Most people know that police cannot just enter and search their homes for no reason – but what about hotels? The guest does not own the room where they are staying, but most people assume that they have a right to privacy if they paid for an individual room. But where is the line? Can the police just not enter the room or are they not even allowed to know who is staying there? The Minnesota Supreme Court recently made a decision regarding these issues, here is what they had to say:
What is reasonable?
One of the rights guaranteed in the United States and Minnesota Constitutions is the right to be safe from unreasonable searches and seizures. What is reasonable and what is unreasonable comes down to deciding where people have an expectation of privacy and what would make a search reasonable under the circumstances. The Minnesota Supreme Court recently decided in Minnesota v. Leonard that guests at hotels have a reasonable expectation of privacy regarding the information they provide the hotel, which is logged in a system called a guest registry. This expectation of privacy was granted because there are many legitimate and legal reasons people may desire anonymity in hotels. This means that guest information cannot be requested by law enforcement unless they have reason to believe that there is criminal activity.
What does this ruling change?
Before this decision, officers were able to go to hotels and simply ask for information in the guest registry. In this case, the officers asked who had paid in cash and, when they recognized a name on the list as someone who had been involved with a crime before, they went to the guest’s room. When the officers spoke to the guest, he allowed them to search the room and they found evidence of criminal activity. Because the officers never should have known the guest was there as they did not have reasonable suspicion to search the guest registry – simply being in a hotel does not create reasonable suspicion – the evidence was later thrown out. This ruling means that random searches of guest registries, like the one just described, are no longer allowed. Officers must have reasonable suspicion of criminal activity before being able to search the guest registry.
While this ruling protects against random searches of guest registries, police can still search the registries if they have a suspicion of criminal activity. For example, if a hotel operator contacted law enforcement with observations of suspicious behavior, that could give the officers reason to examine the information in the guest registry.
If you find yourself on the wrong end of a search, don’t hesitate to reach out to a criminal defense attorney. For more FAQs relating to searches and when they are reasonable, please see more here and here.