Supreme Court of the United States
United States v. Place
June 20, 1983462 U.S. 696
Summary
The Court held that police may briefly detain luggage on reasonable, articulable suspicion that it contains narcotics to pursue a limited investigation, and that exposing luggage in a public place to a trained narcotics-detection dog is not a search. The agents nevertheless violated the Fourth Amendment because they detained Place's luggage for approximately 90 minutes, transported it without adequately informing him, and retained it through the weekend. The resulting seizure was unreasonable, so the cocaine discovered under the warrant was inadmissible and the Court affirmed the Court of Appeals' reversal of Place's conviction.