[Roy Fokker]

The other day, the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois issued a report on "consent searches" that sometimes accompany traffic stops. Relying on data provided by local and state law enforcement agencies, the report documented that black and Hispanic drivers are much more likely than whites to suffer such invasions—even though the cars of minorities are far less likely to yield contraband.

These treasure hunts are called "consent searches" because they require the motorist to give permission. They take place only when the police officer has no grounds for suspicion. If he has probable cause, he doesn't have to ask. Only when he's acting out of a vague hunch, racial prejudice, or simple malice does he need the driver's consent.

But the term is fantastical in these instances. Stopped on a lonesome stretch of highway, at the mercy of an armed man who has the power to arrest, very few citizens feel free to refuse. The Illinois State Police report that 94 percent of white motorists and 96 percent of minority ones "consent" to such searches.

Is that because they have nowhere else they'd rather be? Is it because they get a kick from watching a cop take apart their cars in an effort to put them behind bars? Or could it be because they suspect that refusing a cop is far too dangerous?

More than 40 years ago, the Supreme Court ruled that before interrogating a suspect in custody, police have to provide the now-familiar warning: You have the right to remain silent; you have the right to an attorney; anything you say may be used against you.

Said the court, "The atmosphere and environment of incommunicado interrogation as it exists today is inherently intimidating and works to undermine the privilege against self-incrimination." Only a firm safeguard, in the form of the magic words, could "dispel the compulsion inherent" in these situations.

The same inherent compulsion exists in traffic stops, but the court declined to follow its own logic. So the Fourth Amendment ban on unreasonable searches is virtually meaningless on the roadside.

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