You asked the circumstances in which the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) can enter private property without obtaining a search warrant.

SUMMARY

By law, DEP has broad authority, within constitutional limits, to enter most private property at a reasonable time without a search warrant to conduct inspections or investigate possible violations of environmental laws, regulations, orders, or permits. But this authority does not extend to private homes. DEP also may apply for a search warrant to enter property when determining compliance with environmental laws, regulations, orders, or permits. Specific environmental laws also allow DEP to enter private property for particular purposes.

Conservation officers, special conservation officers, and patrolmen may search private property if they have probable cause to suspect violations or possible violations of state and federal fish and game laws and regulations. They may stop and board vessels in state waters for several purposes, including searching the vessel if they have probable cause to believe a law, rule, or regulation relating to boating or water pollution is being violated.

DEP states that employees of its air, water, and waste units usually, but not always, announce their inspections. According to Nicole Lugli, director of DEP's Office of Enforcement Policy and Coordination, they first ask permission to enter the premises, and work with the attorney general to apply for a warrant if they are refused entry. Lugli estimates that these units obtain a warrant for less than 5% of their inspections. DEP Col. Eric Nelson says the department's conservation officers similarly ask permission to enter private property, and apply for a search warrant if they are denied entry and have probable cause.

DEP AUTHORITY TO ENTER PRIVATE PROPERTY

Air, Water and Waste Programs

By law, the DEP commissioner may enter most private property, but not private homes, without a search warrant to inspect the premises or investigate possible environmental violations. She must do so within constitutional limits and at reasonable times. The owner, manager, or occupant of the property must allow such entry. The commissioner also may apply for a search warrant to determine compliance with environmental laws, regulations, orders, and permits (CGS § 22a-6 (a) (5)).

The law also authorizes the commissioner or her designees to enter private property for specific purposes, such as preserving tidal wetlands (CGS § 22a-30); monitoring air pollution sources (CGS § 22a-177); regulating state water resources (CGS § 22a-336); and ensuring dam safety (CGS § 22a-401). Some of these laws include certain restrictions. Most require that entry take place at a reasonable time.

Natural Resources

The commissioner has the power to appoint conservation officers, special conservation officers, and patrolmen to enforce fish and game and other environmental laws (CGS § 26-5). The law specifically authorizes these conservation officers and patrolmen to examine, without a warrant, the contents of any boat, ship, motor vehicle, box, locker, basket, creel, crate, game bag, game coat, or other package (1) if they have probable cause to believe any fish, crustacean, bird, or four-legged animal is being kept in violation of any state fish and game law or regulation or any federal regulation concerning the taking of migratory game birds; and (2) to determine if any law or regulation protecting such creatures is being violated. They also have the same authority as police officers to obtain and execute search warrants (CGS § 26-6(c)). Conservation officers and special conservation officers may stop and board a vessel in state waters for several reasons, including safety checks and to search the vessel if the officer has probable cause to believe a law, rule or regulation relating to boating or water pollution is being violated (CGS § 15-154(b)).

A federal court ruled in 2002 on Connecticut conservation officers' ability to enter private property (Hart v. Myers, 183 F. Supp. 2^nd 512). In that case conservation officers charged several deer hunters in East Haddam with violating hunting laws. The hunters sued, claiming the officers violated their Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches when they conducted a warrantless search of the area around a private hunting structure, located next to Devil's Hopyard State Park. U. S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill ruled that the officers were not liable because they could legitimately have believed the search occurred in an open area unprotected by the Fourth Amendment.

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