Butler Mayor Ben Smith during a city council meeting in July.

Criminal cases stemming from landlords giving police permission to enter their rental properties if police suspect illegal drugs are present wouldn’t fare well in court, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

Butler City Council is poised to vote at tonight’s meeting on a voluntary program in which landlords would place an addendum or add a clause to their leases saying they have the right to allow police to enter if they have reason to believe drugs are on the property.

A search without the tenant’s permission would violate his or her right against unreasonable searches that is guaranteed in the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, said Molly Tack-Hooper, a staff attorney for the ACLU office in Philadelphia.

Evidence collected in such a search would probably be suppressed in court and the tenant could sue the police who conducted the search for violating his or her Fourth Amendment rights, Tack-Hooper said.

“The fact that the landlord owns the property doesn’t matter. Police should know they can’t search based on landlord permission. This is pretty long-standing, clear law,” she said.

Read what local landlords think about the proposed ordinance in Thursday’s Butler Eagle.