MT: “Less intrusive means” isn’t rejected for inventory searches, but it is something that must be considered case-by-case

“Less intrusive means” isn’t rejected for inventory searches, but it is something that must be considered case-by-case. The inventory of defendant’s purse with her when she was arrested was proper. State v. Demontiney, 2014 MT 66, 374 Mont. 211, 2014 Mont. LEXIS 75 (March 11, 2014):

[*P27] We “must, necessarily, acknowledge the reality of the times in which we live.” Pastos, 269 Mont. at 48, 887 P.2d at 202. The “reality of violence and potential for violence in our society” that we acknowledged over twenty years ago has become more immediate and pronounced in the intervening years. The Pastos Court’s observation that “sadly, no citizen or property is, today, immune from attack by the deranged, the disaffected, the misguided, the terrorist or the zealot,” Pastos, 269 Mont. at 48, 887 P.2d at 202, especially applies to our post-September 11th world. However, safety concerns are not the only reason to uphold Pastos. From a procedural standpoint, we deem a standardized inventory search procedure applied uniformly to each arrestee who arrives at the station preferable to an ad hoc analysis by the officer on duty of every arrestee who comes through the door. An assessment of each person for the possible risk he or she might pose would by necessity be quick and subjective, and quite possibly wrong. Such an approach could also prompt complaints of selective enforcement or even bias. The routine procedure alleviates these issues, provides guidance to the officers assigned to perform the inventory search, and protects against allegations of theft or destruction of property. For all these reasons, we reaffirm our decision in Pastos.