State v. Wilcox

Summary

The Oregon Supreme Court held that, under Article I, section 9, of the Oregon Constitution, police may not search a closed, opaque container that does not disclose its contents while inventorying the property of a person taken into custody on a civil detox hold. The court reversed the Court of Appeals and the circuit court judgment and remanded for further proceedings.

Holdings

1. Under Article I, section 9, of the Oregon Constitution, police may not open and search a closed, opaque container that does not announce its contents when inventorying the property of a person taken into custody on a civil detox hold, even if the container may hold valuables and the search complies with a properly adopted inventory policy.
2. The existence of statutory or ordinance authority and compliance with a properly promulgated inventory policy that affords the officer no discretion are prerequisites to invoking the inventory exception, but they are not dispositive of whether the search was reasonable in scope under Article I, section 9.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Article I, section 9, of the Oregon Constitution permits police, pursuant to an inventory policy, to open and search a closed, opaque container that does not announce its contents when the container is in the possession of a person taken into custody on a civil detox hold.
2. Whether compliance with a properly adopted, nondiscretionary inventory policy is sufficient by itself to make an administrative inventory search constitutionally reasonable.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded