3.3.6

• Jurisdiction: Arizona

§ 3.3.6 Luggage Entrusted to Airlines

“[L]uggage consigned to common baggage areas of public carrier, airport or similar facility, involves reduced expectation of privacy as opposed to when it is carried personally.” State v. Weinstein, 190 Ariz. 306, 947 P.2d 880 (App. 1997) (Div. 2), citing State v. Millan, 185 Ariz. 398, 916 P.2d 1114 (App. 1995) (Div. 1), corrected (Dec. 4, 1995), corrected (Jan. 8, 1996) (permissible to detain and squeeze luggage). “Travelers today expect and want luggage X-rayed, sniffed, felt, and handled in a manner that is as non-intrusive as possible but consistent with ensuring that the checked luggage does not contain items that threaten their safety. Brief, non-intrusive detention of checked luggage for such examination no longer invades the traveler’s reasonable expectation of privacy, does not unduly interfere with possessory rights, and is not a seizure under the Fourth Amendment.” State v. Peters, 189 Ariz. 216, 219-20, 941 P.2d 228 (1997). See also
§ 3.3.7, “Seizure and Detention of Item or Property,” § 3.4.2, “Private Mail Carriers, Other Carriers and Airlines,” and § 5.11, “Administrative Searches” “Airport Searches.”

§ 3.3.7 Seizure or Detention of Item or Property

Whether police conduct constitutes a seizure turns on the “extent of the interference with the defendant’s possessory interest in his property.” United States v. England, 971 F.2d 419, 420 (9th Cir. 1992). For a seizure to occur there must be “some meaningful interference” with

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