No. Once a properly trained K9 alerts on a vehicle, that alert provides probable cause to believe contraband exists in the vehicle. Because of the vehicle exception to the warrant requirement, LE does not need a warrant to search the vehicle. Because a vehicle is inherently mobile, this creates a type of exigency that has been recognized by the courts in allowing probable cause searches of vehicles without a search warrant. Carroll v. United States (1925) 267 U.S. 132, 150-153; United States v. Ross (1982) 456 U.S. 798; Pennsylvania v. Labron (1996) 518 U.S. 938 [116 S.Ct. 2485; Maryland v. Dyson (1999) 527 U.S. 465; People v. Superior Court [Nasmeh] (2007) 151 Cal.App.4th 85, 100-102; United States v. Davis (9th Cir. 2008) 530 F.3rd 1069, 1084; United States v. Noster (9th Cir. 2009) 590 F.3rd 624, 633-634; People v. Xinos (2011) 192 Cal.App.4th 637, 653-659; People v. Diaz (2013) 213 Cal.App.4th 743, 753-754, search of a vehicle’s “black box,” or “Sensing Diagnostic Module,” or “SMD;” Collins v. Virginia (May 29, 2018) __ U.S. __, __ [138 S.Ct. 1663]; United States v. Cervantes (9th Cir. 2012) 703 F.3rd 1135, 1148-1140; People v. Johnson (2018) 21 Cal.App.5th 1026, 10341035; and see Florida v. Harris (2013) 568 U.S. 237, 243-250, a warrantless search of a vehicle was based upon a drug-detection dog’s sniff.
