Police Come Knocking: What to Do

By Christopher A. LaVoy, Esq.
Tiffany & Bosco, P.C.

At almost every AMSA educational seminar that I have attended someone has a question about how to deal with a request for information or access to a unit from the police. It is a recurring situation that your facility should have a policy in place to deal with. Here are my thoughts about how to deal with such requests.

The first situation that often arises is an inquiry from the police about whether someone rents a unit at the facility. Operators often think of the identity of their customers as confidential and are reluctant to provide such information to the police. The truth is that, unless you have specifically promised your customers confidentially, nothing prevents you from disclosing such information. While I would not recommend giving out this information to just anyone who walks in the door asking for it, there is no problem giving it to the police assuming you have not made a specific promise of confidentiality to the customer.

The second situation that often arises is the police showing up asking for access to a unit as part of an investigation.   My advice is that you only provide such access if the police have a warrant authorizing them to search the unit.   If you allow the search without a warrant, then you are effectively granting a third-party unauthorized access to the unit which would probably constitute a breach of the lease by the operator under most mini-storage leases. Explain to the police that as much as you would like to help them, this is not something you are allowed to do and politely ask them to come back with a warrant.

A variant of this situation is where the police request to search the common areas of the facility without entering a particular unit, such as with a drug sniffing dog, without a warrant. Your customers have no privacy interest in the common areas of the facility, although you do as the operator. Thus, whether you allow the police to search the common areas is up to you. You need not deny the request out of concern for your customers. If you are comfortable with a search of the common areas, then allow the police to make the search. If you are not, then politely ask the police to come back with a warrant. I know of at least one operator who welcomes a warrantless common area search by a drug sniffing dog in the hope of identifying any drug storage or lab at the facility by a customer.

The third situation is where the police demand to search a unit or the common areas immediately without a warrant, usually claiming some type of exigent circumstance. If the police refuse your request for a warrant and demand access for a search, then you should comply with the request. So long as you object to the warrantless search before it is undertaken, you will preserve your rights and avoid any liability to a customer for the search because the access was granted under duress.

With this advice in mind, remember to always be polite and cooperative with the police to the extent possible. A good relationship with the police will always benefit you in the long run.

[This article deals with a law related subject at a general level and is not intended for you to rely on. You should consult a lawyer before making a final decision in a situation involving any legal issues.]

Christopher A. LaVoy is partner in the law firm, Tiffany & Bosco, P.C., and serves as AZSA’s legal counsel. He can be reached at 602-255-6000.

Source: Behind Closed Doors, AZSA Newsletter Archives