This month, we discuss Lynch v. City of New York,1 in which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit considered a Fourth Amendment challenge to the New York City Police Department’s policy to administer breathalyzer examinations to any police officer who discharges a firearm resulting in death or personal injury. In an opinion by Judge Reena Raggi, joined by Circuit Judge Chester J. Straub and Eastern District Judge Brian M. Cogan (sitting by designation), the court held that the police department’s breathalyzer policy is reasonable under the “special needs” doctrine applicable to the Fourth Amendment’s proscription against unreasonable searches and seizures.2 The court found that the primary purpose of the police department’s policy is to determine an officer’s sobriety at the time he discharged his weapon, and that the police department’s interest in its special needs is not compatible with normal warrant requirements. The court also determined that the police department’s interests in this context sufficiently outweighed the privacy interests of tested police officers.
The Lynch decision presents a balance among the privacy rights of police officers, the police department’s interest in ensuring the sobriety and fitness of its force, and the public’s interest in ensuring confidence in police activities attendant to the use of deadly force.
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