Comprehensive Guide to Police Law and Search and Seizure

Foundations of Law and Legal Procedure

• Definitions of Illegal Acts: The law defines what specific acts are classified as illegal within a jurisdiction.

• Procedural Requirements: The legal system establishes formal procedures for the following stages of the justice process:

  • Arrest
  • Trial
  • Appeals

• The $14^{\text{th}}$ Amendment: This constitutional amendment serves as a critical protection for citizens, stating: ‐‐ “No state shall deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law…”

Search and Seizure Principles

• Reasonable Expectation of Privacy: This is the core standard used to determine if a search has legally occurred. The legal analysis typically follows two questions:

  • Has a governmental search taken place?
  • If a search or seizure occurred, was it reasonable?

• Criteria for Defining a Search or Seizure: For an action to be subject to constitutional search and seizure protections, it must meet specific criteria defined by the courts:

  • The action must have been conducted by a governmental employee or agent.
  • The action must meet the court's definition of a search or seizure, which includes considerations of a reasonable expectation of privacy, plain view, open fields, and abandoned property.

• Definition of Seizure: Seizure refers to the following actions:

  • Taking property into custody.
  • Taking a person into custody, which is commonly referred to as an arrest.

Legal Scenarios and Judicial Considerations

• Aerial Surveillance and Physical Barriers: In a scenario where police are unable to see over a resident's $10\text{-foot}$ high fence, they hire a plane and fly over the house at an altitude of $1000\,\text{feet}$ to observe marijuana plants growing in the backyard. This raises questions regarding the boundary of privacy in one's own curtilage when viewed from public airspace.

• Telephonic Surveillance (Pen Registers): A case involves police installing a device at a phone company office to track every number dialed from a specific individual's home phone.

• Abandoned Property (Trash): In a drug dealing investigation, police arrange for a trash collector to turn over a suspect's trash directly to them instead of depositing it into the trash truck. This tests the legal limits of whether privacy expectations extend to discarded items left for collection.

• Electronic Eavesdropping: The FBI listens to a conversation by attaching an electronic eavesdropping device to the exterior of a public telephone booth used by a suspect at $11\,\text{am}$ every day. This scenario addresses whether privacy exists within a public structure designed for private communication.

• Plain View and the Scope of Search: During a legal entry into an apartment to search for weapons and a shooter following a shooting incident, an officer notices a high-priced stereo that appears out of place in a rundown apartment. The officer picks up the stereo, records the serial number (s.n.), puts it down, and calls headquarters, only then discovering the item was stolen. This scenario explores the limits of the "plain view" doctrine and whether physically moving an object constitutes an additional, unauthorized search.

• Open Fields vs. Private Seclusion: A landowner posts "no trespassing" signs and locks the gates to his property. Police enter a highly secluded area of the land, approximately $1\,\text{mile}$ from the residence, and discover marijuana growing. Under the "open fields" doctrine, these secluded areas may not receive the same protection as the area immediately surrounding a home.

• Physical Inspection of Luggage: Border Patrol agents board a bus in Texas and feel every bag stored in the overhead compartments. Upon feeling a "brick" they suspect is Methamphetamine, they initiate further investigation.

• Thermal Imaging and Technology: In an effort to detect marijuana growing operations inside a home, federal agents use a thermal imager to scan a house for abnormal heat signatures consistent with high-intensity growth lamps.

• Drug-Sniffing Dogs in Public vs. Private Spaces:

  • Traffic Stops: During a stop for a traffic violation, an officer walks a drug-sniffing dog around a vehicle. The dog "alerts" the officer to the presence of drugs in the trunk.
  • Residential Porches: Based on an unverified tip, police bring a drug-sniffing dog to the front door of a private home. The dog "alerts" the officers to drugs inside the house, raising questions about whether the front porch (curtilage) is a protected area where such a search requires a warrant.

• GPS Tracking: Police install a GPS device on an individual's car without their knowledge and track their movements for a duration of one month. The data links the individual to a drug conspiracy via frequent visits to a particular address.

Warrants and the Exclusionary Rule

• Warrant Requirements: A legal warrant must specify the following:

  • The exact location to be searched.
  • The specific items to be seized.
  • The reason for the search.

• Legal Standards of Proof:

  • Probable Cause: A higher standard of evidence required for warrants and most arrests.
  • Reasonable Suspicion: A lower standard than probable cause, often used for brief investigatory stops.

• Mapp v. Ohio ($1961$): A landmark Supreme Court case regarding the application of the exclusionary rule to the states.

• The Exclusionary Rule: This rule dictates that any evidence obtained through an illegal search is inadmissible in a court of law.

  • Fruit of the Poisonous Tree: A legal metaphor used to describe evidence that is obtained illegally. If the source (the "tree") of the evidence is tainted, then anything gained from it (the "fruit") is also tainted and inadmissible.

Exceptions to the Exclusionary Rule

• Terry v. Ohio ($1968$): This case established that police may perform a "stop and frisk" based on Reasonable Suspicion rather than full probable cause if they believe a person is armed and dangerous.

• Consent: If an individual voluntarily grants permission for a search, no warrant is required and the exclusionary rule does not apply.

• Arrest: Police are permitted to search a person and the immediate area around them during a lawful arrest.

• Hot Pursuit: If police are actively chasing a suspect, they may enter buildings or private property without a warrant to prevent escape.

• Emergency Situations: Immediate searches are permitted in circumstances where life or safety is at risk.

• Destruction of Evidence: If police have reason to believe that evidence is in imminent danger of being destroyed, they may act without a warrant.