Can a police officer search a car with a flashlight?

In The Queen v. Mellenthin, 1992 CanLII 50 (SCC), [1992] 3 S.C.R. 615, at 623-24, there is the following: There can be no quarrel with the visual inspection of the car by police officers. At night the inspection can only be carried out with the aid of a flashlight and it is necessarily incidental to a check stop program carried out after dark. The inspection is essential for the protection of those on duty in the check stops. There have been more than enough incidents of violence to police officers when vehicles have been stopped. Nor can I place any particular significance upon the fact stressed by the appellant that the police only made use of a flashlight after the request had been made of the appellant to produce the necessary papers and not when the constable first approached the car. Although the safety of the police might make it preferable to use the flashlight at the earliest opportunity, it certainly can be utilized at any time as a necessary incident to the check stop routine. However, the subsequent questions pertaining to the gym bag were improper. At the moment the questions were asked, the officer had not even the slightest suspicion that drugs or alcohol were in the vehicle or in the possession of the appellant. The appellant’s words, actions and manner of driving did not demonstrate any symptoms of impairment. Check stop programs result in the arbitrary detention of motorists. The programs are justified as a means aimed at reducing the terrible toll of death and injury so often occasioned by impaired drivers or by dangerous vehicles. The primary aim of the program is thus to check for sobriety, licences, ownership, insurance and the mechanical fitness of cars. The police use of check stops should not be extended beyond these aims. Random stop programs must not be turned into a means of conducting either an unfounded general inquisition or an unreasonable search.

In a later decision, The Queen v. Belnavis, 1997 CanLII 320 (SCC), [1997] 3 S.C.R. 341, La Forest J. (dissenting on another issue), at p. 371, stated: . . . the police, since Ladouceur, supra, have the power to stop cars at their whim for purposes of traffic regulations and the like and to make enquiries relevant thereto from the occupants. I also agree that the police in performing that duty need not turn a blind eye to things in plain view that evidence, or raise suspicions of illegality, and that he or she may also ask questions about this, subject, of course, to the occupants’ right to silence.