Opinion ID: 1215390
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: discussion of community caretaking function

Text: The Court of Appeals reversed the decision of the trial court. It determined that the conduct of the deputies was proper because they were involved in a community caretaking function. State v. Bridewell, 87 Or. App. 316, 322-23, 742 P.2d 648 (1987). The source of the term community caretaking function often is attributed to Cady v. Dombrowski, 413 U.S. 433, 441, 93 S.Ct. 2523, 2528, 37 L.Ed.2d 706 (1973), in which the court stated: Local police officers, unlike federal officers, frequently investigate vehicle accidents in which there is no claim of criminal liability and engage in what, for want of a better term, may be described as community caretaking functions, totally divorced from the detection, investigation, or acquisition of evidence relating to the violation of a criminal statute. Other examples abound in case law. Many involve the seizure of cars that need to be moved or taken into custody because the cars appear to be abandoned, or for other reasons. See, e.g., Fallon v. State, 725 P.2d 603 (Okla. Crim. App. 1986); Robertson v. State, 541 S.W.2d 608 (Tex. Crim. App. 1976). See also State v. Atkinson, 298 Or. 1, 688 P.2d 832 (1984). The Rhode Island Court stated, in State v. Cook, 440 A.2d 137, 139 (R.I. 1982): Any police officer at any given time may perform the responsibilities of the office by acting as a domestic-relations counselor in an attempt to reconcile two belligerent spouses who at some prior time had solemnly promised to love and honor each other, or as a midwife to a newcomer to this planet who cannot delay his or her appearance until the cruiser makes it to the hospital, or as a sympathetic emissary who has the unpleasant task of informing some citizen of the loss of a loved one, or even as a taker of measurements or the preparer of accident reports that may prove of value solely to some insurance adjuster.    I maintain that the initial entry upon the defendant's property was not a search. The entry on the premises was to investigate the report of a concerned person, fearful that her friend was hurt or injured. Entering property to find whether the concerns were well founded was not a search as that term was understood in the state and federal constitutions in 1791 and 1859 and is not a search within the present day meaning of that term. A true emergency cannot be the test. In many cases, inquiry must be made to ascertain if there is an emergency. I assert that in the presence of facts suggesting to a reasonable person that there is a need to render aid or assistance, the police may enter premises to render such aid or assistance. In entering the property of another, the law enforcement person has no greater authority than any citizen. The entry is the entry of a person who is privileged to enter another's land if it is or reasonably appears to be necessary to prevent serious harm to the other, his land or chattels. This is the rule (or privilege) applicable to persons generally, and law enforcement persons in the role of the deputies in this case, come within that rule. [4] On a motion to suppress, in deciding whether the entry is privileged, the trial judge should decide the same question the trier of fact would decide in a civil trespass case against the person entering the land. If the entry is privileged, evidence obtained as a result of the exercise of the privilege would not be suppressed. If the entry is not privileged, the evidence would be suppressed. See Restatement (Second) of Torts § 197, comments f, h, and j (1965). The privilege applies in this case. The friend reported death threats had been made against the defendant. There were reports that the place had been ransacked. The defendant's friend had never been so scared in her life. She thought that something had happened to Jon and she didn't know what. [5] If the majority rule prevails, the assistance role of law enforcement personnel in this society will go downhill from here. The police cannot obtain a warrant for the entry. The majority admits as much; and without a warrant, the police are powerless. In the future police will tell such concerned citizens, Sorry. We can't help you. We need a warrant and can't get one. Our society in 1988 is an impersonal one. Many of us do not know the names of our next-door neighbors. Because of this, tasks that neighbors, friends or relatives may have performed in the past now fall to the police. In State v. Delgado, 298 Or. 395, 403, 692 P.2d 610 (1984), we held that the defendant's right to bear arms under Article I, section 27, of the Oregon Constitution extended to the possession of a switch blade knife in part because the constitutional drafters    must have been aware that technological changes were occurring in weaponry   . Similarly, we should construe the search and seizure provisions of the constitution in light of present-day events.