(Hey TennTucker; long time no see....)
Optical Serenity:
My problem with a search is threefold:
1. I'm not the first owner of the car. It was a rental in Orlando. Lord knows what's
really in the trunk in some corner or other that I never bothered to look in.
2. I've got a teenage daughter who has occasionally driven the car (with friends inside). I trust her to have not left anything in the car, but not her friends.
3. I get to the range about once a week. While there are never any guns in the car unless I'm on the way to or from the range (other than my carry piece), who really wants to argue that a loose .45 round must be in a factory box. (It doesn't, but....)
By law you can search anything I can reach, and I have no objection to that (well, little; see #2 above), although reaching the glove box is a bit of a stretch for me. Big car, bug guy.... I have to ask to see the warrant for everything else.... It's too easy to get screwed up or screwed over.
I'm not accusing anybody of dishonesty. I'm an old rent-a-cop, and consider myself a "supporter", but I've also seen some really nasty stuff come out of the LE and Judicial system. So, I don't drive in ways that'll get me stopped (not that it's really possible), and I'm as cooperative and civil as is possible within limits of self-preservation.
(FWIW, although most of the "regular" LE guys I used to run around with are deceased, if I knew the guy, he wouldn't be asking me to check the trunk anyway. Double standard? I don't think so. There are bigger fish to fry out there. Besides, I'd probably buy the coffee if we adjorned to the nearest....)
Optical - your concerns are justified, and I think we should applaud you for chiming in and offering valid opinions. Just don't expect most of this gang to accept any kind of search that's not precisely within the law.
I love the "lock the keys in the car" defense. With a keypad, IMHO, there's no foul. 'Course you'd probably have to open it if asked the right way - the trunk is really the issue. My daughter's Toyrus (it looks like it's already been to the crusher) came with one, but the "master code" that was supposed to be in the engine compartment was gone, and we have no idea how to set the combination. It'd be good for her, though. She's been known to lock herself
in the car. Blonde disease....
BTW, guys - a trip to the car wash and some agressive use of the sweeper ought to get any contraband out of the car that's not under the rear seat or in the trunk. Pop the seat if you dare (they never seem to want to go back right) or bribe the attendants (tell 'em they can have the good stuff they find). No sense in starting with a dirty car.
I did a ride-along with an old PD Sergeant once who started his day at a car wash. Same reasons.... "No idea what the last turn had left in the car, or the folks the last turn transported had left."
Regards,