Criminal Procedure

Inventory Search

Routine inventories subject to standard police procedure are reasonable under the Fourth Amendment.

Inventory searches are permitted for the purposes of:

• Protecting the confiscated property
• Protecting the police from liability
• Protecting the police from dangerous items

Inventory searches must be conducted for these purposes to be valid under the Fourth Amendment. They cannot just be to look for evidence of a crime.

Inventory searches do not need probable cause.