>David, i  appreciate, but loathe your 2 cents... Law enforcement may have a

i loathe that same 2 cents, but, it is how it seems to me too.  police
officers are all different, there are good ones and bad ones.  there are
also enough crazy little laws that a bad cop can generally twist whatever
type of law-breaking that he has done into law-breaking that you have done.
my name is moon lockwood, and that has a similar effect to what is being
discussed here.  i am relating what i have come to know of the american
legal system from my experience.

i think that some(many) tactics empoyed by police(intimidation, etc.) are
downright wrong.  but i aslo believe that we have it better here in america
than basically anywhere else on earth.

<<to what you suggest, it is NOT routine to conduct illegal searches.   I
have law enforcement experience, too.  I prosecuted many cases involving
alleged illegal searches for the phila DA's office.  The police officers
were my witnesses in>>

in my experience illegal searches, and abuse of power, are routine.  also,
if the police officers were your witness then you cannot ever truly be sure.

<<politely and respectrfully decline his request.  Ask him why he wants to
do the search and whether there is any basis for believeing you have broken
the law.  If he can articulate some reasonable basis, then allow it, but if
he can't...then i say decline.  If you do it right, he will be less
suspicious and>>

what is the polite and respectful way to say no to a cop?  in my
experience, anything other than 'yes sir' or 'no sir' makes things worse -
anything - but yessir nossir seems to make most cops happy, and carry on to
bug someone else.

i want to stress that i am not against police, i am against corrupt police.
it seems to me that for an advanced society to function, ther must be fair
and just rules, and EVERYONE must follow them.

regards,
moon