Thing is, in many, if not most, cases, law enforcement is our friend. If I can make their overall job easier, I try to do so. In the case of the escaped prisoner bit, I'd gladly defuse the situation, likely in an identical fashion... Of course the cops would have found a couple of rifles and a bunch of cases, powder, rests, etc., along with the tent/camping box, in my trunk, but hey - the stuff's all legally stored. And the whole time they're giving me grief (if they do...), I'll be saying "hey, dudes, the prisoner's still out there!"
I DO NOT, however, think that a traffic ticket, etc., is then justification for a search of your vehicle and person. There's a fine line between aiding officers, and complete forfeiture of rights... I live next to a "nice" area of St. Louis, and it really frosts me every time I drive down the major road and see a black family standing on the curb while the local constabulary runs the drug mutt through their possessions.
Like I said, there's a fine line - and part of that line is determined by whether or not you want to make a big deal of things - I was in a friend's van down in southeastern Missouri, when he was pulled over at about 3 a.m... My current ol' lady was crashed in the middle seat following a fairly strenuous float trip, and the cop got tired of us whispering, so we bailed from the van and had our little discussion in the back. One of the first questions the cop asked was if we had any weapons, and I owned up to a shotgun, somewhere in the back. Didn't want to lie to him, and figured that telling him that it was none of his damn business would likely cause an escalation of the situation... Told him that as far as I knew, it was unloaded and locked up, and if he wanted to go looking for it, he was welcome to try to shift the debris of four days of camping and floating.
No problem - he's not goin' anywhere near that pile. Then he had my buddy (whose license and insurance card he still hadn't seen, root around in the _same_ pile until he found his pants, with wallet, from several days before. He didn't appear to be concerned about the firearm somewhere in the pile.
Of course, the main reason we were pulled over was as a roust, since the local boys were on alert for the Rainbow Tribe (or whatever they call themselves) people, who were planning a big gathering in a nearby state/national park area, and since my bud and I were both doing the long hair and tie-dye thang, we'd likely been called in from a convenience store we'd gassed up at on the edge of town... and by the time we got around to the standin' at the back of the van watching my buddy root through soggy stuff routine, the cop had already satisfied himself that we were long-haired hippie tourists, in the area to spend money, and acqire sunburns and rock bruises, and not long-haired hippie Rainbow Folks, in town to chase the virgins, scare the old folks, and generally cause him trouble. There's a big difference there...
When you open your wallet in a roust/wide pattern search, make sure the first thing the cop sees is something like an Amex or a solid work ID, and you'll already be up on him. You're establishing yourself, subconsciously, as a citizen/taxpayer type, not as a no-ID criminal type. That sounds like a little thing, but it goes a long way.
[This message has been edited by Bogie (edited July 28, 2000).]
