Pubdate: Tue, 04 Jan 2005 Source: Trentonian, The (NJ) Copyright: 2005 The Trentonian Contact: http://www.trentonian.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1006 Author: Scott Frost, Staff Writer JUDGES: COPS CAN'T SEARCH AUTO WITHOUT WARRANT An 11th-hour decision handed down by the New Jersey Superior Court appellant division last week will limit a police officer's ability to search a suspect's vehicles after a motor vehicle stop. The decision, made by a panel of three judges on Dec. 29, restricts the power of police to conduct searches of a motor vehicle after the arrest of one of the occupants in the car, said Robert Ramsey, a Hamilton lawyer, Rutgers University School of Law professor and author of New Jersey Motor Vehicle Law. Ramsey said officers, under the terms of a 1981 New York ruling of State vs. Belton, gave police the right to search a car in order to protect the officer and recover evidence as an exception to the warrant requirement. But last week's ruling opposes that privilege in the Garden State. "This is a case that will have an enormous impact on law enforcement," Ramsey said. The decision is based on a case where a Cape May County man, arrested on an active warrant, was found in possession of drugs after he was already handcuffed and sitting in the back seat of the officer's cruiser. In 2002, William Eckel was caught driving in a car reported stolen by his girlfriend's parents. After his arrest, his girlfriend asked the officers if she could give him a kiss and retrieve his clothes from the car. When the officer decided to go get the clothes himself he found drug paraphernalia like pot stems and blunt cigars in plain view inside the car, records show. According to the ruling, the officer found a "softball-sized Baggie" rolled up inside a pair of denim shorts containing cocaine residue and drug paraphernalia. Eckel was charged with drug-related offenses and eventually pleaded guilty to third-degree possession of cocaine with the intent to distribute. His lawyer, Yvonne Segars, later issued a motion to suppress the evidence on grounds the drugs were found illegally. The opinion of the appellant division is Eckel was arrested on the active warrant not on the drug charges and those drugs were obtained only after the girlfriend said the suspect needed his clothes. The opinion reads, "the search occurred after the arrest of the driver had been completed by his physical restraint and actual removal to the patrol car and, therefore, was not contemporaneous with the arrest of the driver." Ramsey said the new ruling hamstrings the officer's ability to investigate a suspect and find key evidence that could lead to further arrests -- like drugs and weapons -- left inside the car. To Ramsey, thousands of cases will be left unsolved without the power of the Belton rule. "There will be hundreds of thousands of searches that just won't take place," Ramsey said. "That's the key." Now police officers will have to wait for a search warrant before entering a suspect's vehicle. The state's Attorney General's Office said there's a chance they'll appeal the decision, but mostly all local agencies scoffed at the idea the ruling really has any major impact on day-to-day arrests. "We are still in the process of the reviewing the decision," John Haggerty, a spokesperson with the state's Attorney General's Office said. Lawrence Township Police Chief Daniel Posluszny said his office will follow state guidelines no matter what. He said the ruling has little effect on police activity because officials still possess the power of the search warrant. "We strive to work as a police department working within the law, so this has no effect on our operations," Posluszny said. "It's not going to hamper law enforcement in any manner." Most local agencies yesterday said they'll wait to hear from Mercer County Prosecutor Joe Bocchini before changing any guidelines. "The appropriate direction will be given to (local police departments) after we have the opportunity to thoroughly review and analyze the opinion," Bocchini said. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth