Can police officers conduct a warrantless search of a vehicle even after it has been impounded and is in police custody?

MultiRegion, United States of America

The following excerpt is from USA v. Garcia, 205 F.3d 1182 (9th Cir. 2000):

In Chambers v. Maroney, 399 U.S. 42 (1970), we held that when police officers have probable cause to believe there is contraband inside an automobile that has been stopped on the road, the officers may

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conduct a warrantless search of the vehicle, even after it has been impounded and is in police custody. We firmly reiterated this holding in Texas v. White , 423 U.S. 67 (1975). See also United States v. Ross , 456 U.S. 798, 807 n.9 (1982). It is thus clear that the jus tification to conduct such a warrantless search does not vanish once the car has been immobilized; nor does it depend upon a reviewing court's assessment of the likelihood in each particular case that the car would have been driven away, or that its contents would have been tampered with, during the period required for the police to obtain a warrant.

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