re: H.P.D. K9 Units in HEB Parking lot - Legal?

I'll single you out but there's a ton of bad information in this thread. A free sniff of the air molecules next to your car is NOT a search. It's been upheld time and time again by the court system. It's not a 4th amendment violation just because you say it is. It's the same as a plate reader randomly running license plates for warrants.

You said they can't randomly pull you over for a dog sniff. That's correct. You need reasonable suspicion to pull someone over. But that's not what's happening in this parking lot. Cars are already pulled over and presumably inside shopping. In this instance yes, a dog can perform a canine sniff with zero suspicion.

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I'm not 'clueless' about what I saw. I saw a male, which was either an law enforcement officer or trying very hard to look exactly like a law enforcement officer,

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You mean like private security companies do all the time, all over the city and all over American?

You sound like a paranoid stoner who hasn't left the house in 20 years.

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Wrong. You were legally allowed to do random canine sniffs without any level of suspicion. I've seen it done a thousand times. It's legal. I'm sorry this hurts your feelings

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This has nothing to do with any hurt feelings. Also, I’m not wrong. I said it was bullshite that ‘for all you know. he was out walking his dog’. He was not just out walking his dog in the scenario that was being presented. You even said yourself that “random
Canine sniffs” are allowed lawfully. “Random canine sniffs” are not “out walking his dog” so what he was inferring was indeed ‘bullshite’.

A lot of these rent a cops go to great lengths to make people think they are real cops. Including having their untrained pets with them. It seems his plan worked perfectly with you.

I'm simply stating that you don't need the excuse of "being out walking your dog" when you discovered that he or she alerted on a vehicle. I'm saying you don't need that excuse in the first place. You (as in a federal law enforcement agent- I don't speak for locals and their policies) are legally allowed to sweep a parking lot and sniff the air molecules next to any car you want.

No it’s not.

So by that logic they could walk around and through any apartment building and if a dog triggered at a door get a warrant.

That is some grade A overreach.

Since hallways in apartment buildings are common areas similar to parking lots being common areas where would the difference be?

I am not an attorney but if I were a juror on either case I wouldn't vote to convict. In Texas, a vehicle has been ruled a home so in essence that cop is walking around someone's home allowing the dog to trigger.