Fourth Amendment Issues

From the Seattle Times, Friday 31 March, 2006

Lawsuit threat ends use of dogs for random school searches

By The Associated Press

NINE MILE FALLS, Wash. – The threat of a lawsuit has ended the use of dogs for random drug searches in the middle and high schools of this town northwest of Spokane, officials said.

Dogs from Interquest Detection Canines were wrong about 85 percent of the time they indicated something was amiss at the start of the program in January 2004, but the main issue was the students' constitutional rights, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington and the Center for Justice, which announced the change Thursday.

From the Kansas City Star, Sunday 26 March 2006:

Mobile print policy clarified
By BENITA Y. WILLIAMS
The Kansas City Star

Simple traffic stops will not be enough for police officers to demand on-the-spot fingerprint scans when portable devices are tested in the coming months, Kansas officials say.

“If you’re pulled over for speeding, the law doesn’t allow me to take your fingerprint,” said Attorney General Phill Kline. “If you’re wanted or a fugitive, then I can arrest you because there’s a bench warrant. Then we take fingerprints to ensure identification, that you are the person who is wanted.”

He said the same rules would apply to the mobile scanners.

Kline and other state officials clarified how the devices would be used after concerns arose last week that police would use them anytime they stop someone for a traffic violation. The devices were unveiled Tuesday. Kansas law allows police to take fingerprints from people arrested under a list of circumstances,

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