Pointing to longstanding U.S. Supreme Court precedent that people are not entitled to the government’s protection from non-government actors, a federal judge dismissed a man’s claim that Lafayette police officers violated his constitutional rights by failing to adequately investigate the theft of his backpack.

Ame Raphael Gilles Senawo alleged that when someone stole his backpack from a Goodwill store in Lafayette in November 2019, the police officer who took the report “vanished entirely” from the investigation by failing to return Senawo’s calls or look into surveillance footage. A detective reportedly became involved with the case, but after filing “some paperwork” and taking suspect information, Senawo allegedly never saw the detective again.

Last month, U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael E. Hegarty dismissed Senawo’s claims on the grounds that there is no constitutional right to compel law enforcement to conduct an adequate criminal investigation.

“While he may have wanted them to do more and understandably hoped for a beneficial outcome, the law does not recognize that particular shortcoming as a violation of his constitutional rights,” Hegarty wrote in an Oct. 18 order.

The legal principle stems from a 1989 decision of the Supreme Court, involving a Wisconsin county’s alleged failure to protect a boy from child abuse. Randy DeShaney beat his 4-year-old son, Joshua, into a coma, despite county caseworkers being aware of the physical abuse for years.

Joshua and his mother sued the county’s department of social services, arguing it deprived Joshua of his liberty by failing to intervene to protect him from his father, in violation of the due process clause of the 14th Amendment.

By 6-3, the Supreme Court disagreed.

“(N)othing in the language of the Due Process Clause itself requires the State to protect the life, liberty, and property of its citizens against invasion by private actors,” wrote Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist. Subsequent court decisions have clarified such a duty only exists when the government has a custodial relationship with a person or creates the danger itself.

The city of Lafayette relied on the DeShaney case to argue Senawo’s due process rights did not guarantee a satisfactory police investigation into the theft of his property, and the clause only applies to injuries caused by government actors. Hegarty agreed the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the 14th Amendment said as much.

“None of the Defendants stole Plaintiff’s backpack. Nor did the Fourteenth Amendment impute on Defendants an obligation to protect Plaintiff’s property from interference by a private actor thief,” Hegarty wrote. “A federal court may not compel local authorities to conduct a particular criminal investigation at a private citizen’s request.”

The case is Senawo v. MacArthur et al.