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Every weekend students gather in dorm rooms to have a good time and often do some drinking. Often, all is well until things get a little rowdy. That’s when the dreaded knock on the door sends a bottle of alcohol flying under the bed and a silence falls over the partygoers.
At this point, the question on everyone’s mind is whether Public Safety needs to be let into the room.
The answer: No.
According to the Fourth Amendment, without a warrant, University of Maine Public Safety cannot demand to be let in a room, force entry or arrest the resident for saying no. Saying come in or yes gives an officer free range to enter the room, but without this verbal consent, an officer has no right to do any more than speak through the door.
At the General Student Senate meeting Tuesday, Feb. 12, Ted Curtis and David Miller, both of legal services, discussed the topic of search and seizure, telling GSS members how it applied to college students. He said that as college students and legal adults, students have the right to be free from forced search and seizure of their property. The person’s body also falls under that provision. Curtis also gave two examples of incidents that occurred at UMaine where illegal searches and seizures were performed.
Miller gave an example that occurred last year. He said that a University of Maine student, Robert Johnson, was essentially forced into being searched because a friend of his had a beer. Miller said that Johnson told officers multiple times that he did not wish to be searched unless he was arrested. He was eventually released. There were more such encounters that evening. The following evening he was again approached by Public Safety officers, according to Miller. Johnson attempted to walk away in order to avoid any further disturbances, but was pushed up against a wall and told he was under arrest for criminal trespassing and disorderly conduct. He was then held overnight in solitary confinement at the Penobscot County Jail.
“Attempts to detain Robert were probably violative of the Fourth Amendment because they appear to have lacked ‘probable cause’ to believe that he had committed a crime,” Miller said. “And it appears that they lacked any alternative justifications.”
The question remains: At what point is it OK for an officer to search a person’s property against their own will?
Lieutenant Alan Stormann of Public Safety explained that probable cause can be anything that would cause a reasonable person to believe that a wrong has been committed. He said this includes smelling marijuana and suspecting someone may be drinking in a room.
“We certainly don’t enjoy doing [forced searches] but sometimes we have to. It’s our job, we do as we’re told,” Stormann said.
Curtis said that, although an officer may obtain a warrant to search a student’s room, person or property, a person has the right to look at the document first. A document that Curtis wrote for the UMaine community reads, “A warrant that does not meet the requirements of the Fourth Amendment could provide an effective defense.”
While an officer with a valid warrant must be permitted to enter and search a room or property, a resident assistant is never allowed to enter a room without permission for any reason. If they think something is wrong, they are only allowed to ask if they can help, and if told no or to go away, the most they can do is to call Public Safety. While these rooms may be the property of the University of Maine, they are private dwellings by private citizens.
Curtis said that while a student is at school, their dorm room is their home, and thus it is private.
