[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/www.brodenmickelsen.com\/blog\/can-police-search-school-lockers\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/www.brodenmickelsen.com\/blog\/can-police-search-school-lockers\/","headline":"Can Police Search School Lockers?","name":"Can Police Search School Lockers?","description":"Sometimes the interests of public safety outweigh any single person\u2019s privacy rights. According to an April 2017 report, police in Georgia conducted a drug dog sweep of a high school, then followed it up with pat down searches of 900 students. Some students said the searchers were \u201caggressive.\u201d School officials stated that they did not...","datePublished":"2017-05-26","dateModified":"2022-11-29","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.brodenmickelsen.com\/blog\/author\/broden-mickelsen\/#Person","name":"Mick Mickelsen","url":"https:\/\/www.brodenmickelsen.com\/blog\/author\/broden-mickelsen\/","identifier":16,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/30690d9f76c45bf5d61434169e78762d673b1ac9b949489cf69f1c78d567fc27?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/30690d9f76c45bf5d61434169e78762d673b1ac9b949489cf69f1c78d567fc27?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Broden, Mickelsen LLP","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.brodenmickelsen.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Broden-and-Mickelsen-Logo.png","url":"https:\/\/www.brodenmickelsen.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Broden-and-Mickelsen-Logo.png","width":378,"height":77}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.brodenmickelsen.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Can-Police-Search-School-Lockers-1.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.brodenmickelsen.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Can-Police-Search-School-Lockers-1.jpg","height":2560,"width":2560},"url":"https:\/\/www.brodenmickelsen.com\/blog\/can-police-search-school-lockers\/","about":["Criminal Defense"],"wordCount":549,"keywords":["Can Police Search School Lockers","Dallas criminal defense lawyer","Police School Searches","Police Searches in Schools","Privacy Rights"],"articleBody":"Sometimes the interests of public safety outweigh any single person\u2019s privacy rights.According to an April 2017 report, police in Georgia conducted a drug dog sweep of a high school, then followed it up with pat down searches of 900 students. Some students said the searchers were \u201caggressive.\u201d School officials stated that they did not authorize the searches.The report states that many parents and school administrators are angry about the personal searches of students. It\u2019s also worth noting that none of the searches turned up any drugs.The story raises a good question: Can police enter a school and search whatever they want \u2014 including students?Police Searches in SchoolsThe default rule under the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is that police need a warrant to conduct a search anywhere people have a \u201creasonable expectation of privacy.\u201d As you might expect, there is an entire canon of case law devoted to defining where citizens can expect to enjoy privacy.In many cases, the U.S. Supreme Court has carved out exceptions to the Fourth Amendment. For example, sometimes the interests of public safety outweigh any single person\u2019s privacy rights.This is precisely why the Court has ruled that students don\u2019t have a right to expect privacy in school. In New Jersey v. T.L.O. (1985), the Court ruled that a school\u2019s interest in maintaining order and discipline outweighed a student\u2019s legitimate expectation of privacy.In the T.L.O. case, a teacher caught a 14-year-old girl and her friend smoking in a bathroom. When the teacher took the students to the principal\u2019s office, they denied smoking. The principal then searched one student\u2019s purse and discovered cigarettes, marijuana, and other drug paraphernalia. The Court ruled that the search was reasonable. The teacher had a reasonable basis to suspect that the student had cigarettes in her purse \u2014 a violation of school rules. Thus, the search was permissible.Police School Searches Must Be ReasonableHowever, police searches \u2014 or searches conducted by school administrators \u2014 must be backed up by \u201creasonable grounds.\u201d In other words, school staff or police officers can\u2019t just randomly show up at a school and demand access to students\u2019 lockers just because they feel like it. They need a reasonable suspicion that the search will turn up evidence of a crime.The U.S. Supreme Court has also held that police searches of schools can\u2019t be excessively intrusive.It remains to be seen if the sheriff\u2019s department that conducted the search in Georgia will experience any negative consequences resulting from its decisions to conduct a warrantless search of 900 high school students. Because the search involved pat down searches of every student, it\u2019s likely the department could be named in a lawsuit. At the very least, it has undermined the public\u2019s trust in its law enforcement, as well as caused hundreds of young people to possibly fear the police instead of viewing them as a source of help and support in the community.Sources:https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/the-watch\/wp\/2017\/04\/27\/report-georgia-deputies-conduct-warrantless-search-of-high-school-pat-down-900-students\/?utm_term=.725e95acf152https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/wex\/expectation_of_privacyhttps:\/\/www.oyez.org\/cases\/1983\/83-712Dallas Criminal Defense LawyerBroden & Mickelsen, LLP2600 State St Dallas, Texas 75204Main Phone: (214) 720-9552"},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Blog","item":"https:\/\/www.brodenmickelsen.com\/blog\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Can Police Search School Lockers?","item":"https:\/\/www.brodenmickelsen.com\/blog\/can-police-search-school-lockers\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]