Explain an officer's rights at the time of a custodial arrest: (1) to search the person who was arrested; and (2) to search the vehicle the person was in at the time of arrest

What will be an ideal response?


If the officer makes a custodial arrest, he/she has the right to do a thorough search of the person and the area under the arrestee's immediate control. The search must be done contemporaneous to the arrest. This right to search is attached to the custodial arrest, and unlike the Terry pat-down, does not require any type of suspicion: the officer does not need to suspect that the person has weapons, contraband or items of evidentiary value concealed on his/her person. Also unlike the Terry search, this search is as thorough as can be done in a public place. Additionally it extends as far as the person can reach and includes the right to open closed drawers, cupboards, etc.
If the person was in, or very close to, a vehicle at the time of arrest officers may also have the right to search the passenger compartment of the vehicle. One of two criteria must be met to have the authority to do this search: the person who is being arrested must be able to access the passenger compartment at the time of the search; or the officers must have reason to believe that evidence of the crime for which the arrest was just made is in the vehicle.

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