NCJ Number
172183
Journal
Crime to Court, Police Officer's Handbook Dated: (March 1998) Pages: complete issue
Date Published
1998
Length
18 pages
Annotation
In presenting the case of The State v. Brockman (1997) before the South Carolina Court of Appeals, this booklet considers the conditions under which third-party consent to search is legal; further, Operation Lifesaver's public education program to prevent casualties at highway-rail grade crossings is described.
Abstract
Based on the court's holding in "Brockman," the author concludes that third-party consent to search given to police is valid if it is reasonable, in view of the facts, for police to believe that the third party had the authority to do so. If the bailee of an object has reason to believe that the object contains contraband, the bailee may give valid consent to police to search it. The bailee's right in such a case prevails over the bailor's right to privacy. The fact that the bailee of a suitcase does not have a key or the combination to the lock is strong evidence that the bailee does not have authority to consent to its search. A search by a private party is not affected by the Fourth Amendment unless the private party acted as an instrument of the government. The fact that police have to break a lock to search a place or a container weighs heavily against a reasonable belief that a third party has actual authority to consent to the search. Operation Lifesaver is a nationwide, nonprofit public education and information program dedicated to reducing collisions, injuries, and fatalities at highway-rail grade crossings and along railroad rights-of-way. The three main objectives of the program are education, engineering, and enforcement.