News

Ferry Flare-Up

Move to Reinstitute Ferry Searches May Violate State Constitution

The U.S. Coast Guard is pushing new rules that have state ferry officials moving toward reintroducing random searches of passengers as a means of enhancing transportation security. The Washington State Transportation Commission will be privately briefed on Washington State Ferries' security plans on Thursday, November 13. There's just one problem: The state attorney general's office produced a legal analysis last year that seems to indicate that such searches may run afoul of the Washington State Constitution.

In the attorney general's analysis, produced as an internal office memorandum in May, 2002, Assistant Attorney General Kasey Myhra questioned the legality of such searches. She wrote that the state constitution provides citizens greater privacy protections than the U.S. Constitution, and pointed out that state courts have struck down warrantless searches such as roadblock sobriety checkpoints and school officials' attempts to search the luggage of students traveling on school-sponsored trips.

Myhra did find that such searches might be legal under a "special needs exception" to probable cause and warrant requirements if the state could demonstrate specific threats to public safety.

In light of the state's constitutional protections, State Transportation Secretary Doug MacDonald says state agencies find themselves in a difficult position, but are taking "the position that the federal deal trumps" state protections. He admits, however, that the searches could be "more invasive than people are expecting" and fares will likely have to be raised to pay for the new measures.

The Washington State chapter of the ACLU is threatening a lawsuit. "If the Coast Guard wants to come on the ferry docks and search, that's vastly different from telling the state to do it," ACLU spokesperson Doug Honig says. "We don't think the feds can require state workers to violate the state constitution."

sandeep@thestranger.com