Pubdate: Thu, 01 Nov 2012
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Copyright: 2012 The Seattle Times Company
Contact:  http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/409
Author: David G. Savage

JUSTICES OBJECT TO POLICE BRINGING DRUG-SNIFFING DOGS TO FRONT PORCH

Officer's Lawyer Meets Opposition to View Consent Was Implied

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court justices spent part of Halloween
debating whether visitors, including police officers with dogs, have a
right to stand on the front porch of a house and knock on the door, or
whether such unwanted visits may violate the rights of the homeowner.

The question arose in a case involving whether police may use a dog to
sniff for illegal drugs at the front door of a home.

A lawyer defending a Florida police officer said that since
"trick-or-treaters" can visit a front porch, so can a police officer
with his trained dog.

"It's well-established, we think, going back to the common law, that
there is an implied consent for people, visitors, salesmen, Girl
Scouts, trick-or-treaters, to come to your house and knock on the
door," said Washington attorney Gregory Garre.

Garre ran into opposition from most of the jurists, including Justice
Antonin Scalia.

It is "not implied consent for the policeman to come up with the dog,"
said Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Scalia agreed. "When the officer's going there to conduct a search,
it's not permitted," he said.

Garre was defending a Miami police officer who took his drug dog,
Franky, to the front of a house searching for evidence of marijuana.
When Franky alerted near the front door, the officer obtained a search
warrant and found marijuana growing inside.

The Supreme Court took up the case to decide whether such an action
violates the Fourth Amendment's ban on "unreasonable searches."

"In my neighborhood, neighbors can bring their dog up on the leash
when they knock on your front door, and I think that's true in most
neighborhoods in America," Garre said.

Justice Stephen Breyer said a homeowner "would resent someone coming
up with a large animal sitting on a front step ... and sniffing for
five to 15 minutes."

Ginsburg said that if the court were to approve this law-enforcement
tactic, police could "just go down the street, have the dog sniff in
front of every door, or go into an apartment building."

Scalia, one of the court's conservative leaders, has drawn a line
against searches that invade private space. In January, he wrote an
opinion limiting law enforcement's use of a GPS device for tracking
movement of a car. Putting the device on the vehicle was a "physical
intrusion" into the owner's private property, he said.

Scalia and the four liberal justices sounded as though they will limit
the police in using dogs around homes or apartments to sniff for
illegal drugs.

But the justices suggested they were not inclined to require more
proof that drug sniffing dogs are usually right when they "alert" and
trigger a search of a car or truck. Many police departments use
trained dogs to sniff around cars that have been stopped along the
road, and an alert from a dog gives an officer probable cause to
search inside.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Matt