Romaniuk's
Search Warrants Considered

Search Warrants are not Required
for Searches of Garbage

• There is no subjective privacy right interest in garbage put out for collection. Hence search warrants are not required. Please note that the Court points out that this was a very limited exception to privacy rights {author's emphasis}
  [Patrick, R.S.; {paras 36 and 44}; SCC].
  Note: trespassing over the property line and entering a detached garage to search garbage was a Charter breach, as the accused persons had not yet given up any privacy rights by placing the garbage out for collection
  [Tse, Y.F.A. (Evidence from Search of Garage); {para 23}; BCSC].
  However: where the accused positioned the garbage in a place "customarily located for removal" (here 2-3 feet from the property line), he was deemed to have given up any privacy right in the garbage. The search of garbage was allowed
  [Lewis, Dean E.; {para 52}; NLCA].
  Review no trespassing.
• Police do not need to obtain search warrants to seize materials the accuseds have disposed of in a city dump
  [Larson, K.S.; 1997 CarswellAlta 750, 205 A.R. 344; {para 58}. ABPC].
• Police do not need to obtain search warrants to seize materials the accuseds have disposed of in a dumpster
  [Larson, K.S.; 1997 CarswellAlta 750, 205 A.R. 344; {para 58}; ABPC].
• Authorities can apply for search warrants to obtain items that the accused has thrown away. Here a "mucous sample from [a] trash receptacle in [the] accused's hotel room
  [Love, R.J.; ABCA]."
• There is no privacy right in materials that are thrown into a trash can in a retail store. Notwithstanding that the police had been cautious enough to obtain a search warrant, the Court noted: "I would not give effect to this ground of appeal, since I cannot see how B.D. could have any reasonable expectation of privacy in the documentation she left, discarded, in a store frequented by the general public {para 14}
  [B.D.; OCA]."
• There is no privacy right in materials that are thrown away, even if induced by police trickery. Here it was chewing gum used to obtain D.N.A. evidence
  [Delaa, W.; ABCA, app dism'd, SCC].
  Also review [Nguyen, L.V.; {para 20}; OCA].
• Nor is there any privacy right in cigarette butts collected after the police invited the accused to have a cigarette
  [Fash, D.M.; ABCA {para 69}, appeal dism'd; SCC].
• Further there are no privacy rights in a straw and glass that the police observed the accused use and voluntarily abandon in a restaurant. The police then took and removed the same with the intention of applying for a D.N.A. warrant later. The same applied to a paper tissue that the accused used to blow his nose into at the police station after his arrest
  [Usereau, M.; {paras 28 - 46}; QCA].

End of Garbage Searches Section

Page SR 44a