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Question
On a public bus en route, a city police officer, supported by a drug-detection dog, stops the bus for a routine safety and compliance check. The dog signals on a passenger’s duffel bag placed in an overhead luggage rack. Without the passenger’s consent and without a warrant, the officer orders the passenger to open the bag and conducts a search, discovering sachets of illegal drugs. The passenger had no prior suspicion. (a) Identify the controlling doctrine governing warrantless searches of a moving motor vehicle and its passengers, and discuss its applicability to the bag search in light of the dog’s alert. (b) Explain how this doctrine differs from the rules governing searches of a private residence or a person outside a vehicle. (c) Apply the doctrine to the facts and determine whether the bag search was valid; if not, state the proper remedy.