The “Automobile Exception” - An Expanded History of Transportation

"From the Classroom"  - Ray Hill, Professor Emeritus, Santa Rosa Junior College

Ray Hill is a retired Police Lieutenant and Professor Emeritus at Santa Rosa Junior College. He has taught in the POST Basic Academy and Advanced Officer Training for 45 years.

The “Automobile Exception” - An Expanded History of Transportation

   My first car was a 1957 Chevy, V8, 4-barrel, stick shift. Wish I had the foresight back then to have stored it and saved it for today! I never thought back then when a police officer or deputy could search my car. But searching cars has a century of case law roots.

   In 1921, George Carroll was driving his Oldsmobile Roadster on a highway outside of Grand Rapids, Michigan. He was stopped by Federal Prohibition Agents based upon surveillance and information that Carroll was involved in “illegal bootlegging” A warrantless search of his vehicle was conducted. Behind the upholstery of the seats (the filling had been removed to facilitate concealment) were “68 quarts of bonded whiskey and gin” in violation of federal law.

   Carroll’s argument in support of suppressing this ....