When a police officer sees a person working with a camera and driver's license working with their confederate, can the officer seize the items from the place where they were hidden?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Prysock, 127 Cal.App.3d 972, 180 Cal.Rptr. 15 (Cal. App. 1982):

Fields relied on dicta in People v. Superior Court (Reilly) (1975) 53 Cal.App.3d 40, 125 Cal.Rptr. 504, which held "where the suspect, in fear of imminent disclosure or arrest, is observed to secrete an article, which if left in plain sight would have been subject to seizure, there was no constitutionally unreasonable search or seizure in retrieving that article from the place where the suspect was observed to have placed it." (Id., at p. 48, 125 Cal.Rptr. 504.) A police officer, through a motel window, saw defendant's confederate working with a camera and driver's license. After the officers made their presence known, defendant was observed to hide a wallet and what appeared to be a traveler's checks container. The officers entered and arrested the counterfeiters. The court remarked at page 49, 125 Cal.Rptr. 504:

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