OFFICERS CAN SQUEEZE LUGGAGE TO DETECT DRUG SMELLS

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Police across California can now randomly squeeze
airport luggage to expel air that can be sniffed for signs of drugs.

The state Supreme Court on Wednesday left intact an appellate ruling
allowing the police tactic. Only Justice Stanley Mosk voted to review the
appeal of a man convicted of transporting 38 pounds of marijuana that was
found in his bags at the San Diego airport.

The lower-court ruling now becomes binding on trial courts statewide.

According to the 4th District Court of Appeal, officers of the San Diego
Airport Narcotics Task Force were watching passengers arriving for a
September 1995 flight that had been occasionally used to transport drugs.
David Santana, a departing passenger, checked two bags, which officers
followed to the baggage room.

They squeezed the luggage and detected the smell of fabric softener, which
can be used to hide the odor of drugs, the court said.

A drug-sniffing dog was called, scanned all the bags on several carts and
"alerted" on Santana's luggage. Officers then got a search warrant, opened
the bags and found 38 pounds of marijuana. Santana pleaded guilty after a
Superior Court judge upheld the search.

The appeals court ruling, issued in April, was the first by a California
court on whether squeezing airline luggage in order to expel the air is a
search that requires a warrant based on other evidence of contraband.

Other courts have reached varying conclusions. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals, which oversees federal courts in California and other Western
states, ruled in 1965 that squeezing a bag was a search, a "prying into
hidden places for that which was concealed."

That ruling does not control cases in state courts. The San Diego-based
appellate panel said it agreed with more recent rulings that concluded
travelers have come to accept greater intrusions in the name of security.

"The accepted need for heightened security has lessened air travelers'
reasonable expectation of privacy in both checked and carry-on baggage,"
said Justice Patricia Benke in the 3-0 ruling.

Besides, she said, checked baggage "is unavoidably subject to manipulation,
handling and compression," and the air inside and its attendant smells can
be expected to escape.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski