FL3: There is a lower expectation of privacy in a boat than in a car; stop for license, registration, and safety inspection was reasonable

“The [Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission officers] had authority to stop the boat to inspect licenses, registration, and safety equipment. State v. Casal, 410 So. 2d 152, 155 (Fla. 1982) (‘In sum we find that the state’s interest in random stopping and brief detention of motorboats for the limited purpose of checking fishing permits, registration certificates and safety equipment outweighs a person’s interest in being completely free from such limited intrusion. In light of the absence of less restrictive alternatives which would accomplish the state’s goals, spot checks of motorboats are not unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment.’); State v. Starkey, 605 So. 2d 963, 965 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992) (‘A person’s expectation of privacy in a motorboat is less than the same expectation of privacy in an automobile.’); … During this encounter, another occupant of the boat voluntarily opened the boat’s cooler without a request by the FWC officer and the illegal catch was in plain view.” State v. Vinokurov, 2024 Fla. App. LEXIS 8595 (Fla. 3d DCA Nov. 6, 2024), on rehearing from 2024 Fla. App. LEXIS 6714 (Fla. 3d DCA Aug. 28, 2024).

Defense counsel wasn’t ineffective for not arguing that the officer was outside his jurisdiction at the time of the stop because that’s not even a Fourth Amendment issue. United States v. Lopez, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 202038 (N.D. Ind. Nov. 6, 2024).*

This entry was posted in Reasonable expectation of privacy, Reasonableness. Bookmark the permalink.

Comments are closed.