Statement on Privacy & Inspection

• Official Scheduled Inspection
• Emergency Entries
• Searches by Law Enforcement Officials
• Roommates
• Department of Public Safety Officers
• College Staff Access to Rooms

The Department of Public Safety is responsible for the coordination of all searches and seizures by public officials on the Mount Holyoke College campus.

Official Scheduled Inspection
Public health, public safety, and fire officials may conduct routine inspections of residence hall rooms and storage areas. These inspections can result in College sanctions for any student who is responsible for violations of College policy.

1. Inspectors must present credentials and request permission from an occupant before inspecting a student room. Routine inspections are scheduled in advance and generally occur during the College business day (Monday-Friday, 8:30 AM-5:00 PM). Inspectors will provide a minimum of twenty-four hours notice. To ensure the health and safety of the community, emergency inspections as a result of specific incidents can occur at any time without notice.
   
   
2. If permission for a scheduled inspection is denied or the occupant refuses to arrange a convenient time for the inspection, the inspector may obtain a court order permitting entry without the occupant's permission.
   
   
3. These inspections are limited to the purposes for which they are authorized and should not involve examining any desk, bureau, trunk, or other presumptively private container. Closets may be searched for illegal heating devices.
   
   
4. If an inspector should see evidence of a crime in plain view, the inspector has the same responsibility and right as any person to report the observation to law enforcement authorities. At Mount Holyoke College, these reports will be forwarded to the Department of Public Safety.

Emergency Entries
The usual rights of privacy and guarantees against trespass may be suspended in the course of disturbances of the peace; domestic violence; serious criminal incidents; fires, floods, or similar disasters; and fire alarms.

1. Fire officials may enter a student's room without permission to search for, or to confirm the presence of, a fire or related dangers.
   
   
2. Any person, including law enforcement officials, may enter a student's room without permission to search for, rescue, evacuate, or treat fire or disaster victims; or otherwise save lives or property from destruction.
   
   
3. In the course of assisting at a fire,disturbance, or disaster, police officers may lawfully seize any evidence of a crime they observe in plain view for purposes of prosecution. Being lawfully on the premises, they do not need to obtain a warrant to authorize the seizure.
   
   
4. Fire officials are responsible for reporting any evidence of a crime they have observed to law enforcement officials. However, a police officer who seeks to enter a student's room solely to investigate such a report is under legal obligation to first obtain consent or a judicial warrant.

Searches by Law Enforcement Officials

1. Nothing in the legal relationship between the College and the student gives the College authority to consent on students' behalf to the search of a student's room, vehicle, or other possessions by law enforcement officials.
   
   
2. The College will advise law enforcement officials that they must obtain the student's permission or a judicial search warrant for permission to search a student's room, vehicle, or other possessions.
   
   (Note: Law enforcement search warrants must be based on probable cause to believe a crime has been committed and that evidence of that crime is in the place to be searched. Law enforcement officials do not have to have reason to believe that the occupants of a particular room, or the possessors of a vehicle or trunk, have committed the crime under investigation.)
   
   
3. Law enforcement officials who have a valid search warrant are required to show it to the occupant of the room if the occupant is present. Law enforcement authorities have the authority to use whatever physical force is necessary to effect the warrant. Questions about the validity of the search warrant should be reserved for the courts.
   
   
4. In exigent circumstances (such as an immediate situation where there is insufficient time to obtain a search warrant and where evidence would be destroyed by the delay), particularly with motor vehicles, law enforcement officers operating on probable cause may not need a search warrant.

Roommates
Students may incur legal liabilities as a result of actions taken by their roommates.

1. Innocent students who tolerate the evidence of a crime (including illegal drugs) in their rooms open themselves to the possibility that all of their private possessions in that room may be searched pursuant to a warrant, even though they are not suspects, and that they may be prosecuted for any stolen goods or prohibited substances found therein.
   
   
2. Roommates may authorize law enforcement officers, official inspectors, or anyone else to enter rooms shared in common and a successful prosecution may follow from the observation 4f evidence of a crime in plain view. However, a roommate may not waive a student's right to the privacy of a desk, bureau, closet, trunk, or other presumptively private container not shared in common. A judicial warrant is required to search closed containers.

Department of Public Safety Officers
Mount Holyoke College Department of Public Safety officers are special police officers of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts under the authority of Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 22C, Section 63, and in that capacity exercise police powers, including the power of arrest on campus.

1. Public safety officers may conduct searches of persons and their immediate surroundings in the course of making an arrest to seize weapons that might endanger the officer. They may also enter a student's room without permission when pursuing a fleeing suspect.
   
   
2. Persons arrested by public safety officers will be searched and their property inventoried as a matter of department policy. Evidence or information about any illegal items obtained from an inventory search subsequent to an arrest may be used against the arrested individual.
   
   
3. College public safety officers may search student rooms, vehicles, or possessions for evidence of a crime with a valid judicial search warrant.
   
   
4. College public safety officers may have to enter a student room without permission in response to an emergency threatening life, health, or property. Should they see evidence of a crime in plain view, they are under a legal duty to seize the evidence and, if appropriate, make an arrest.
   
   
5. Public safety officers have a legal duty to seize any illegal items in plain view when they are located in a space where the officer has a right to be present. Officers have a right, and are expected, to patrol all public and common areas of the College. The procedure for seizing items under the plain view doctrine will be done in accordance with federal and state laws.
   
   
6. The College may take still and video photographs of serious incidents and disasters to preserve a record. The director of public safety or her or his designee will determine the need for such evidence and documentation.
   
   
7. Officers patrol the residence halls as a part of their regular duties, usually limiting their patrols to the main floor and outside doors. However, they have the right to patrol and are responsible for the entire building. Specific incidents and requests may result in increased patrols of the floors of the halls to ensure the safety of the residents. During the course of residence hall parties and at other times, officers may patrol and inspect all public areas.

College Staff Access to Rooms

1. Normally, College custodial, housekeeping, and maintenance personnel will enter a student room only at the request of an occupant to perform a service and will do so only during business hours. In the performance of these duties, College personnel will respect the privacy of desks, bureaus, closets, trunks, and presumptively private containers.
   
   
2. Occasionally, rooms may have to be entered in a student's absence to carry out non requested services or maintenance, or the restoration of heat, water, or electricity. In these circumstances, the College will endeavor to leave behind notice of the entry and its time and purpose.
   
   
3. All student rooms will be regularly inspected during vacations and other scheduled times throughout the year by College custodial, housekeeping, or maintenance personnel for fire, health, or safety hazards; to liberate confined pets; or to ascertain damage to College property. Occupants are advised to plan accordingly.
   
   
4. The College reserves the right to escort insurance inspectors, engineers, and other officials through the residence halls and to conduct surveys of selected buildings or rooms for the purpose of planning renovations. Advance notice of these inspections will be given whenever possible.
   
   
5. The College reserves the right to enter a student's room when necessary for the furtherance of College business, which includes, but is not limited to, inspection for compliance with fire, health, and safety regulations; inspection and inventory of College property; maintenance of security; the furtherance of security investigation; and necessary building maintenance.