The U.S. Supreme Court has just sent down a decision that strongly restricts the ability of police officers to search a vehicle incident to arrest.

As we all know we have previously been allowed to search a vehice carte blanche if any person in the vehicle was being arrested. This ability came from previous supreme court decisions that have now been overturned in part.

The recent decision in question involves a Rodney Gant who has a firmiliar story. Mr. Gant was arrested for driving on a suspended license and after being handcuffed and placed in the back of an Arizona officer's patrol car his vehicle was searched and a jacket containing a handgun and cocaine were found. Gant's attorneys argued successfully that since Gant posed no threat to the officers at that time and they articulated no reason to believe there was evidence of Gant's current crime in the vehicle the officers had no reason to search.

So, what does this mean for us? Well, this line from the latest MSP legal update pretty much sums it up:

"Police may search a vehicle incident to a recent occupant's arrest only if the arrestee is within reaching distance of the passenger compartment at the time of the search or it is reasonable to believe the vehicle contains evidence of the offense of arrest. When these justifications are absent, a search of an arrestee's vehicle will be unreasonable unless police obtain a warrant or show that another exception to the warrant requirement applies."  

• Read the ruling for yourself
• An analysis of the ruling from PoliceOne.com
• MSP Legal Update #77 - Directions on the ruling from MSP