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Dog sniff of a car on a school parking lot violated no reasonable expectation of privacy

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Dog sniff of a car on a school parking lot that led to a positive alert and a search of the car was constitutional because there is no expectation of privacy on a school parking lot to anything that can be seen through the windows or smelled by a drug dog. It was with probable cause, so the T.L.O. school search analysis does not apply. Also, the plaintiff's handcuffing during the search of the car was not unreasonable under Summers. Hill v. Sharber, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15165 (M.D. Tenn. February 28, 2008). Police officers, on legitimate business, do not commit an unlawful search and seizure by approaching a dwelling and questioning the occupants in a “knock and talk.” The presence of trespassing signs, if the approach is otherwise lawful, does not make it unlawful...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on March 02, 2008 (boomark / email).