NCJ Number
85204
Journal
FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin Volume: 51 Issue: 9 Dated: (September 1982) Pages: 26-31
Date Published
1982
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This article discusses legal issues bearing upon an employee turning over to the police the records of an employer without the use of a warrant.
Abstract
As a general rule, an employer has a reasonable expectation of privacy from direct warrantless police intrusion into business premises to search for incriminating records, and ordinarily police cannot use an informant to accomplish what they themselves are prohibited from doing; however, the result is different when an employer has given to an employee access to and control over incriminating records. In such a case, the employer has no reasonable expectation of privacy with respect to records the employer has voluntarily exposed to the employee, so the fourth amendment is inapplicable. A separate argument involves the authority of an employee-informant to make a plain view seizure. This argument has inherent problems because of the inadvertent discovery requirement of the plain view doctrine and the questionable authority of an informant to seize evidence in plain view. Lawful use of this investigative tool presupposes that an employee-informant has lawful access to and control over the records; however, contemplated use of this procedure should include consideration of whether Federal or State privacy laws may limit or prohibit its application. As a policy, this technique should be reserved for extraordinary cases and not used as a routine substitute for a search warrant. Fifty footnotes are listed. For part 1 of this discussion, see NCJ 84999. (Author summary modified)