Tag: Point of Law: Page 14

Patrol

Mi Casa Es Su Casa

When you take down a drug house, or enter a home to investigate domestic violence, or serve a search warrant at a residence, which of the multiple people that you sometimes encounter would have the legal standing to challenge the lawfulness of your entry and search?

March 9, 2011

Patrol

'Don't Talk To My Client!'

The Constitution does not forbid you to talk to a person just because that person has an attorney, or just because the attorney tells you not to do it. Instead, the law focuses on whether the suspect is willing to talk without his or her attorney present.

February 6, 2011

Special Units

K-9 Drug Detection Cases

In the usual case, both the seizure and the search must be reasonable under the Fourth Amendment in order for the evidence to be admissible. The U.S. Supreme Court and federal appeals courts have considered both issues when officers have used K-9s to detect contraband.

January 2, 2011

Patrol

Vehicle Searches: Where and When?

It would be great if there were a single, simple rule to tell you where and when you may lawfully search a vehicle for contraband or evidence. Unfortunately, there are multiple rules, and sometimes more than one of them may apply.

November 30, 2010

Patrol

Avoid Defective Search Warrants

Flaws in a warrant that are so obvious you should have recognized them can doom your search and seizure and eliminate the usual "good faith" protection.

November 10, 2010

Weapons

Second Amendment v. Gun Control

As a result of these back-to-back rulings from the Supreme Court, neither the federal government nor any city, county, or state may enforce any law that creates a blanket prohibition against the possession of firearms by an individual in the home.

September 30, 2010

Technology

Electronic Privacy on the Job

Increasingly, law enforcement agencies issue electronic communication and information equipment to employees for their use in performing official duties. Access to and use and monitoring of the information stored or transmitted by means of such devices may be subject to a variety of employer policies, state and federal statutes, constitutional provisions, and case law.

September 2, 2010

Patrol

Miranda Invocation and Waiver

If a suspect wants to assert either his right to counsel or his right to silence, it is up to him to do so, unequivocally and unambiguously.

August 9, 2010

Patrol

The 'Independent Source' Doctrine

If you can identify two or more ways to justify a detention, arrest, search, or entry, you increase the odds that at least one of them will be upheld in court.

July 29, 2010

Patrol

Liability for Failure to Protect

A person can frame a federal lawsuit against an officer under either the "special relationship" doctrine or the "state-created danger" doctrine.

May 31, 2010

Patrol

Rewriting the Edwards Rule

The Edwards rule applies to all officers and all cases - not just to the case on which the suspect invoked the right to counsel.

May 6, 2010

Patrol

Miranda Wording

One indication of the enduring misunderstanding of the Miranda jurisprudence is the fact that after 44 years, state and federal courts continue to litigate the adequacy of dozens of variations of the particular wording used by officers - and continue to get reversed by the Supreme Court.

March 31, 2010