Summer has begun, and Denton, like many “college towns” now seems to have far fewer people around and cars on the road. I drive by Texas Woman’s University and by the University of North Texas several times a week (the former everyday on my way home from my office), and the crowds of college students have been replaced with an occasional student here or there (summer classes, perhaps.) In the fall, students will once again arrive to Denton to attend college, and many of them will, no doubt, be staying in the dorms. As both the University of North Texas and Texas Woman’s University each have their own campus police department (in addition to the Denton Police Department), and as college students are college students, interactions between police and students seem as much a part of college life as anything else.
With this in mind, I decided to answer some questions about what police may and may not do with respect to searches of college dorms, apartments, hotel rooms, and the like. Consider this a general primer for the college crowd (or anyone really) on searches.
Can Cops Search a College Dorm Room Without A Warrant?
Well, if they have consent, then the answer is “yes.” If the question, however, is whether police may search a college dorm room without a warrant, AND without the consent of the student who lives in that dorm (or an exigency of some kind, but that’s a separate discussion), then the short and sweet answer is no: there is no college dorm room exception to the Fourth Amendment. Police need a warrant or the consent of the person living in the dorm room to enter.
What if the Housing Agreement Lets RA’s or Dorm Staff Enter?
Some (prosecutors and police) have tried to argue that where a housing agreement that permits routine inspection by authorized personnel exists, the police have the authority to enter also. This is not the case; cops need a warrant or consent. The authority given to dorm personnel (RA’s for example) does not extend to the police.
Could an RA then grant his authority to the police?
Meaning, could an RA enter the dorm room, and then invite the police in under the RA’s authority to enter per the housing agreement. No, dorm personnel do not have the authority to give police permission to enter a student’s dorm room.
You might notice a common thread here: only the student who occupies that dorm room can give police the authority to enter it, where police do not have a lawful warrant.
Can a Cop Search An Apartment or Hotel Room Without a Warrant?
The same rules as above apply for apartments and hotel rooms. The police need the consent of the person occupying the apartment or hotel room, or a warrant to enter. This is true even where a lease agreement or contract permits the landlord or hotel staff to enter. The landlord of your apartment complex may have authority to enter pursuant to the terms of your lease, but an apartment landlord does not have the general authority to consent to a search of the tenant’s private living space. Likewise, a hotel clerk may not validly consent to the search of a hotel room that has been rented to a customer.
Hotel rooms, like dorm rooms, are treated as a “home away from home,” meaning you are afforded the same reasonable expectation of privacy and protection from Government snooping at a hotel, in your dorm room, or at an apartment that you are at a house.
Can a mechanic or Best Buy technician give the police access to my car or laptop?
It might seem that this is a natural extension of the above: that if police need the specific consent of the owner of the property—the dorm room, the apartment, the hotel room—then as to cars and laptops the same would be true. This is not the case. When you take your car to a mechanic, or your computer to a repair technician, or hand your bag over to an airline, you assume the risk that they might permit the police access. As such, you have no reasonable expectation of privacy in these items at the point that you turn them over. This situation is referred to as the private party search doctrine.
So, the short answer to the above question here is, surprisingly perhaps, “yes.”
Why Is This Important to Know?
Easily 90% or so of cases that I get involve a cop asking to search something (car, backpack, house, etc.) and the person giving the cop permission. The fact that I have the case in front of me means the police found something when they searched. We have the Fourth Amendment to protect us from meddlesome intrusions into our privacy by the Government; why anyone would largely waive its protection by consenting to a search is beyond me. Perhaps it’s because people don’t know that they can refuse (you can ALWAYS refuse consent) or under what circumstances police can search absent consent. Now you know, so always refuse.
It’s not disrespectful to police (if that’s the concern); it’s exercising your state and federal constitutional rights, which is the very point of even having such rights.