Opinion ID: 2212139
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: the inventory exception

Text: In South Dakota v. Opperman, 428 U.S. 364, 96 S.Ct. 3092, 49 L.Ed.2d 1000 (1976), the Supreme Court upheld a warrantless search of a car impounded for various parking violations. The police, following standard police procedure, inventoried the contents of the car and found marijuana in the glove compartment. The Court reversed the decision of the South Dakota Supreme Court and held that under the fourth amendment, inventories pursuant to standard police procedures are reasonable. The Court stated that the police were engaged in a caretaking search of the vehicle because the owner was not present to make arrangements for his vehicle and valuables were visible inside the car. The Court also stated that there was no evidence that the standard inventory procedure used by the police was a pretext for investigatory searches. Id. In Colorado v. Bertine, 479 U.S. 367, 107 S.Ct. 738, 93 L.Ed.2d 739 (1987), the Court upheld a warrantless search of a backpack located in a van following impoundment of the vehicle after the driver had been arrested for drunk driving. The Court recognized that inventory searches were a well-defined exception to the warrant requirement of the fourth amendment. The Court then held that reasonable police regulations relating to inventory procedures administered in good faith satisfy the fourth amendment. The Court stated that the police may exercise discretion in searching as long as that discretion is exercised according to standard criteria and on the basis of something other than suspicion of criminal activity. Bertine, supra . Justice Blackmun, in his concurrence, emphasized the importance of having inventories conducted only pursuant to standardized police procedures. He stated that it is permissible for police officers to open closed containers during an inventory search only if they are following standard police procedures that mandate the opening of such containers in every impounded vehicle. Bertine, supra (Blackmun, J., concurring). The Court's most recent statement concerning inventory searches is in Florida v. Wells, ___ U.S. ___, 110 S.Ct. 1632, 109 L.Ed.2d 1 (1990). In that case, Florida police arrested the driver of a vehicle for driving while intoxicated, impounded the vehicle, and conducted an inventory search of the car and a locked suitcase in the trunk. The police discovered marijuana during the search. The Florida police had no standard policy with respect to whether closed containers encountered during an inventory search should be opened. The Court held that because the Florida police had no policy with regard to opening closed containers during inventory searches, the search was not sufficiently regulated to satisfy the fourth amendment. The Court did state that inventory searches need not be conducted in a totally mechanical manner, and police officers may use their discretion in deciding to open containers whose contents cannot be determined from examining the exterior. Wells, supra . In this case there is no evidence in the record of any standard inventory procedures used by the York Police Department. Assuming this search was conducted for inventory purposes, the search was not reasonable under the fourth amendment because it was not conducted pursuant to any standard inventory procedures used by the York police, as mandated in Bertine and Wells. It is unnecessary to determine whether those procedures must include a policy governing the opening of containers found in vehicles, because the State failed to present evidence that any search procedure was used by the York Police Department. The district court based its suppression of the evidence found in Neely's luggage on Florida v. Wells, supra . While the court was correct in suppressing the evidence under Wells because the York Police Department failed to conduct the search pursuant to standard policy, it was mistaken in its determination that Wells conflicted with United States v. Ross, 456 U.S. 798, 102 S.Ct. 2157, 72 L.Ed.2d 572 (1982). Ross dealt with the scope of warrantless searches under the automobile exception, as discussed above. The search in Ross was not conducted for inventory purposes. The inventory and automobile exceptions to the warrant requirement are separate and based on entirely different rationales. Wells is not in conflict with Ross. Last, the State's claim that Neely has no expectation of privacy in her luggage while it remains in the jail's locked inventory is without merit. Hudson v. Palmer, 468 U.S. 517, 104 S.Ct. 3194, 82 L.Ed.2d 393 (1984), the case on which the State relies for that proposition, dealt with the privacy rights of an inmate incarcerated in state prison. In this case, Neely has not yet been convicted of any offense, but is merely incarcerated while awaiting trial in the York County Jail. The holding in Hudson, supra, is inapplicable to her case. She had a legitimate expectation of privacy in her luggage while it was in her car, as well as while it is stored in the jail's inventory. The order of the district court suppressing the evidence found in the suitcase and camera case during both the first search of the vehicle and the second search of the suitcase from the jail's inventory room is affirmed. AFFIRMED.