POLICE HAVE RIGHT TO HUNT THROUGH TRASH, COURT RULES

EDMONTON - Police are entitled to search through curbside garbage for
clues of criminal behaviour, Alberta's top court says.

The Alberta Court of Appeal ruled this week RCMP did not breach a
suspected drug dealer's privacy when they seized his curbside garbage
for clues that he was producing ecstasy in his Calgary home.

Russell Stephen Patrick was convicted in June 2006 of unlawfully
producing, possessing and trafficking a controlled substance. On six
separate occasions, police seized garbage bags placed inside garbage
cans at the back of Patrick's property in southeast Calgary.

Investigators used items they had found in the garbage, along with
other evidence, to obtain a search warrant for Patrick's house on Dec.
23, 2003.

Patrick has been on bail during the appeal of his four-year
sentence.

In their majority ruling, Justice Keith Ritter and Justice Jack Watson
said Patrick abandoned the items once he placed them in an open
receptacle for pickup and therefore had no right to expect they would
remain secure.

"Anyone living in a major metropolitan area knows once garbage is left
for pickup it may be subject to disturbance by bottle collectors and
others looking for discarded treasures, as well as birds, dogs and
vermin. Anyone placing garbage in an open receptacle enjoys virtually
no control over it," Ritter said.

The expectation of privacy with respect to garbage is less than one
would expect for items left, but not abandoned, in a yard, he said.