Did you consent to a search or did they just go ahead without asking? I would never ever consent to a search. Make them work for it.

Good call Rick. I try hard not to give advice in another state so, I will simply say, you are on solid ground.

It went something along the lines of

Arlington County "We're going to go ahead and search your car...Do you have any drugs or weapons we should know about before we proceed"

Me "No...no drugs, no weapons."

Arlington County " are you sure, I'll ask one more time before I proceed, do you have any drugs or weapons in the car or among your personal belongings"

Me "no"

As if me telling them ahead of time is somehow going to reduce the penalty.

Siberian--

PM me if you need a lawyer.

I would have vehemently protested a search, so I could use that later in court when they could not articulate any reasonable suspicion. If they had planted something on you, you would have really been screwed by letting them go ahead and search.

Actually, I would think answering yes gives them probable cause. Depending on why they stopped you searching your car w/o a warrant would probably be illegal as long as you clearly indicated you would not give permission. Most people, especially under the influence of anything including “just dumb”, respond to direct questions from authority figures,

The search question is moot because they didn't find anything. Anyway, if they're impounding the car they can do an inventory search without consent. In the past few years, VA has made it real difficult for the cops to legally search, even with "consent", during a routine traffic stop. The VA appellate courts have basically created a catch-22 for the officer. In one case, they held that if he's still got your license, your technically not free to leave so any consent is coerced, because he might not let you go if you don't consent. In another case, they held that after you get your license back, you should be free to leave, so if he starts questioning you to get your consent to search, he's illegally detaining you (because a reasonable person would not feel free to leave in the middle of an officer questioning them, and he has no right to question you at that point). In both cases, anything found as the result of an ensuing search is not admissible. Search and seizure is one of the few areas of criminal law where the VA courts lean toward the rights of the accused.

Dan, you've got a couple of more PMs

I really couldn't understand a prior thread about not running a front tag which is a real good way to get pulled over, but to each his own.
IMHO you are always walking a fine line when pulled over by the police.
When all is lost such as getting pulled over on Wilson Blvd at 5:30 in rush hour traffic for speeding and the cop asks do you mind if I look around a reasonable reply would be "certainly, as soon as you write on this piece of paper exactly what you are looking for". (In RL's case he is probably afraid the cop will find "more" than $20 worth of ammunition. :D)
I also like the part where the radar ticket disappeared. ;)
I'm sure the lawyers in this group are salivating over this one. 8)

Actually Don, I think I've gotten out of a few tickets or at least searches BECAUSE of my CCW permit. In VA they know if you can carry a gun legally before they even approach your car. They run your tags and it shows up if you have a CCW. That lets them know you're probably a law-abiding citizen before they bother to get nervous. The one time I actually had a .45 in the car when I got pulled over, I handed the cop my permit along with my license before he could even ask and then told him I had a .45 in the back seat. He didn't even care. He was like a bear picking salmon out of the river - just wanted to write me up. Another time, unfortunately the very day after I had bought huge load of lead, powder and primers, I parked illegally on Cap. Hill and was later alerted by my boss that several cops with dogs were standing around my car. Turns out I had left a box of 1000 Winchester primers on my back seat. Oooops. Cops asked me to put them in my trunk. But I told him when I opened my trunk that he'd see another box of semi-wadcutters. He just shook his head and said "Get this car out of DC by 2:00pm and don't do it again." That was a few years before the current state of affairs on the Hill. Most cops are gun people too. Luckily, I was wearing a suit and they knew I was no "common" criminal;).