Opinion ID: 2484673
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Federal Dog Sniff Cases

Text: The United States Supreme Court has addressed the issue of sniff tests by drug detection dogs in three cases. First, in United States v. Place, 462 U.S. 696, 103 S.Ct. 2637, 77 L.Ed.2d 110 (1983), that Court addressed the issue of whether police, based on reasonable suspicion, could temporarily seize a piece of luggage at an airport and then subject the luggage to a sniff test by a drug detection dog. After Place's behavior at an airport aroused suspicion, police seized his luggage and subjected it to a sniff test by a drug detection dog at another airport and ultimately discovered cocaine inside. The federal district court denied Place's motion to suppress, and the court of appeals reversed. The United States Supreme Court affirmed, concluding that the seizure, which lasted ninety minutes, was an impermissibly long Terry [6] stop, but the Court ruled as follows with respect to the dog sniff test: The Fourth Amendment protects people from unreasonable government intrusions into their legitimate expectations of privacy. We have affirmed that a person possesses a privacy interest in the contents of personal luggage that is protected by the Fourth Amendment. 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. In these respects, the canine sniff is sui generis. We are aware of no other investigative procedure that is so limited both in the manner in which the information is obtained and in the content of the information revealed by the procedure. Therefore, we conclude that the particular course of investigation that the agents intended to pursue here exposure of respondent's luggage, which was located in a public place, to a trained caninedid not constitute a search within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment. Place, 462 U.S. at 706-07, 103 S.Ct. 2637 (quoting United States v. Chadwick, 433 U.S. 1, 7, 97 S.Ct. 2476, 53 L.Ed.2d 538 (1977)). Second, in City of Indianapolis v. Edmond, 531 U.S. 32, 121 S.Ct. 447, 148 L.Ed.2d 333 (2000), the United States Supreme Court addressed the issue of whether police could stop a vehicle at a drug interdiction checkpoint and subject the exterior of the vehicle to a sniff test by a drug detection dog. Police stopped Edmond and other motorists at a dragnet-style drug interdiction checkpoint, and a drug detection dog was walked around the exterior of each vehicle. Later, Edmond filed a class action lawsuit against the city, claiming that the checkpoints violated his Fourth Amendment rights, and he sought a preliminary injunction barring the practice. The federal district court denied the injunction, and the court of appeals reversed. The United States Supreme Court affirmed, explaining that [w]e have never approved a checkpoint program whose primary purpose was to detect evidence of ordinary criminal wrongdoing. Edmond, 531 U.S. at 41, 121 S.Ct. 447. With respect to the dog sniff test, the Court stated as follows: It is well established that a vehicle stop at a highway checkpoint effectuates a seizure within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment. The fact that officers walk a narcotics-detection dog around the exterior of each car at the Indianapolis checkpoints does not transform the seizure into a search. See United States v. Place, 462 U.S. 696 [103 S.Ct. 2637, 77 L.Ed.2d 110] (1983). Just as in Place, an exterior sniff of an automobile does not require entry into the car and is not designed to disclose any information other than the presence or absence of narcotics. See ibid. Like the dog sniff in Place, a sniff by a dog that simply walks around a car is much less intrusive than a typical search. Ibid. Edmond, 531 U.S. at 40, 121 S.Ct. 447 (citation omitted) (quoting Place, 462 U.S. at 707, 103 S.Ct. 2637). And third, in Illinois v. Caballes, 543 U.S. 405, 125 S.Ct. 834, 160 L.Ed.2d 842 (2005), the United States Supreme Court addressed the issue of whether police, during the course of a lawful traffic stop, could subject the exterior of a vehicle to a sniff test by a drug detection dog. After Caballes was stopped for speeding and while the officer was writing the citation, a second officer arrived at the scene and subjected the exterior of the vehicle to a dog sniff test. The dog alerted at the trunk and the officers searched the trunk and found marijuana. The state trial court denied Caballes' motion to suppress, and the Illinois Supreme Court reversed. The United States Supreme Court reversed, ruling as follows: Official conduct that does not compromise any legitimate interest in privacy is not a search subject to the Fourth Amendment. Jacobsen, 466 U.S., at 123 [104 S.Ct. 1652]. We have held that any interest in possessing contraband cannot be deemed legitimate, and thus, governmental conduct that only reveals the possession of contraband compromises no legitimate privacy interest. Ibid. This is because the expectation that certain facts will not come to the attention of the authorities is not the same as an interest in privacy that society is prepared to consider reasonable. Id., at 122 [104 S.Ct. 1652] (punctuation omitted). In United States v. Place, 462 U.S. 696 [103 S.Ct. 2637, 77 L.Ed.2d 110] (1983), we treated a canine sniff by a well-trained narcotics-detection dog as  sui generis  because it discloses only the presence or absence of narcotics, a contraband item. Id., at 707 [103 S.Ct. 2637]; see also Indianapolis v. Edmond, 531 U.S. 32, 40 [121 S.Ct. 447, 148 L.Ed.2d 333] (2000). Respondent likewise concedes that drug sniffs are designed, and if properly conducted are generally likely, to reveal only the presence of contraband. Although respondent argues that the error rates, particularly the existence of false positives, call into question the premise that drug-detection dogs alert only to contraband, the record contains no evidence or findings that support his argument. Moreover, respondent does not suggest that an erroneous alert, in and of itself, reveals any legitimate private information, and, in this case, the trial judge found that the dog sniff was sufficiently reliable to establish probable cause to conduct a full-blown search of the trunk. Accordingly, the use of a well-trained narcotics-detection dog-one that does not expose noncontraband items that otherwise would remain hidden from public view, Place, 462 U.S., at 707 [103 S.Ct. 2637]-during a lawful traffic stop generally does not implicate legitimate privacy interests. In this case, the dog sniff was performed on the exterior of respondent's car while he was lawfully seized for a traffic violation. Any intrusion on respondent's privacy expectations does not rise to the level of a constitutionally cognizable infringement. Caballes, 543 U.S. at 408-09, 125 S.Ct. 834 (citation omitted). Further, the Court in Caballes distinguished its ruling in Kyllo v. United States, 533 U.S. 27, 121 S.Ct. 2038, 150 L.Ed.2d 94 (2001), as follows: This conclusion is entirely consistent with our recent decision that the use of a thermal-imaging device to detect the growth of marijuana in a home constituted an unlawful search. Kyllo v. United States, 533 U.S. 27 [121 S.Ct. 2038, 150 L.Ed.2d 94] (2001). Critical to that decision was the fact that the device was capable of detecting lawful activityin that case, intimate details in a home, such as at what hour each night the lady of the house takes her daily sauna and bath. Id., at 38 [121 S.Ct. 2038]. The legitimate expectation that information about perfectly lawful activity will remain private is categorically distinguishable from respondent's hopes or expectations concerning the nondetection of contraband in the trunk of his car. A dog sniff conducted during a concededly lawful traffic stop that reveals no information other than the location of a substance that no individual has any right to possess does not violate the Fourth Amendment. Caballes, 543 U.S. at 409-10, 125 S.Ct. 834.