Cite as: 526 U. S. 559 (1999)
Stevens, J., dissenting
Were we confronted with property that Florida deemed unlawful for private citizens to possess regardless of purpose, and had the State relied on the plain-view doctrine, perhaps a warrantless seizure would have been defensible. See Horton v. California, 496 U. S. 128 (1990); Arizona v. Hicks, 480 U. S. 321, 327 (1987) (citing Payton v. New York, 445 U. S. 573 (1980)). But " '[t]here is nothing even remotely criminal in possessing an automobile,' " Austin v. United States, 509 U. S. 602, 621 (1993) (quoting One 1958 Plymouth Sedan v. Pennsylvania, 380 U. S. 693, 699 (1965)); no serious fear for officer safety or loss of evidence can be asserted in this case considering the delay and circumstances of the seizure; and only the automobile exception is at issue, 710 So. 2d, at 952; Brief for Petitioner 6, 28.5
In any event, it seems to me that the State's treatment of certain vehicles as "contraband" based on past use provides an added reason for insisting on an appraisal of the evidence by a neutral magistrate, rather than a justification for expanding the discretionary authority of the police. Unlike a search that is contemporaneous with an officer's probable-cause determination, Horton, 496 U. S., at 130-131, a belated seizure may involve a serious intrusion on the rights of innocent persons with no connection to the earlier offense. Cf. Bennis v. Michigan, 516 U. S. 442 (1996). And a seizure supported only by the officer's conclusion that at some time in the past there was probable cause to believe that the car was then being used illegally is especially intrusive when followed by a routine and predictable inventory search—
5 There is some force to the majority's reliance on United States v. Watson, 423 U. S. 411 (1976), which held that no warrant is required for felony arrests made in public. Ante, at 565-566. With respect to the seizures at issue in Watson, however, I consider the law enforcement and public safety interests far more substantial, and the historical and legal traditions more specific and engrained, than those present on the facts of this case. See 423 U. S., at 415-424; id., at 429 (Powell, J., concurring) ("[L]ogic sometimes must defer to history and experience").
571
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