Snoop Dogs: An Analysis of Narcotics Canine Sniffs of Storage Units Under the Fourth Amendment

Authors

Eugene D. Bryant, University of Georgia School of Law

Publication Date

2006

Abstract

A recent development in the nation's war on drugs is the increased use of narcotics canines to indiscriminately search storage facilities. Although the Fourth Amendment protects persons from unreasonable searches and seizures, the Supreme Court of the United States in U.S. v. Place deemed a canine sniff to be sui generis and not a "search"subject to analysis under the Fourth Amendment. With its decision in Illinois v. Caballes, the Court extended this analysis to canine sniffs outside of vehicles. Various state courts, in order to better protect the rights of state citizens, have rejected the Supreme Court's sui generis analysis and held that a canine sniff is a search under their state constitutions. This Note discusses the background leading up to the Supreme Court's canine sniff jurisprudence and explains how this analysis has been applied in subsequent cases. This Note then contends that canine sniffs should be subjected to a test for reasonableness and uses the distinct privacy characteristics of personal storage units to demonstrate how this new analysis would work in practice. By acknowledging that a canine sniff is a search,courts will provide a check on police action and will be better equipped to analyze individual cases.

Recommended Citation

Bryant, Eugene D. (2006) "Snoop Dogs: An Analysis of Narcotics Canine Sniffs of Storage Units Under the Fourth Amendment," Georgia Law Review: Vol. 40: No. 4, Article 10.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.uga.edu/glr/vol40/iss4/10