Opinion ID: 380201
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Legality of the Detention

Text: 16 The appellant was detained for about seven hours before she was formally arrested. Appellant argues that this detention was actually an arrest, unsupported by probable cause, and therefore urges the fruit of the search be suppressed. As support, she cites three recent cases where detentions were held to have been arrests because of their length or significant restriction on the detainee's liberty. Dunaway v. New York, 442 U.S. 200, 99 S.Ct. 2248, 60 L.Ed.2d 824 (1979); United States v. Perez-Esparza, 609 F.2d 1284 (9th Cir. 1979); United States v. Beck, 598 F.2d 497 (9th Cir. 1979). 17 In contrast to these cases, the detention complained of here occurred in the context of a border search. Traditionally, governmental intrusions on citizens' mobility at the international borders are reviewed by the courts under different standards than other police investigatory techniques. See, e. g., Shorter v. United States, 469 F.2d 61, 63 (9th Cir. 1972), cert. denied, 411 U.S. 918, 93 S.Ct. 1555, 36 L.Ed.2d 310 (1973). Because of the broader powers given to customs officers in carrying out border searches, the standard to determine the propriety of a detention at the border is, did the scope of the detention exceed what was necessary for the agents to conduct a legal border search. Cf. Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 21-22, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 1879-80, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968). 18 The detention of appellant while a warrant was sought was reasonable. Given the strong preference for search warrants in body cavity searches expressed by this court in United States v. Cameron, 538 F.2d at 258 and 259, it would be inconsistent for the court now to hold that in trying to follow the preference for a warrant the agents detained a traveler for an excessive period. Indeed, Cameron indicates that a reasonable detention while a warrant is being obtained is not invalid. See 538 F.2d at 258 n. 7. We conclude the seven hour detention was not improper under the circumstances.