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http://www.kstp.com/article/view/122514/
Conservation officers can once again search boats without permission
Updated: 09-26-2003 12:07:15 AM
(St. Paul-AP) -- The D-N-R is hailing a Minnesota Supreme Court decision that gives conservation officers the authority to search boats without the owner's consent.
The high court today reversed a state Appeals Court decision and said conservation officers may search boats, with or without the owner's consent.
The ruling means the original penalty of 137 dollars will be reinstated,
Conservation officers argued they need that authority to protect natural resources.
Colonel Mike Hamm is D-N-R enforcement chief. He says in the year the Appeals Court ruling had been in effect, anglers had started to regularly refuse access to conservation officers -- especially on waters with experimental regulations.
The case involved a Virginia (Minnesota) lawyer who wouldn't let a game warden inspect his boat on a portage between two lakes in northern Minnesota.
He argued that allowing officers to act without evidence of wrongdoing would infringe on the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable search and seizure.
Conservation officers can once again search boats without permission
Updated: 09-26-2003 12:07:15 AM
(St. Paul-AP) -- The D-N-R is hailing a Minnesota Supreme Court decision that gives conservation officers the authority to search boats without the owner's consent.
The high court today reversed a state Appeals Court decision and said conservation officers may search boats, with or without the owner's consent.
The ruling means the original penalty of 137 dollars will be reinstated,
Conservation officers argued they need that authority to protect natural resources.
Colonel Mike Hamm is D-N-R enforcement chief. He says in the year the Appeals Court ruling had been in effect, anglers had started to regularly refuse access to conservation officers -- especially on waters with experimental regulations.
The case involved a Virginia (Minnesota) lawyer who wouldn't let a game warden inspect his boat on a portage between two lakes in northern Minnesota.
He argued that allowing officers to act without evidence of wrongdoing would infringe on the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable search and seizure.