A Brief History
On January 13, 1964, a 14-year-old Pamela Mason was murdered in New Hampshire, her alleged murderer later having his conviction overturned on the basis of 4th Amendment rights regarding police searches in a Supreme Court case called Coolidge v. New Hampshire in 1971.
Digging Deeper
The murder conviction was overturned over the concept of when and when not the police are allowed to search a person’s car, truck, or other vehicle. The times it is perfectly legal for the cops to search your car starts with a properly issued search warrant, signed by an unbiased authority. Thus, the warrant must be issued by a judge or magistrate that is also not part of the prosecuting chain, such as a prosecutor or district attorney.
Your vehicle may be searched or more properly “inventoried” if the police have a legitimate reason to tow the vehicle, such as the driver is being arrested or the car is not legally allowed to continue to be driven, such as improper or lacking registration or it is unsafe to operate.
The “plain view” or “probable cause” doctrine allows for a search if the police can see from outside the vehicle some sort of contraband or evidence of a crime, including detecting certain odors or other reasonable causes for the belief that a crime has occurred. The use of drug sniffing dogs outside your vehicle is not a search, but a positive reaction by the dog can constitute probable cause.
Search incident to arrest allows cops to search a vehicle, with certain limitations, and finally, police may search a vehicle if the driver or owner gives their permission for the search.
Question for students (and subscribers) to ponder: Has your vehicle ever been searched by police?
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Palmore, Carol. The Police Handbook on Searches, Seizures and Arrests: A Law Enforcement Reference Guide. TellerBooks, 2014.
Walker, Samuel. The Future of Police Reform: The U.S. Justice Department and the Promise of Lawful Policing. NYU Press, 2024.
The featured image in this article, a Supreme Court Official Photograph of the Burger Court (June 9, 1970 – September 17, 1971), is in the public domain in the United States because it is a work prepared by an officer or employee of the United States Government as part of that person’s official duties under the terms of Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 105 of the US Code.
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