The Fourth Amendment protects people from unreasonable searches. Police officers typically receive extensive training on when and how to conduct searches. After all, if they break the rules, the evidence that they collect may not be useful during a criminal trial.
Defense attorneys can sometimes challenge the inclusion of specific evidence during criminal proceedings. If they can show that officers broke the law or violated an individual’s civil rights, they can exclude the evidence from the trial.
Frequently, police officers obtain warrants to justify their searches. Occasionally, they might have grounds to conduct warrantless searches. Is a search of garbage or trash receptacles legal without a warrant?
The Supreme Court has ruled on trash searches
The specific circumstances surrounding a search influence the legality of police conduct. Not all refuse is subject to warrantless searches. The location of the refuse has a direct impact on whether or not officers can conduct a search without a warrant.
The placement of the bins is a key factor to consider. Once people place the bins at the curb for collection, they have effectively abandoned that property. At that point, police officers can search through those bins for anything that might connect the resident or property owner to criminal activity.
However, bins or bags that are in a garage, next to the house or in the yard generally have protection as part of the property’s curtilage. The curtilage around a home includes outdoor spaces that serve as an extension of the private interior living space.
Until people move their bins away from their residences for collection, the trash has protection from warrantless searches. Additionally, trash carried on an individual, even with the intention of disposing of it later, typically has protection from warrantless searches.
Items stored in an individual’s bags or pockets are not subject to search unless officers have an appropriate justification. Frequently, officers trying to prove an individual’s involvement in drug manufacturing or production may want to search their garbage containers for warning signs of criminal activity.
Identifying inappropriate police conduct can help people planning to defend against pending drug charges. If officers conduct inappropriate searches, the evidence that they find may not be useful during criminal proceedings.