US Supreme Court Limits Vehicle Searches
April 22, 2009
I have waxed on poetic before about how my passion for law enforcement, and the law of law enforcement is attributed in large part to its’ perpetual motion. Police Practices and jurisprudence are most certainly changing all the time. I must say, however, that some changes are more significant than others. Once in a while, a case comes down that alters a basic, every-shift, Joe-cop procedure. Today we are in receipt of one such case.
I present you this link to the AP story. Simply put, officers can no longer search a vehicle simply because the driver has been arrested. Take it from me, this is a fundamental paradigm shift in street police work. Now, the officer must be able to articulate that the crime involved may indicate there is evidence in the car (think drug possession) or that the suspect can still access potential weapons in the vehicle (almost impossible to imagine, since the in-custody suspect is generally secured away from their vehicle).
Yet another case that proves why this is such an interesting and dynamic area of the law!
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