I would say that the answer depends on whether or not you are being placed under arrest (assuming you mean a pat down, in which the officer is checking for weapons, etc, and not a full body cavity search.) If you are in police custody, I don't believe you have any choice on whether or not you are searched. The police do this to protect themselves, as well as you. They cant put a suspect in a police cruiser with a loaded gun stuffed in his pants. If, on the other hand, you had not yet been placed under arrest, you could refuse to have your person searched. There would be no actual legal recourse for this, other than that if you refuse, based on the fact that you were NOT yet arrested, you might be placed under arrest, allowing the cop to search you. What most people misunderstand, is that the police, whom I have the upmost respect for for the most part, don't have all the rights they would have you believe that they do. Part of their job is to get you to voluntarilly allow them to do something that they couldn't neccessarily compell you to do otherrwise. People all the time let the cops search their car just because the officer asks them if they can. Believing that they will look guilty if they DON'T say yes, the alllow the search, which results in some kind of contraband turning up. By knowing your rights, you can often protect yourself. Ask if you are under arrest, and if you are not, then you are free to go. We (in America) live in a free society and there are all kinds of rights afforded us by the constitution. One of these rights barrs the police from "illegal search and seizure" This basically means that the police can't search you or your car just because you look like a shady character. They have to have probable cause. If you say no, and the police perform a search anyway, at least you have a chance in court with a decent lawyer to argue that the search was illegal, that is that the cops didn't have probable cause. I'm not a lawyer, but I know plenty of them, and they always tell me the same thing- make the cops do their job, don't do it for them. Don't just let the police come in your house because they want to, don't just let them search your car because they ask to, and if you are arrested, don't say anything to the police. Dummy up and wait for your lawyer. No matter what, the less you tell the police, the better you will end up.

I don't think I can answer the legal side but this can border on police brutality and in the case of a male officer and female detainee it can become nasty. When I was 16 I was driving in CA with a g/f in the right seat. I was pulled over because my car matched the description of a car that had been part of a robbery earlier in the day. My g/f and I were pushed face down and our feet kicked apart. Needless to say I was scared crapless being only 16. The officer ran his hands up the outsides of my legs all the way to my underarms then the inside of my legs upto my crotch. I had on a skirt. He never touched our breasts but got very close as he felt our chests. My g/f had the same treatment and she had on pants. The officer never tried anything further and his "feels" were not at all sexual in nature but very brusque and firm. After we "checked out" we were free to go and he gave us his badge number willingly along with a phone number to call if we had any questions. Well I never told my parents about it and neither did my g/f we were just too freaked. The fact that he went no further was good enough for me. But I still wonder if his actions were warranted. I mean we were pretty obvious... young girls, I could see him wanting to search us for weapons but couldn't he have called a female officer to do it?

Well they can by right hold you if you don't have anykind of id of you'r self but for only 24 hours and for the search well that can be thrown out of court before anybody can actually do anything about it no police has no right to search you unless A: they have a warrent B: if you are a female and there are no female cops C: if they feel that you are hiding something but like i said if they don't find anything you can beat that and take it up to the proper authoritys sometimes and their are people who are the cops cops basically they are the people who would arrest a corrupted police and or punish them if it warrents it but remember you as an american ALLWAY'S has the right not to have them search you or you'r possesion's such as you'r house, you self, you kid's, and you'r car. if they do then take matter in you'r own hands by calling a lawyer and not to do anything to provoke them this is what they look for and want you to do in many cases when they do not have the right cause or warrents they wait till you mess up and then they can use that against you on you'r next court date so remember when the police say you have the right to be silent lol use common sence this would help you alot and can become you'r weapon of choice rather than use physical common sence and the mind is sometimes what we only have in life esp. in these case's but if they do ask you if they can search ask them first if they have a warrent and if they don't have one tell them to get one most of the time they wouldn't even bother by law they are suppose to give you a copy of any such warrent and before they proceed look at it and read it before they move into you'r terroritory it might be a fake or verywell bea menu to some chinese restuarant or what ever it maybe

Disclaimer: I am not an attorney, I just play one on the radio. ;-) The best advice on this came from an attorney I once dated. A mutual acquaintance had been arrested for marijuana possession after being pulled over during a routine (and, it turned out, random) traffic stop. The police told him the road he was on was a “major drug thoroughfare” and threatened to “tear up” his car and “bring in drug dogs” if he did not allow them to search his car. Our acquaintance gave in to strong intimidation and confessed to the cops that he had two joints in the car. (He was not stoned when he was pulled over – the joints were for a party he was headed to.) She told me that if I appeared to be a suspect in any way (such as during a traffic stop) I should never consent to any request made by a police officer. Her instructions were to say, “Officer, with all due respect, on advice of counsel I request to have an attorney present before answering any questions / consenting to be searched.” I should calmly and politely give the cop my name and provide requested documentation (driver’s license, proof of insurance, vehicle registration) but respond to every other question with the “Officer, with all due respect…” answer. I read an article written by a retired cop. He said most drivers told him what they were doing wrong when he asked. Cop: Ma’am, do you know why I pulled you over? Driver: Because I was speeding? Cop: You were going 75 in a 45 zone. Driver: I'm sorry... He wrote that he would ask leading questions and most people would confess much more than he was asking or that he knew for certain when he pulled them over. He would make notes on the ticket so that if it came to trial he could say “Subject admitted to me that she was traveling 75 in a 45 zone.” He wrote that there were two types of people that did not reflexively admit everything: lawyers and cons. They would follow the advice he gave in the article: be polite but admit nothing, deny everything, say as little as possible, always insist on presence of counsel. They knew, from training or experience, that spilling their guts was not required or wise. Cop: Sir, do you know why I pulled you over? Driver: No. Cop: You were traveling 75 in a 45 zone. (The cop is guessing unless they used a radar gun. If they used radar, they will tell you. Experienced cops are good at guessing how fast a car is traveling but a guess generally isn’t good enough in court.) Driver: I don’t think I was. Cop: You were. I clocked you. Driver: I don’t think I was. (Or simply say nothing.) Cops are intimidating, particularly to honest people, and they know it. They practice being intimidating and they depend on it to do their jobs. But in most free countries citizens have rights and are not required to instantly and automatically give in to every request a police officer makes. I’ve seen cops get angry when confronted by a polite but assertive citizen (anger is an intimidation tool) but most cops know there is a line they dare not cross. If you are caught red-handed doing something illegal, don’t think asking for an attorney is going to get you off. Cops aren’t stupid and if they’ve caught you fair & square they have the methods and means to follow through. But if you are (moderately) innocent you do not have to do the cop’s job for them. For example, if were pulled over for making an illegal lane change, you do not have to inform the cop there is an opened bottle of vodka in the glove compartment. (Unless you are driving drunk, in which case your ass should go to jail! Drink if you like but never put other people's lives at risk!) So between the cop and the attorney, the best advice seems to be to stay calm, be polite, but admit nothing, deny everything, and insist on having an attorney present before answering any questions or consenting to a search. Don’t get angry (which plays into the cop’s intimidation strategy) and don’t lecture the cop about having rights (they know). Admit nothing, deny everything, say as little as possible, and always ask for an attorney. (Do not wait until they are reading you your rights before asking for an attorney. You can insist on this at any time.) By the way, the guy who’s arrest brought up the question got off. He hired an attorney who got the evidence dismissed as the result of illegal search. The judge told the police they could not pull cars over at random and intimidate the occupants hoping to catch any that might have illegal drugs. (Cops hate that pesky Fourth Amendment!) His attorney told him that if he had politely asked for an attorney the cops would probably have let him go. Asking for an attorney before consenting to search is not probable cause and if the cops don’t know this most judges (or police department attorneys) will explain it to them. Repeat after me: stay calm, be polite, admit nothing, deny everything, ask for an attorney!

As a retired magistrate I can tell you that in my state, if an officer has "Probable Cause" that you have been involved in a crime or have on your person "contriband" then he can ask permission to search you and if you should say no, he can detain you until a search warrant is obtained from a magistrate and legally begin the search. If nothing is found, you are permitted to go about your business, if something is found then an arrest warrant is issued by the magistrate and then a bond hearing is held to determine the disposition of this case at this point. The subject can be committed to jail with no bond set, or bond with a monetary amount to be set, or just release on his personal promise to appear in court on the date set by the arresting officer.

It depends on the situation. I'll assume you're walking down the street at the time, and that you do not give consent to a search: If the officer is just curious about your behavior and wants to frisk you, you can refuse the search. If the officer has a reasonable articulable suspicion that you may be armed, he can perform a "Terry" pat-down (Named after the case that established the procedure, Terry v. Ohio). It includes a pat-down of the exterior of your clothing as a frisk for weapons. If anything incriminating is felt, this serves as probable cause for a full-scale search, under the so-called "plain feel" exception to the 4th amendment. If the officer has probable cause that you're carrying contraband, he can detain you and perform a full search over your opposition. Finally, if the officer arrests you and takes you into custody, he can perform a full search incident to a lawful arrest, which includes the search of any containers you may have on your person, and any bags that you may have with you.

Here is the only true and definitive answer so far: If a cop has " Reasonable Grounds to Believe" that you have, are, or are about to commit a crime, then he can detain you and perform a " Tery' patdown of the outer clothing to see if you are armed. This is so a cop can turn his back or otherwise be distracted from the encounter without worrying about a sneak attack. Thats it. If the cop has NO reasonable grounds, meaning it is just his curiosity or profiling that accounts for the stop, then technically he should never stop anyone at all. They do, of course, alleging some nonsense as an excuse, but no one should ever consent to anything a cop ever asks for: If he has to ask, he has NO legal right to it and is just hoping you will be ignorant or intimidated enough to give them anything they want. The cops have ZERO right to order you to empty your pockets, open your car trunk, or anything else of that nature. The ONLY lawful orders are those concerning; Safety, and Custody. Thats it. No other instruction is valid and you may ignore them. Unless a cop has " Probable Cause' which is a far greater standard of prtoof than ' reasonable grounds' he cannot make an arrest or conduct a search without consent. a cop CANNOT use your refusal to get a warrant. That is nonsense. What would he ask a judge?:" Yopur Honor, some citizn wants me to honor his Constitutional Rights and is refusing to fall for my bluff!".!No way, Jose. Probable cause means that there is actual and demonstrable evidence that a crime has been committed and that the person detained is in fact the guilty party. So, cops CANNOT use a refusal to consent as a reason for further action, and no judge will issue a warrant without solid evidence of a crime and proof that a perso is likley guilty...otherwise lawsuits would be flying fast and furious, believe me. Citizens should NEVBER EVER give consent to a cop. for ANY reason. Just say NO. And stand firm, do NOPT listen to their lies and bluffs...if they start intimidating and blustering just calmly stay silent and do not engage them at all. They will normally let you go: the pickings of weak and ignorant victims are plentiful and they fear laywres, so quietly assert your rights and do not explain why to a cop..the less said the better. federal alwsuits for civil rights violations are an effective way of punishing bad cops..and most are, and done pro se it can be cheap and effective. Money can be made: There are so many rouge cops now that they always violate rights, on every shift. A wary person with the right stuff could file suits and settle them for a profit, as well as teaching the cops a lesson.

they take u to jail n do the search their. If u refuse it is proabable cause that u may be hiding something