CAN AN OFFICER SEARCH MY CAR WITHOUT A WARRANT?

The answer is yes.  An officer may perform an inventory search after you have been arrested and the police have taken your car.  The purpose of the search is to catalog the items in your car. An officer may also search your car if he or she has probable cause.

For an inventory search to be legal:

• The original impoundment of the vehicle must be lawful;
• The purpose of the inventory search must be to protect the owner’s property, to protect the police from claims of lost, stolen or vandalized property and to guard the police from danger; and
• The inventory search must be conducted in good faith according to reasonable standardized police procedures and not as a pretext for an investigatory search.

An officer may also search with probable cause where the officer  reasonably believes based on all the facts and circumstances known to him or her at the time that your car contains evidence of criminal activity.  Such probable cause, however, does not justify searching a passenger’s body.  But police may inspect any belongings in the car that are capable of concealing the search’s object.

One exception may be purses.  While the Supreme Court characterized the search of a purse as a “package search,” some courts have said that searching a purse is like searching a person.  In either case, a recent Illinois court decision has distinguished a backpack from a purse. An inventory search of a backpack is legal in Illinois.

If you have been charged with a criminal, DUI or traffic offense, contact an experienced  attorney immediately.  An attorney can review your case for your best possible defense.  Was the inventory search legal?  Did police lawfully seize your car?  What was the real purpose of the search?  Was it an excuse for a fishing expedition?  If not an inventory search, did police have probable cause to stop you?  Did they look into containers that could not possibly conceal the object of the search?  For example, did they look for a pistol in a pillbox?

If the search was not lawful, an attorney can ask the judge to suppress the evidence from the search.  In certain cases, this could result in dismissing the charges against you.

If you have questions about this or another related Illinois criminal or traffic matter, please contact Matt Keenan at 847-568-0160 or email matt@mattkeenanlaw.com.

Reference:  People v. Wallace

(Besides Skokie, Matt Keenan also serves the communities of Arlington Heights, Chicago, Deerfield, Des Plaines, Evanston, Glenview, Morton Grove, Mount Prospect, Niles, Northbrook, Park Ridge, Rolling Meadows, Wilmette and Winnetka.)