I think these search laws vary considerably from state to state, as do the knife laws and weapons laws.
When I get pulled over (and I do get pulled over because I drive a car that doesn't fit the neighborhood) I get out of the car, hands first, and go stand between the two cars.
I don't like someone looking down at me and searching my car from the driver's side window.
It gives them too much power.
I want a position of mutual respect and power.
A flashlight searching my car feels like a finger up one of my most personal body cavities.
It gives the cop too much power, and if he became a cop for power it only feeds his disease.
One cop told me to stay in the car.
I ignored him, as if I didn't hear him, and got out anyway, hands open and first.
Another cop responded with a gunfighter stance, crouched with hand on pistol.
I just treated it as a normal posture.
I don't think general statements apply to cops.
I've seen all kinds.
I worry most about female cops.
I've had a female city cop and a female state trooper pull me over.
In both situations I realized I had a biting dog on my hands.
I also pay attention to short male cops.
It helps to pay close attention to everything a cop says.
Some of them want attention.
Cops tend to ask closed questions, which a person can answer "yes" or "no."
I answer "Yes, officer" and "No, officer."
I make my body language and tone of voice as neutral as possible.
I try not to push buttons, resist, nor give away power.
I stand on two feet, with my hands open and at my sides, and answer clearly "Yes (with a pronounced "S" on the end of "Yes") Officer," and I attend to him or her.
Again, I open the door at the same moment as I apply the parking brake, and I get my feet and my hands out the door before they can tell me to stay in the car.
I want the cop to see me as a real person and as an equal who respects him (without fear, anger, contempt or indifference) in his role as a Law Enforcement Officer; two equal human beings in temporarily different roles.
With all respect and apologies beforehand, the person who started this thread should have covered the knife or put it under the seat.
I see leaving the knife in plain view as a "teaser" and a "button pusher."
This person already had so-called "concealed" knives all over the car and one more would not have made a difference.
We males have a thing about authority and adventure.
Sometimes we go looking for trouble, meaning an adventure with authority, without even realizing it.
It breaks the boredom and lets us mess with authority's mind a little.
How amusing to pull on Superman's cape, as long as society's rules keep him from sodomizing us.
When these things "go sideways" on us, we can look back to where and when we could have prevented the "sideways" event.
Put the knife under the seat or cover it with a hat, jacket or magazine.
Get out of the car and meet the cop half way.
