NCJ Number
163010
Journal
Crime to Court, Police Officer's Handbook Dated: (May 1996) Pages: 1-18
Date Published
1996
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This booklet provides guidelines for police in a delayed search of an impounded vehicle, based on the case of United States v. Gastiaburo (Fourth Circuit 1994) and presents an overview of community-policing activities in Greenwood, South Carolina.
Abstract
Gastiaburo contended that a gun and a 24-gram rock of crack cocaine that the police seized from his car on November 15, 1991, should have been suppressed because they were obtained without a warrant. In response, the government argued that the district court's denial of Gastiaburo's motion to suppress should be affirmed on any of four grounds: the evidence was seized during a valid consent search; the evidence was seized during a valid inventory search; the police had probable cause to believe the search would uncover contraband; or the evidence was seized during a valid search of a vehicle subject to forfeiture. The Federal courts have recognized an "automobile exception" to the warrant requirement; it may be reasonable and therefore constitutional for police to search a movable vehicle without a warrant, even though it would be unreasonable and unconstitutional to conduct a similar search of a home, store, or other fixed piece of property. Police may search an automobile and the containers within it where they have probable cause to believe contraband or evidence is contained. The court held that not a single published Federal case speaks of a "temporal limit" to the automobile exception to the warrant rule; thus, a delayed warrantless search of an impounded vehicle is constitutional. The profile of the Greenwood community-oriented policing program (South Carolina) is presented through an interview with Chief Gerald L. Brooks. The patrols in Greenwood are done on foot, bicycle, horseback, by cruiser, and by the resident officers. The community policing program was begun in January 1992.