In a ruling that will affect how and when police search vehicles, the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled that an officer’s suspicions constitute probable cause. That means that after a traffic stop, the cops may search a trailer or attachment even without the owner’s permission.
The case concerned the conviction of three people travelling on I-80. They were stopped for speeding by Nebraska State Troopers. The vehicle was pulling a rental camper, which appeared to the officer to not have been used. The officer noticed the driver’s hands shaking and, even though he was unable to get permission to search the camper, the Trooper called for a drug dog, “for a sniff.”
Although this method is reasonable when searching an occupied vehicle, the law is less clear on what grounds an officer may have probable cause to search a towed item. The drug dog alerted and 700 pounds of marijuana were found. The occupants of the car (three Detroit residents) were subsequently convicted. The matter of probable cause was brought before the Nebraska Supreme Court on appeal.
With the convictions upheld, officers will be able to act on “reasonable suspicion” and search after further investigation (in this case, after a dog’s nose told them to). Not covered in this ruling is the recent criticism that drug dogs (and other “working” dogs) have been shown to key on what their handlers think. One studies showed that handlers influence whether the animal alerts in 50% of more of cases – even when nothing illegal is present.
The Trooper had good instincts in this case. The rentals were in use for a round trip; the camper hadn’t been used; the driver admitted to having a “drug dependency”; the driver had a criminal history… all reasons to justify the search in the Supreme Court’s ruling.
