it should be. and no, saying “no” isn’t pc to search, but it’s what we call a “clue” and will be taking in consideration with the totality of the circumstances (ie, nice car in ghetto at 3am) in making a decision to search or not.
also, if you are a law-abiding citizen, why are you having so many opportunities to say “no” to consent searches? I haven’t been pulled over in a LONG time, but even now that I’m a cop I knew before that if they want to search they’re going to.
Hmmm. That’s not how it is on King of the Hill, that weekly tv documentary about real life in Texas.
no no, continue using king of the hill as a reference, they just haven’t made that episode yet
Just out of curiosity, how long would it take you to get a warrant?
Then why ask? What would possibly be my incentive to agree to a seach?
I’ll just keep my mouth shut and politely decline the search and anal probing thank you very much.
I have to admit, if a cop said my car smelled “like Bob Marley’s ass”, I’d be too busy laughing to consent to anything.
mssmith, anal probes require a warrant (here in tx anyway). I can’t speak for any of the officers ds has encountered, or you have, but here, since it’s a large metropolitan area, we don’t have time of manpower to just jack people willy-nilly. we’re out to find bad people, and from my experience, we don’t ask to search everyone we pull over. in my experiences, if we ask to search, it’s usually just to make it easier on us because we know there is something to find. believe it or not, some po’s are smart guys and not all of us are control freaks.
That part of the video did take a lot of license, but what was said was accurate. the cops will follow that script, but using professionally polite words.
I suspect that they teach that (kinda phoney sounding) overly polite “ma’am” and “sir” stuff in cop school. I also suspect there’s some kinda secret joke in there, and that the cops giggle about it when we’re not around.
Could be! 
Oh, come on!
Do they not teach you in cop school to never let the perp* take over the situation or the conversation?
*I know cops don’t usually call traffic offenders “perps”, but the term makes for color in my replies. When men get old, they tend to go poetic, you see. 
they teach us to never let them control the situation or scene, conversation is nothing, its protected under the 1st and besides, its often hilarious to let them talk all they want (they being the turds, which is the word used around here instead of perps)
Fess up: are you a Texas cop or a parody of a Texas cop?
lol you suspect because of turd? i can not tell a lie. the truth is often funnier than fiction
As a lawyer on this board already pointed out, you have no problem “violating their rights under the Fourteenth Amendment, to say nothing about any provision of the Texas Constitution”, but you believe controlling a conversation is a violation of First Amendment rights?
No, there are plenty of other clues.