Opinion ID: 676106
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Inventory Exception

Text: 23 The government first submits that the district court erred in requiring the police department to have a written policy. The government challenged this ruling in its motion to reconsider and cited cases that illustrate that a written policy is not necessary for the exception to apply. The district court acknowledged these cases; it then ruled, however, that the government had waived the argument that its policy was unwritten because it had relied on the existence of a written policy at the hearing. More importantly, it stated that it found the officers' testimony completely incredible with regard to the inventory. 24 Three officers testified to the existence of a departmental policy. Officer Snelson stated that there was a written policy, but that he was not able to locate it. Sgt. McKenna and Officer Martin testified to the existence of a policy, but did not specify whether the policy was written or unwritten. The scope of this policy was not explored at the hearing; nor did the government elicit testimony regarding how often the policy was invoked or how the policy was administered, i.e., how an inventory was conducted. The district court concluded that the contradictions among the statements of the different officers, and between their testimony and the police reports, rendered all the testimony unreliable. Consequently, the court concluded that there was no credible evidence presented to this court regarding the existence of any policy, written or unwritten. R.36 at 4. 25 The factfinder actually hearing the testimony of witnesses is best situated to determine their credibility. United States v. Scott, 19 F.3d 1238, 1242 (7th Cir.1994), cert. denied, --- U.S. ---, 115 S.Ct. 163, --- L.Ed.2d --- (1994). Because we review a motion to suppress only for clear error, and because [t]his standard is especially deferential to the credibility determinations of a district judge who has conducted a suppression hearing, United States v. Springs, 17 F.3d 192, 194 (7th Cir.1994), we shall not disturb the district court's findings. Consequently, the suppression order will not be reversed on this basis.