police officers were not authorized to search a tool box belonging to a minor based on his father's consent
How later courts described this case
- police officers were not authorized to search a tool box belonging to a minor based on his father's consent
- relying in part on Carey v. Population Services Int’I, 431 U.S. 678, 97 S.Ct. 2010, 52 L.Ed.2d 675 (1977)
- father could not authorize search of son’s locked toolbox
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
RICHARDSON, J.
— I concur in part and respectfully dissent in part. On the one hand, parents, in my view, have both the right and the responsibility to preserve the lawful nature of activities in their home. Both generally, as law-abiding citizens, and particularly, as model-setting parents, their obligation, assuredly, is to control and eliminate any criminal activity in the home. Children in a home setting are more than tenants at will of the rooms which they occupy, and a parent is more than a landlord. On the other hand, a minor child no less than an adult retains substantial Fourth Amendment rights, but I do not view these as absolute or unconditional in a home environment.
How may we reconcile the seemingly conflicting interests and obligations? The Fourth Amendment proscription against “unreasonable” searches and seizures provides the key. I would hold that a minor child living in a home situation is not powerless before an unrestricted exploratory police search even though undertaken with parental consent. However, both the child’s Fourth Amendment and privacy rights are not unrestricted. Bearing in mind the dual relationships involved herein, namely, the minor-citizen versus the officer-state invoking Fourth Amendment rights,, and the private parent-child familial relationship, I would adopt the following principles. A parent may validly consent, over the objection of his dependent minor child living in the family home, to a police search of the premises and possessions used or owned by the child on the premises, if reasonable grounds (not necessarily amounting to probable cause) support a belief that the place or thing searched will *409 yield criminal evidence. In this situation I would not elevate a child’s Fourth Amendment or privacy rights above a parent’s right to maintain a lawful, stable home environment free from criminal activity. The minor has no “reasonable expectation of privacy” in these limited circumstances where the police act reasonably in good faith reliance on the parents’ consent.
The evidence here clearly supports the instant search. Scott’s parents had already discovered marijuana in his room. Their own discussions with other parents established the substantial possibility that Scott was trafficking in the substance. On that basis, they initiated contact with the police. After further independent investigation, the authorities became convinced there was probable cause for Scott’s arrest. Detective Schian, one of the arresting officers, testified he told the parents that a search of Scott’s bedroom was the best way to prove or disprove Scott’s involvement. This was reasonable. The parents had a legitimate purpose in seeking to ferret out the existence of any criminal activity conducted in any part of their home. Their responsibility to themselves, and as parents of Scott and of any other children in the family required that they do so. Parents in certain situations have a right to be suspicious, and to act reasonably in accordance with those suspicions. They do not help their children if they do otherwise. A locked container controlled solely by the suspect minor and found in his room would, of course, be one of the most logical places for concealment of contraband or criminal evidence.
Under the foregoing conditions, I would not recognize a child’s right of “sanctuary” vis-á-vis the responsible parent. I therefore conclude that the search was proper, and that the judgment should be affirmed.