Colorado v. Bertine

479 U.S. 367, 107 S. Ct. 738, 93 L. Ed. 2d 739, 1987 U.S. LEXIS 286, 55 U.S.L.W. 4105

• Court: Supreme Court of the United States
• Decided: January 14, 1987
• Docket: 85-889
• Status: Published

Opinions

Chief Justice Rehnquist

delivered the opinion of the Court.

On February 10, 1984, a police officer in Boulder, Colorado, arrested respondent Steven Lee Bertine for driving while under the influence of alcohol. After Bertine was taken into custody and before the arrival of a tow truck to take Bertine’s van to an impoundment lot,¹ a backup officer inventoried the contents of the van. The officer opened a closed backpack in which he found controlled substances, cocaine paraphernalia, and a large amount of cash. Bertine was subsequently charged with driving while under the influence of alcohol, unlawful possession of cocaine with intent to dispense, sell, and distribute, and unlawful possession of methaqualone. We are asked to decide whether the Fourth Amendment prohibits the State from proving these charges with the evidence discovered during the inventory of Ber-tine’s van. We hold that it does not.

The backup officer inventoried the van in accordance with local police procedures, which require a detailed inspection and inventory of impounded vehicles. He found the backpack directly behind the frontseat of the van. Inside the pack, the officer observed a nylon bag containing metal canisters. Opening the canisters, the officer discovered that they contained cocaine, methaqualone tablets, cocaine paraphernalia, and $700 in cash. In an outside zippered pouch of the backpack, he also found $210 in cash in a sealed envelope. After completing the inventory of the van, the officer had the van towed to an impound lot and brought the backpack, money, and contraband to the police station.

After Bertine was charged with the offenses described above, he moved to suppress the evidence found during the inventory search on the ground, inter alia, that the search of the closed backpack and containers exceeded the permissible scope of such a search under the Fourth Amendment. The Colorado trial court ruled that probable causé supported Bertine’s arrest and that the police officers had made the decisions to impound the vehicle and to conduct a thorough inventory search in good faith. Although noting that the inventory of the vehicle was performed in a “somewhat slipshod” manner, the District Court concluded that “the search of the backpack was done for the purpose of protecting the owner’s property, protection of the police from subsequent claims of loss or stolen property, and the protection of the police from dangerous instrumentalities.” App. 81-83. The court observed that the standard procedures for impounding vehicles mandated a “detailed inventory involving the opening of containers and the listing of [their] contents.” Id., at 81. Based on these findings, the court determined that the inventory search did not violate Bertine’s rights under the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution. Id., at 83. The court, nevertheless, granted Bertine’s motion to suppress, holding that the inventory search violated the Colorado Constitution.

On the State’s interlocutory appeal, the Supreme Court of Colorado affirmed. 706 P. 2d 411 (1985). In contrast to the District Court, however, the Colorado Supreme Court premised its ruling on the United States Constitution. The court recognized that in South Dakota v. Opperman, 428 U. S. 364 (1976), we had held inventory searches of automobiles to be consistent with the Fourth Amendment, and that in Illinois v. Lafayette, 462 U. S. 640 (1983), we had held that the inventory search of personal effects of an arrestee at a police station was also permissible under that Amendment. The Supreme Court of Colorado felt, however, that our decisions in Arkansas v. Sanders, 442 U. S. 753 (1979), and United States v. Chadwick, 433 U. S. 1 (1977), holding searches of closed trunks and suitcases to violate the Fourth Amendment, meant that Opperman and Lafayette did not govern this case.²

We granted certiorari to consider the important and recurring question of federal law decided by the Colorado Supreme Court.³ 475 U. S. 1081 (1986). As that court recognized, inventory searches are now a well-defined exception to the warrant requirement of the Fourth Amendment. See Lafayette, supra, at 643; Opperman, supra, at 367-376. The policies behind the warrant requirement are not implicated in an inventory search, Opperman, 428 U. S., at 370, n. 5, nor is the related concept of probable cause:

“The standard of probable cause is peculiarly related to criminal investigations, not routine, noncriminal procedures. . . . The probable-cause approach is unhelpful when analysis centers upon the reasonableness of routine administrative caretaking functions, particularly when no claim is made that the protective procedures are a subterfuge for criminal investigations.” Ibid.

See also United States v. Chadwick, supra, at 10, n. 5. For these reasons, the Colorado Supreme Court’s reliance on Arkansas v. Sanders, supra, and United States v. Chadwick, supra, was incorrect. Both of these cases concerned searches solely for the purpose of investigating criminal conduct, with the validity of the searches therefore dependent on the application of the probable-cause and warrant requirements of the Fourth Amendment.

By contrast, an inventory search may be “reasonable” under the Fourth Amendment even though it is not conducted pursuant to a warrant based upon probable cause. In Opperman, this Court assessed the reasonableness of an inventory search of the glove compartment in an abandoned automobile impounded by the police. We found that inventory procedures serve to protect an owner’s property while it is in the custody of the police, to insure against claims of lost, stolen, or vandalized property, and to guard the police from danger. In light of these strong governmental interests and the diminished expectation of privacy in an automobile, we upheld the search. In reaching this decision, we observed that our cases accorded deference to police caretaking procedures designed to secure and protect vehicles and their contents within police custody. See Cooper v. California, 386 U. S. 58, 61-62 (1967); Harris v. United States, 390 U. S. 234, 236 (1968); Cady v. Dombrowski, 413 U. S. 433, 447-448 (1973).⁴

In our more recent decision, Lafayette, a police officer conducted an inventory search of the contents of a shoulder bag in the possession of an individual being taken into custody. In deciding whether this search was reasonable, we recognized that the search served legitimate governmental interests similar to those identified in Opperman. We determined that those interests outweighed the individual’s Fourth Amendment interests and upheld the search.

In the present case, as in Opperman and Lafayette, there was no showing that the police, who were following standardized procedures, acted in bad faith or for the sole purpose of investigation. In addition, the governmental interests justifying the inventory searches in Opperman and Lafayette are nearly the same as those which obtain here. In each case, the police were potentially responsible for the property taken into their custody. By securing the property, the police protected the property from unauthorized interference. Knowledge of the precise nature of the property helped guard against claims of theft, vandalism, or negligence. Such knowledge also helped to avert any danger to police or others that may have been posed by the property.⁵

The Supreme Court of Colorado opined that Lafayette was not controlling here because there was no danger of introducing contraband or weapons into a jail facility. Our opinion in Lafayette, however, did not suggest that the station-house setting of the inventory search was critical to our holding in that case. Both in the present case and in Lafayette, the common governmental interests described above were served by the inventory searches.

The Supreme Court of Colorado also expressed the view that the search in this case was unreasonable because Bertine’s van was towed to a secure, lighted facility and because Bertine himself could have been offered the opportunity to make other arrangements for the safekeeping of his property. But the security of the storage facility does not completely eliminate the need for inventorying; the police may still wish to protect themselves or the owners of the lot against false claims of theft or dangerous instrumentalities. And while giving Bertine an opportunity to make alternative arrangements would undoubtedly have been possible, we said in Lafayette:

“[T]he real question is not what ‘could have been achieved,’ but whether the Fourth Amendment requires such steps ....

“The reasonableness of any particular governmental activity does not necessarily or invariably turn on the existence of alternative ‘less intrusive’ means.” Lafayette, 462 U. S., at 647 (emphasis in original).

See Cady v. Dombrowski, supra, at 447; United States v. Martinez-Fuerte, 428 U. S. 543, 557, n. 12 (1976). We conclude that here, as in Lafayette, reasonable police regulations relating to inventory procedures administered in good faith satisfy the Fourth Amendment, even though courts might as a matter of hindsight be able to devise equally reasonable rules requiring a different procedure.⁶

The Supreme Court of Colorado also thought it necessary to require that police, before inventorying a container, weigh the strength of the individual’s privacy interest in the container against the possibility that the container might serve as a repository for dangerous or valuable items. We think that such a requirement is contrary to our decisions in Opperman and Lafayette, and by analogy to our decision in United States v. Ross, 456 U. S. 798 (1982):

“Even if less intrusive means existed of protecting some particular types of property, it would be unreasonable to expect police officers in the everyday course of business to make fine and subtle distinctions in deciding which containers or items may be searched and which must be sealed as a unit.” Lafayette, supra, at 648.

“When a legitimate search is under way, and when its purpose and its limits have been precisely defined, nice distinctions between closets, drawers, and containers, in the case of a home, or between glove compartments, upholstered seats, trunks, and wrapped packages, in the case of a vehicle, must give way to the interest in the prompt and efficient completion of the task at hand.” United States v. Ross, supra, at 821.

We reaffirm these principles here: “‘[a] single familiar standard is essential to guide police officers, who have only limited time and expertise to reflect on and balance the social and individual interests involved in the specific circumstances they confront.’ ” Lafayette, supra, at 648 (quoting New York v. Belton, 453 U. S. 454, 458 (1981)).

Bertine finally argues that the inventory search of his van was unconstitutional because departmental regulations gave the police officers discretion to choose between impounding his van and parking and locking it in a public parking place. The Supreme Court of Colorado did not rely on this argument in reaching its conclusion, and we reject it. Nothing in Opperman or Lafayette prohibits the exercise of police discretion so long as that discretion is exercised according to standard criteria and on the basis of something other than suspicion of evidence of criminal activity. Here, the discretion afforded the Boulder police was exercised in light of standardized criteria, related to the feasibility and appropriateness of parking and locking a vehicle rather than impounding it.⁷ There was no showing that the police chose to impound Bertine’s van in order to investigate suspected criminal activity.

While both Opperman and Lafayette are distinguishable from the present case on their facts, we think that the principles enunciated in those cases govern the present one. The judgment of the Supreme Court of Colorado is therefore

Reversed.

1 Section 7-7-2(a)(4) of the Boulder Revised Code authorizes police officers to impound vehicles when drivers are taken into custody. Section 7-7-2(a)(4) provides:

“A peace officer is authorized to remove or cause to be removed a vehicle from any street, parking lot, or driveway when:

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(4) The driver of a vehicle is taken into custody by the police department.” Boulder Rev. Code § 7-7-2(a)(4)(1981).

2 Two justices dissented from the majority opinion, arguing that South Dakota v. Opperman and Illinois v. Lafayette compel the conclusion that the inventory search of the backpack found in Bertine’s van was permissible under the Fourth Amendment.

3 Since our decision in South Dakota v. Opperman, several courts have confronted the issue whether police may inventory the contents of containers found in vehicles taken into police custody. See, e. g., United States v. Griffin, 729 F. 2d 475 (CA7) (upholding inventory search of package found in paper bag), cert. denied, 469 U. S. 830 (1984); United States v. Bloomfield, 594 F. 2d 1200 (CA8 1979) (affirming suppression of evidence found in closed knapsack); People v. Braasch, 122 Ill. App. 3d 747, 461 N. E. 2d 651 (1984) (upholding inventory of paper bag); People v. Gonzalez, 62 N. Y. 2d 386, 465 N. E. 2d 823 (1984) (upholding inventory of paper bag); Boggs v. Commonwealth, 229 Va. 501, 331 S. E. 2d 407 (1985) (upholding inventory of boxes and pouch found in bag), cert. denied, 475 U. S. 1031 (1986).

4 The Colorado Supreme Court correctly stated that Opperman did not address the question whether the scope of an inventory search may extend to closed containers located in the interior of an impounded vehicle. We did note, however, that “ ‘when the police take custody of any sort of container [such as] an automobile ... it is reasonable to search the container to itemize the property to be held by the police.’ ” 428 U. S., at 371 (quoting United States v. Gravitt, 484 F. 2d 375, 378 (CA5 1973), cert. denied, 414 U. S. 1135 (1974)).

5 In arguing that the latter two interests are not implicated here, the dissent overlooks the testimony of the backup officer who conducted the inventory of Bertine’s van. According to the officer, the vehicle inventory procedures of the Boulder Police Department are designed for the “[p]ro-teetion of the police department” in the event that an individual later claims that “there was something of value taken from within the vehicle.” 2 Tr. 19. The officer added that inventories are also conducted in order to cheek “[f]or any dangerous items such as explosives [or] weapons.” Id., at 20. The officer testified that he had found such items in vehicles.

6 We emphasize that, in this case, the trial court found that the Police Department’s procedures mandated the opening of closed containers and the listing of their contents. Our decisions have always adhered to the requirement that inventories be conducted according to standardized criteria. See Lafayette, 462 U. S., at 648; Opperman, 428 U. S., at 374-376.

By quoting a portion of the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision out of context, the dissent suggests that the inventory here was not authorized by the standard procedures of the Boulder Police Department. See post, at 380-381. Yet that court specifically stated that the procedure followed here was “officially authorized.” 706 P. 2d 411, 413, n. 2 (1985). In addition, the court did not disturb the trial court’s finding that the police procedures for impounding vehicles required a detailed inventory of Bertine’s van. See id., at 418-419.

7 In arguing that the Boulder Police Department procedures set forth no standardized criteria guiding an officer’s decision to impound a vehicle, the dissent selectively quotes from the police directive concerning the care and security of vehicles taken into police custody. The dissent fails to mention that the directive establishes several conditions that must be met before an officer may pursue the park-and-loek alternative. For example, police may not park and lock the vehicle where there is reasonable risk of damage or vandalism to the vehicle or where the approval of the arrestee cannot be obtained. App. 91-92, 94-95. Not only do such conditions circumscribe the discretion of individual officers, but they also protect the vehicle and its contents and minimize claims of property loss.