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Name: In re William V.
Case #: A099390
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 1 DCA
Division: 3
Opinion Date: 09/17/2003
Subsequent History: None
Summary

A city police officer, who was on a two year assignment as a resource officer at a high school, saw William standing alone in a school hallway with a neatly folded red bandana hanging from his back pocket. When the officer made eye contact with him, William became nervous and started pacing. Possession of a bandana was a violation of school rules because colored bandanas commonly indicate gang affiliation, and the manner in which the bandana was folded led the officer to believe something was about to happen. William was also trembling heavily. The officer patted him down, felt something indeterminate in his waistband, lifted William’s shirt, and found a steak knife with a five inch blade in William’s front pocket. The appellate court found the search proper, and saw no reason to distinguish between a non-law enforcement security officer and a police officer on assignment to a school as a school resource officer, for purposes of permitting school searches based on a reasonable suspicion.