RACINE - A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision could affect the police's ability to search vehicles on the road and lead to more cars being towed, Racine Police Chief Kurt Wahlen said following a Police and Fire Commission meeting Tuesday.

In the Supreme Court decision Arizona v. Gant, the court ruled that law enforcement cannot search a vehicle unless it is reasonable to believe the vehicle contains evidence of the offense the person is being arrested for or if the person being arrested is within reach of the area being searched, according to the April 21 decision.

In the past, Racine police officers normally searched a vehicle if they arrested someone during a traffic stop, Wahlen said.

Now they will have to have a clearer reason. For instance, Racine County District Attorney Michael Nieskes said during a traffic stop a police officer cannot deliberately search for drugs if they arrest someone because there is a warrant for his or her arrest for something unrelated.

The police could search for drugs if they see evidence of drug paraphernalia. Or if a person is being arrested for something such as falsely identifying himself or herself, the police may need to search for identification, he said. In that case if the police found drugs while searching for correct identification they could use that as evidence in court, Nieskes said.

But, he continued, if police searched a vehicle without reasonable cause to believe that they would find something related to the reason the person was originally arrested, then the evidence may have to be thrown out in court.

The police department and other local law enforcement agencies are currently going through training to learn the new law, Nieskes said. Once officers and deputies are properly trained, Nieskes does not believe it will have that big of an effect on law enforcement. Mainly, he said, law enforcement will need to explain in their reports "I looked for this because."

One of Wahlen's concerns about the new law is that without vehicle searches there could be more illegal weapons that the police will not be able to recover.

Many times when officers search vehicles during an arrest they find weapons, said Wahlen. Now under the new court decision they would not be able to search for weapons during traffic stops unless they have probable cause, Wahlen said.

To be able to search the vehicles, Wahlen said that may mean more cars could end up getting towed.

Currently, when the police arrest offenders their vehicles often remain on the side of the road until someone picks them up, Wahlen said. But if the police cannot search them during the traffic stop then they may have to search them as a part of impound procedure, Wahlen said.

As a standard right now the police department searches all vehicles that go to the impound lot, Wahlen said. That does not violate the new court decision as long as it is a standardized procedure, said Wahlen.