Law Voided on Search for Stolen Vehicles

A California law allowing police to hunt for stolen vehicles without a warrant in automobile- and motorcycle-related businesses violates the Constitution’s 4th Amendment, a federal judge has ruled.

U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson said the law was “a blank check to the police to conduct at their whim criminal investigations upon the premises of every business establishment . . . (that) happens to shelter automobiles on its premises.” His ruling bars the attorney general, who supervises county sheriffs and the California Highway Patrol, from enforcing the law against automobile and motorcycle repair shops.

Wilson’s ruling stems from a 1989 lawsuit filed by Phillip Long, a Lynwood motorcycle repair shop owner who said he was tired of searches of his shop.