Inventory search

An inventory search is a search of a car that is about to be impounded.

Impoundment is authorized by statute under Vehicle Code section 22651, subdivision (h).

However, because the impoundment is authorized by statute, it does not necessarily follow that the impoundment was constitutional under the Fourth Amendment. "While the statute authorizes law enforcement officers to 'remove' a vehicle when they make a custodial arrest of a person "driving or in control of the vehicle, this statutory authorization does not, in and of itself, determine the constitutional reasonableness of the seizure." (People v. Williams (2006) 145 Cal.App.4th 756, 762.)

Impounding a car is a seizure. The 4th Amendment allows the seizure for the limited purpose of "community caretaking" by removing cars that may "jeopardize . . . public safety and the efficient movement of vehicular trafic." South Dakota v. Opperman (1976) 428 U.S. 364, 368-369.

Otherwise, the police can just "park and lock it."

An inventory search for an impoundment should not have the primary purpose of criminal investigation. (People v. Torres (2010) 188 Cal.App.4th 775; People v. Williams (1999) 20 Cal.App.4th 19.) The subjective intent of the officer does matter.

Colorado v. Bertine