NJ: School search of car on parking lot needs RS under T.L.O.

A school administrator satisfies T.L.O. as to a car on the school parking lot by having reasonable suspicion. State v. Best, 201 N.J. 100, 987 A.2d 605 (2010):

A school administrator need only satisfy the lesser reasonable grounds standard rather than the probable cause standard to search a student’s vehicle parked on school property.

1. In similar language, the United States and the New Jersey Constitutions protect citizens against unreasonable searches and seizures and require the State to obtain a warrant prior to a search or seizure. Consistent with that standard, a warrantless search is presumed invalid unless it falls “within a recognized exception to the warrant requirement.” T.L.O. makes it clear that the protections of the United States and the New Jersey Constitutions apply to minors and students and that among the constitutional protections afforded students is the right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures by state officers. Moreover, constitutional protections must be afforded by “the State itself and all of its creatures–Boards of Education not excepted.” In T.L.O. the Court concluded that the school official’s search was unreasonable because he lacked reasonable grounds to believe that the student was concealing evidence of illegal activity in her purse. The United States Supreme Court agreed with this Court’s expression that a reasonableness standard was the appropriate legal standard, but rejected the application of that standard to the facts. (Pp. 8-15)

2. Although this Court has not previously decided whether the reasonable grounds standard or the probable cause standard should apply to a school administrator’s search of a student’s vehicle on school property, other jurisdictions have. Those jurisdictions have consistently applied a reasonableness standard to the search of student vehicles on school property. In the present case, the Court finds no justification to reach a different conclusion. The need for school officials to maintain safety, order, and discipline is necessary whether school officials are addressing concerns inside the school building or outside on the school parking lot. It is the school environment and the need for safety, order, and discipline that is the underpinning for the school official–who has reasonable grounds to believe that a student possesses contraband–to conduct a reasonable search for such evidence. (Pp. 16-19)

3. Under the circumstances of this case, it was reasonable for the vice principal to believe that defendant may have additional contraband in all areas accessible to him on school property, including his locker and his car. Consequently, the vice principal’s search of defendant’s car was reasonably related in scope to the various locations on school property that defendant might have placed the contraband–on his person, his locker, and his car. (Pp. 19-21)