THIRD CIRCUIT UPHOLD INVENTORY SEARCH OF CLOSED CONTAINER

One exception to the warrant requirement that we have not discussed in this blog permits inventory searches of seized vehicles. When seizing a vehicle police are allowed to inventory the contents of the vehicle in order

“[1] to protect an owner’s property while it is in the custody of the police, [2] to insure against claims of lost, stolen, or vandalized property, and [3] to guard the police from danger.”

The Supreme Court requires that prior to an inventory search the police department must have a policy limiting the discretion of officers performing the search. The policy must take into consideration the underlying purposes of inventory searches and they can not be solely for investigative purposes. They must provide standardized criteria for performing the search in the first place and for determining the scope of the search.

Eric Wayne Mundy was stopped by two Philadelphia police officers for making an illegal turn and for having excessively tinted windows. During the stop the officers discovered that the car was not registered and under Pennsylvania law an unregistered vehicle may be impounded. It must be inventoried prior to towing.

Prior to the inventory search of Mundy’s vehicle the police obtained the keys to the trunk. They searched both the interior of the car and the trunk. In the trunk they found a gray plastic bag containing a closed shoe box. They opened the box and found a brown paper bag containing two baggies with cocaine.

Mundy was charged with possession of over 500 grams of cocaine. He moved to suppress the evidence. The motion was denied. He was convicted and appealed the denial of the motion. He claimed that the Philadelphia Police Department’s inventory search policy gave too much discretion to the police officers in that it did not specifically allow or prohibit the search of closed containers.

The Police Department’s policy stated in part:

[T]he investigating officer[] shall . . . :
1. Have the operator and occupants exit the vehicle and remain on
location . . . .
2. Complete the Towing Report by conducting a vehicle inventory
describing any damage and/or missing equipment, personal
property of value left in the vehicle by the operator/occupants[,]
including the trunk area if accessible.
NOTE: No locked areas, including the trunk area, will be
forced open while conducting an inventory.

The Third Circuit Court of Appeals found that the ban on forced opening of locked areas allows the police to search unlocked containers or those for which they obtain a key. Here the police had a key to the trunk and the items in the trunk were not locked. Therefore the search was legal and the conviction was upheld.