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NJ: School search of car on parking lot needs RS under T.L.O.

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

A school administrator satisfies T.L.O. as to a car on the school parking lot by having reasonable suspicion. State v. Best, 2010 N.J. LEXIS 20 (February 3, 2010): A school administrator need only satisfy the lesser reasonable grounds standard rather than the probable cause standard to search a student's vehicle parked on school property. 1. In similar language, the United States and the New Jersey Constitutions protect citizens against unreasonable searches and seizures and require the State to obtain a warrant prior to a search or seizure. Consistent with that standard, a warrantless search is presumed invalid unless it falls "within a recognized exception to the warrant requirement." T.L.O. makes it clear that the protections of the United States and the New Jersey Constitutions apply to minors and students and that among the constitutional protections afforded students is the right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures by state officers...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on February 04, 2010 (boomark / email).