Minn. High Court Allows Boat Searches

By ASHLEY H. GRANT
..c The Associated Press

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled Thursday that game
wardens can search boats without the consent of the owner or probable cause to
suspect illegal activity.

The court put the protection of natural resources ahead of fishermen's
expectations of privacy.

Fishing boats should not have the same Fourth Amendment protections against
searches as homes or even cars because ``fishing is a largely recreational
privilege that anglers choose to engage in with knowledge of the regulations
governing their conduct,'' Justice James Gilbert said.

The case involved John Colosimo, a lawyer from Virginia, Minn., who would not
let a game warden inspect his boat in northern Minnesota. Colosimo's
misdemeanor conviction for refusing an inspection, overturned by an appeals
court, was reinstated by the Supreme Court.

Colosimo, who faces up to 90 days in jail, did not immediately return a call
for comment.

Col. Mike Hamm, enforcement chief for the Department of Natural Resources, said
the decision was ``a great thing.''

Colosimo had argued that allowing officers to inspect boats without some
evidence of wrongdoing violates the constitutional protection against
unreasonable searches and seizures.

But state officials argued that with 2.1 million fishermen and about 200
conservation officers in Minnesota, the only way to protect natural resources
was searching with or without consent.

Only one of the six jurists who voted, Justice Alan Page, disagreed with the
entire decision, though another justice dissented in part.

Page warned that the ruling ``ensures that every such search will be
reasonable, even when based on a conservation officer's whim.''



09/25/03 18:01 EDT


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