Legal Question in Constitutional Law in West Virginia
security entering a room for drugs
My question is this: I work for Private Security at a ski resort. Since the area is so rural, we dont have much police backup. Consequently we carry our own hand cuffs, guns, etc etc. Anyway, we often do drug busts in the hotels at the resort. We usually do this by walking the halls of the hotels and if we smell marijuana burning, we try and locate which room its coming from. We will knock and announce '' Public Safety, open the door'' Sometimes they come to the door, sometimes they dont, and sometimes knowone is there. If we can tell they are there, or if they open the door, we always go in. We ask them to give us the marijuana and often threaten them that we will call the police if they dont give it up. Most of the time they dont even get a ticket, but when we are fortunate enough to have police available to us we take them along for that whole process and he stands outside the door while we go in. Once we find the marijuana we then give him permission to come in. If they dont give it up but we can still smell it, we still let him in and let the drug dog find it. Then they get a ticket. My question is this legal? Are we as security allowed to enter that room? Can we then let the police in once we get probable cause?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: security entering a room for drugs
Do the resorts your company patrols pay for the service? Do their guests sign documents acknowledging your right to enter their rooms? Unless the answer to both of these questions is yes, you have no more right to force your way into a guest room than does anyone else, and are committing a crime each time you do so.
You are also putting youselves in considerable danger, since the resort guests are allowed to resist an illegal entry into their rooms with physical force. The amount of force they are allowed to use will vary with the circumstances, but since you say you carry guns there is a very good chance the law would allow guests to use deadly force to resist you.
The effect of your tactics on the admissiblity of any evidence you obtain will depend upon the specific facts of each case. But you have to remember that you are not the police, and pretending that you are will not give you legal rights or protections you otherwise would not have.
I suggest you leave police work to the police and confine yourself to being a security guard instead.
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