Search & Seizure Commentary

Because it is the act of impounding a vehicle that gives rise to the need for and justification of the inventory search, the threshold inquiry when determining the reasonableness of the search is whether impoundment was proper at its inception. Many courts have sidestepped the constitutional question of reasonableness and merely asked if the vehicle is subject to impoundment under local law or police department policy. Sometimes the inventory search was only an excuse to search for criminal evidence.