How is this not unconstitutional?

Yes it was unconstitutional, since Police did not file any charges or have any warrants against any of the 40 people.

I understand where the Police Chief was coming from and I sympathize, but it was still unconstitutional regardless of the end result.

What the actions the police took would be considered to be a warrantless arrest and warrantless arrests do pass constitutional muster under some circumstances.

The Supreme Court has ruled that warrantless arrests can be made when the circumstances make it reasonable to do so. For example, no warrant is required for a felony arrest in a public place, even if the arresting officer had ample time to procure a warrant, so long as the officer possessed probable cause that the suspect committed the crime.

In this case it is apparent that the police had a virtual certainty that the bank robber was in one of those cars. In fact he was in one of the cars. Not having a full description they did know that he was in one of about 20 cars.

Would you have felt better if the guy was a murder? The police are there to stop criminal activity and while this was a bit drastic it was effective.

I would definitely be suing the Aurora Police Department. Colorado has been slipping down the liberal slope for quite awhile now.

It sounds pretty normal and is what the blue state governors want