Opinion ID: 558566
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: What They Found.

Text: 28 Having established the legitimacy of the impoundment, our next step takes us to the constitutionality of the sniff test. In United States v. Place, 462 U.S. 696, 103 S.Ct. 2637, 77 L.Ed.2d 110 (1983), the Supreme Court analyzed canine sniffs in the context of luggage temporarily seized at an airport. The Court concluded that exposure of a person's luggage, located in a public place, to a trained drug-sniffing dog did not constitute a search. Id. at 706-07, 103 S.Ct. at 2644. The Court reasoned: 29 A canine sniff by a well-trained narcotics detection dog, however, does not require opening the luggage. It does not expose noncontraband items that otherwise would remain hidden from public view, as does, for example, an officer's rummaging through the contents of the luggage. Thus, the manner in which information is obtained through this investigative technique is much less intrusive than a typical search. Moreover, the sniff discloses only the presence or absence of narcotics, a contraband item. Thus, despite the fact that the sniff tells the authorities something about the contents of the luggage, the information obtained is limited. This limited disclosure also ensures that the owner of the property is not subjected to the embarrassment and inconvenience entailed in less discriminate and more intrusive investigative methods. 30 Id. at 707, 103 S.Ct. at 2644. The force and import of this language cannot seriously be questioned. After all, the Court later explored a parallel issue in United States v. Jacobsen, 466 U.S. 109, 104 S.Ct. 1652, 80 L.Ed.2d 85 (1984), holding that a chemical field test of a substance thought to be cocaine was not a search. The Court reasoned that because Congress has decided ... to treat the interest in 'privately' possessing cocaine as illegitimate ... governmental conduct that can reveal whether a substance is cocaine, and no other arguably 'private' fact, compromises no legitimate privacy interest. Id. at 123, 104 S.Ct. at 1662 (footnote omitted). The Jacobsen Court stated that this result was dictated by Place and quoted much of the language from Place upon which we rely today. See id. 466 U.S. at 123-24, 104 S.Ct. at 1662. By characterizing the Place discussion as a holding to the effect that a canine sniff test is not a search, the Jacobsen Court firmly cemented Place into our fourth amendment jurisprudence. 31 We think Place applies full bore to the case at bar. The driver of a car on a public highway is considered to have a diminished expectation of privacy with regard to his vehicle. See, e.g., California v. Carney, 471 U.S. 386, 390-93, 105 S.Ct. 2066, 2070, 85 L.Ed.2d 406 (1985); United States v. Panitz, 907 F.2d 1267, 1271 (1st Cir.1990). Thus, there is no persuasive reason to apply the ratio decidendi of Place more grudgingly to canine sniffs performed on automobiles than to the smelling of luggage. We hold that the canine sniff of the exterior of a vehicle which is legitimately within the custody of the police is not a search within the meaning of the fourth amendment; and that subjecting the exterior of such a motor vehicle to the olfactory genius of a drug detection dog does not infringe upon the vehicle owner's fourth amendment rights. 4 Accord United States v. Morales-Zamora, 914 F.2d 200, 203 (10th Cir.1990) (where car lawfully detained by police, canine sniff not a search); United States v. DiCesare, 765 F.2d 890, 897, amended, 777 F.2d 543 (9th Cir.1985) (canine sniff of automobile trunk not a search); cf. United States v. Vasquez, 909 F.2d 235, 238 (7th Cir.1990) (sniff of private garage from public alley not a search); United States v. Colyer, 878 F.2d 469, 473-77 (D.C.Cir.1989) (sniff of Amtrak roomette from public area not a search); see also United States v. Race, 529 F.2d 12, 14 n. 2 (1st Cir.1976) (We can discern no fourth amendment issue in the use of a dog for a routine check of ... freight in an airport warehouse.) (dictum). So long as the automobile is lawfully impounded, the canine sniff test can be performed without any showing of reasonable suspicion.