Wow this whole thread is a great example of non LEO's jumping to conclusions about what we are and are not doing and under what authority LEO's are acting in searching something like this...hello knee can I jerk some more. Let me see if I can shed some light here...When a LEO makes a traffic stop and they have PC to search a vehicle without a warrant under exigent circumstances they can look anywhere in that car for evidence of the crime they are looking for..This can also be accomplished as a search incident to arrest while the arrestee is present.
Example...I pull over joe dirt head and find drug scales, drugs, and money...I can also search the cell phone for further information on that crime. I can only look for evidence furthering the crime I already have proof of. So with joe dirt the drug dealer I look for information on his drug dealing ways...like the phone number of his supplier...or text messages from people that are buying his poison...His cell phone is in essence a drug ledger and great evidence. Or I can simply ask the person for consent to search their phone and they either give it or deny it. If they give it I will look and if they deny it I wont look it's that simple.
I can tell you know people that LEO's are not just willy nilly searching phones on routine traffic stops...they only do this when the situation is right for it...and they would not just look in a phone without other pertinent evidence of a crime. In situations where I don't have any other evidence to look in the phone the courts have already said I need a warrant except where exigent circumstances dictate I can or as a search incident to arrest with the arrested party present, this question has been answered by the courts time and time again. Don't believe everything the media tells you people...
good to know that your priorities are with the government and not the people.