Opinion ID: 852827
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Reasonableness of a Search under the Indiana Constitution

Text: The Litchfields argue that the warrantless search of their trash was unreasonable and therefore violated Article I, Section 11 of the Indiana Constitution. Article I, Section 11 reads: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable search or seizure, shall not be violated; and no warrant shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the person or thing to be seized. Although this language tracks the Fourth Amendment verbatim, Indiana has explicitly rejected the expectation of privacy as a test of the reasonableness of a search or seizure. The legality of a governmental search under the Indiana Constitution turns on an evaluation of the reasonableness of the police conduct under the totality of the circumstances. Moran v. State, 644 N.E.2d 536, 539 (Ind.1994). We have not elaborated on the methodology of evaluating reasonableness beyond the directive in Moran to consider the totality of the circumstances. Specifically, we have not explicitly addressed whether reasonableness is to be evaluated from the perspective of the investigating officer (in this case, Trooper Ringer), or the subject of the search (the Litchfields), or both. We believe that the totality of the circumstances requires consideration of both the degree of intrusion into the subject's ordinary activities and the basis upon which the officer selected the subject of the search or seizure. One factor that may render a search unreasonable is an arbitrary selection of the subject. Thus, we have permitted roadblocks for the purpose of testing for impaired drivers, but only under procedures that assure that no individual is subject to arbitrary selection. State v. Gerschoffer, 763 N.E.2d 960, 966 (Ind.2002); compare Mich. Dep't of State Police v. Sitz, 496 U.S. 444, 455, 110 S.Ct. 2481, 110 L.Ed.2d 412 (1990) (same under Fourth Amendment). We have also upheld legislation requiring motorists to use seat belts, but we have warned that stopping vehicles to inspect for violations is not permissible without an individualized basis to suspect noncompliance. Baldwin v. Reagan, 715 N.E.2d 332, 334 (Ind.1999). In both cases we were dealing with a seizure of the person, but the intrusion on the citizen was relatively minora brief stop of an automobile. And in both cases the scope of the permitted inquiry is limited, in one case to driving while intoxicated and in the other to seat belt use. In each case we nonetheless required either articulable individualized suspicion or a process designed to prevent officers from indiscriminate selection of those to be searched. Even when officers have some indication of potential criminal activity, we have balanced it against a concern for excessive discretion in selection of a subject. In State v. Bulington, 802 N.E.2d 435 (Ind.2004), officers who stopped the driver of a vehicle suspected of methamphetamine manufacture based on purchases of packages of a known methamphetamine precursor did not have enough facts for individualized suspicion of criminal activity. The majority found the seizure unreasonable, concluding that if such a stop were allowed, the police would be given too much latitude to exercise arbitrary discretion. Id. at 440. Our explanation of reasonableness in other contexts has focused on both the degree of intrusion or indignity visited upon the citizen and the constraints on the detaining officer. Random searches have been sustained in at least one circumstance. In Linke v. Northwestern Sch. Corp., 763 N.E.2d 972, 985 (Ind.2002), random drug testing of middle and high school students was held to be reasonable under Article I, Section 11. Although those tested were limited to students who drove to school or participated in athletics or a number of other activities, the majority did not rely on that restriction in sustaining the policy. Rather, the majority observed that a court should weigh the nature of the privacy interest upon which the search intrudes, the character of the intrusion that is complained of, and the nature and immediacy of the governmental concern to determine whether the Policy is reasonable under the totality of these circumstances. Id. at 979 (citing Vernonia Sch. Dist. 47J v. Acton, 515 U.S. 646, 660, 115 S.Ct. 2386, 132 L.Ed.2d 564 (1995)). This explicitly added to the calculus the factor of the severity of the law enforcement need in addition to the degree of the intrusion. However, the degree of intrusion may render a search unreasonable, even where law enforcement needs are obviously present. In Edwards v. State, 759 N.E.2d 626, 630 (Ind.2001), we focused entirely on the degree of intrusion on the citizen and lack of individualized suspicion: to the extent a warrantless strip search of a misdemeanor arrestee is conducted on the basis of jail security, the indignity and personal invasion necessarily accompanying a strip search is simply not reasonable without the reasonable suspicion that weapons or contraband may be introduced into the jail. Finally, if a violation of law is established, not merely suspected, a seizure has been upheld, even if the violation is quite minor. Thus, in Mitchell v. State, 745 N.E.2d 775, 787 (Ind.2001), we found nothing unreasonable in permitting an officer, who may have knowledge or suspicion of unrelated criminal activity by the motorist, to nevertheless respond to an observed traffic violation. The Court held that it was not unreasonable for a motorist who commits a traffic law violation to be subject to accountability even if the officer was motivated by furthering an unrelated criminal investigation. Id. In sum, although we recognize there may well be other relevant considerations under the circumstances, we have explained reasonableness of a search or seizure as turning on a balance of: 1) the degree of concern, suspicion, or knowledge that a violation has occurred, 2) the degree of intrusion the method of the search or seizure imposes on the citizen's ordinary activities, and 3) the extent of law enforcement needs.