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Type: Article

Section: Point of Law

Fourth Amendment Supremacy

Evidence discovered during a search incident to an arrest supported by PC is not suppressible in the majority of state courts.

May 31, 2008

Reflex Fire

It's not uncommon to hear or read about officer-involved shootings where multiple officers emptied their loads into the suspect and anything within 10 feet of him. Asked about why they opened fire, bystander officers may reply, "When another officer started shooting, I just reflexively started shooting, too."

April 30, 2008

TREXPO West 2008: Best of Show

Both TREXPO's roots and its evolving focus were both evident in the product offerings at the West Coast edition of the conference held Feb. 19–22 in Long Beach, Calif. On the show floor of the Long Beach Convention Center, several new products made their debut and several others made their TREXPO debut.

March 31, 2008

The Crime-Charging Gap

Just because a prosecutor declines to file or a grand jury declines to indict does not necessarily mean there has been a bad arrest. Proving guilt in a criminal trial requires the prosecutor to meet a much higher burden than the arresting officers, by proving the charges beyond a reasonable doubt.

March 31, 2008

The State of American Law Enforcement - A Love-Hate Relationship

"My brother told me, 'If you want everyone to love you, join the fire department. If you want half the people to love you but half the people to hate you, go ahead and be on the police department.'" — Officer Michael Pecha, Omaha (Neb.) Police Department.

March 31, 2008

Lights with Bite

Michael Teig, CEO of TigerLight, readily admits that the company's new T100 compact TigerLight was designed as a civilian self-defense tool, primarily for women. But he also believes the fist-sized LED flashlight and OC dispenser will be popular with on-duty law enforcement officers.

January 31, 2008

Unmixing Mixed-Up Concepts

How many times have you heard the expression "PC for the stop"? How about the application of Miranda once the suspect is "not free to leave?" These are common examples of improper mixing that can undercut the case against a guilty perpetrator.

December 31, 2007

Popular Impact Munitions

From sock rounds to foam baton projectiles, from OC to washable paint payloads, there's an impact projectile for a variety of situations.

November 30, 2007

How to Deploy Impact Munitions

Today, law enforcement has access to a wide range of impact munitions that can be used for numerous applications. Yes, rubber and wooden baton rounds are still used in riot control, but more sophisticated impact rounds can be used to prevent suicides, to stop dog attacks, and in other uses that might have once required lethal force.

November 30, 2007

TREXPO East 2007: Best of Show

In the past six years, I've attended 12 TREXPO conferences. Each time the exposition floor at the conference has had a unique character. There was some kind of trend that you could see in the products showcased up and down the aisles. TREXPO East 2007 is no exception. This year the trend was tactical vehicles.

September 30, 2007

Rethinking the 21-Foot Rule

Back in 1988, Calibre Press released a stunning law enforcement training tape titled "Surviving Edged Weapons." The tape is great, but it has led to a dangerous myth. Over the years, this simple demonstration of draw speed has morphed into an astounding misconception that now permeates law enforcement and security training, "The 21-Foot Rule."

September 30, 2007

How to Justify Officer Safety Searches

On average, 60,000 officers are assaulted on the job every year. That's an average of 164 per day. The risk level you face on the job makes it important not only to resist complacency and to follow prudent tactics, but also to understand how to ensure that your interactions with suspects are constitutionally justifiable, so that you are never forced to choose between being safe and being sued.

September 30, 2007

Reasonable Execution of Search Warrants

A search conducted under a valid search warrant can still violate the Fourth Amendment if it is conducted in an unreasonable manner. "It is incumbent upon the officer executing a search warrant to ensure the search is lawfully authorized and lawfully conducted." (Groh v. Ramirez)

July 31, 2007

Clearing Up Knock-and-Announce Confusion

The detective rapped on the front door. Then three seconds later, instead of waiting for a resident to answer, one of the officers on his team kicked in the door. They had expected to find a meth lab in the apartment, but the man and woman they'd awakened in the middle of the night and handcuffed had committed no crimes. The officers had raided the wrong apartment.

July 31, 2007

Knockand Announce 1

The "Good Faith" Doctrine

The U.S. Supreme Court has said that "Because many situations which confront officers in the course of executing their duties are more or less ambiguous, room must be allowed for some mistakes on their part. But the mistakes must be those of reasonable men, acting on facts leading sensibly to their conclusions of probability." (Brinegar v. U.S.)

May 31, 2007

L Po0607 Point Of Law

TREXPO West 2007: Something for Everyone

TREXPO is both a trade show and an educational conference for law enforcement officers. And this year’s TREXPO West held recently in Long Beach, Calif., offered excellent training opportunities for both SWAT and patrol officers.

April 30, 2007

Vehicle Impounding

If the court finds that the Constitution was violated by a vehicle impound, the existence of an authorizing statute or policy may not be enough to save you and your agency from civil liability and suppression of resulting evidence.

April 30, 2007

Plain Sense Seizures

If a criminal exposes evidence in ways that can be detected by use of the personal senses, there is no Fourth Amendment “search” involved in discovering the presence of such items. Assuming no previous unlawful search, the seizure of the items is presumptively reasonable if there is probable cause to associate them with criminal activity.

March 31, 2007

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