Administrative search
An administrative search is not subject to the 4th Amendment requirement of probable cause under the United States Constitution.
Searches at border crossings, customs searches, and searches of travelers at airports are examples of administrative searches.
The border search case United States v. Arnold (2008) involved the search of the contents on a laptop computer. The defendant was charged with child pornography for images of subjects under the age of 18. This case was decided by the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. The US Supreme Court declined to hear this case regarding laptop searches.
Special needs doctrine[edit | edit source]
The special needs doctrine provides an exception to the 4th Amendment warrant requirement for reasonable governmental actions that go "beyond routine law enforcement."
VIPeR[edit | edit source]
Visible Intermodal Protection and Response (VIPeR) is the name created by the US Department of Homeland Security for airport-style searches for weapons and contraband at bus stations, ferry terminals, and rail stations. X-rays and sniffing dogs are two of the tools used in VIPeR.
