Court: Pat-downs need probable cause
It doesn’t matter if it’s a shadowy alley or a public school hallway: Police officers must be reasonably suspicious before they’re able to pat someone down, and they need probable cause if they want to search them.
A split Supreme Judicial Court set those guidelines in stone yesterday in a decision that has lawmen — and two justices — voicing concerns about how police can keep Bay State schools safe.
“It seems like they’re taking the reasonable out of reasonable suspicion,” said Mark Leahy, executive director at the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association. “We certainly do not agree with the decision here.”
Newly retired Justice Geraldine Hines, writing for a 5-to-2 majority, ruled that a Milton cop was not constitutionally allowed to pat down or search Jonathan Villagran, a nonstudent who arrived at Milton High School during the spring of 2015 with a gun in his backpack and marijuana in his sweatshirt. After a pat-down and search, the officer found both the firearm and the drugs.
Hines found that, based on the information available to the officer, she didn’t have reasonable suspicion that Villagran committed a crime, and there were no emergency circumstances that allowed her to search the bag. Because of this, Villagran’s firearms and drug convictions were overturned.
“We do not underestimate the threat of violence in schools and other public places,” Hines wrote. “Recent history bears out the folly of doing so. Nonetheless, our task is to respect the jurisprudence that has developed under the Fourth Amendment.”
But Justices David A. Lowy and Elspeth B. Cypher could not side with the majority. In dissent, the justices found that Villagran didn’t have a reasonable expectation of privacy, and argued that the government “has a vital interest in ensuring the safety of our schools and the children who attend them.”
Brian Kyes, Chelsea police chief and president of the Massachusetts Major City Chiefs of Police, agreed.
“The standards should be relaxed to the benefit and safety of the students at the school as a whole,” he said. “I am not saying they should be able to randomly inspect bags, but if they have some indication that there is a weapon, they should be able to pat someone down.”
Mathew Zindrowski, Villagran’s attorney, said the Constitution won the day.
“We should be free of searches that violate our constitutional rights, no matter what,” he said. “It doesn’t matter the location. This decision puts that at the forefront.”