Tag: Fourth Amendment: Page 9

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

Technology

Surveillance Technology: An End to Stakeouts?

Modern surveillance techniques still use the old methods, but technology can make the process both easier and more likely to yield good results.

December 13, 2010

Technology

Connecticut Man Claims Officer 'Sexted' From His Phone

William Vasilakos, 39, filed the suit against officer Michael Presti, according to documents posted to The Smoking Gun. The department in investigating the claim.

November 29, 2010

Patrol

SCOTUS To Decide Whether Officers Need Warrant To Conduct Sex Abuse Interviews at School

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear Camreta v. Greene, an Oregon case centering on a whether a child protective services caseworker and deputy sheriff violated the Fourth Amendment when they interrogated a child who alleged sexual abuse in a private office at the child's school for two hours without a warrant, exigent circumstances or parental consent.

October 20, 2010

Patrol

Judge Won't Dismiss Challenge to Arizona's Immigration Law

In her ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton found that "race, alienage, or national origin discrimination was a motivating factor in the enactment of S.B. 1070."

October 12, 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

Technology

U.S. Supreme Court Allows PDs to Search Officer Pagers

The Ontario (Calif.) Police Department fired Sgt. Jeff Quon after an internal audit determined he had sent a flurry of personal text messages using his department-issued pager.

June 16, 2010

Training

Understanding Probable Cause

Probable cause is much less than proof "beyond a reasonable doubt," which the prosecutor must meet in order to convict a defendant. But PC is something more than the "reasonable suspicion" required to justify a temporary investigative detention.

May 17, 2010

Special Units

U.S. Supreme Court Hears SWAT Texting Case

U.S. Supreme Court justices began discussing the merits of the firing of a California SWAT sergeant for receiving sexually explicit text messages on his department-issued pager.

April 19, 2010

Patrol

Beware of False Headlines

So far, the U.S. Supreme Court has left it to the states and the federal appellate circuits to make their own rulings on the issue of whether officers may make a stop to investigate a reported drunk driver, without having any independent observations to corroborate the anonymous tip. This has led to a split of authority on the issue.

January 19, 2010

Technology

Ohio Supreme Court Rules Warrant Needed To Search Cell Phones

Ohio patrol officers looking to gather evidence from the cell phones of people they question will now need a search warrant, following a ruling by that state's high court.

December 16, 2009

Technology

U.S. Supreme Court Will Hear LE Texting Case

The nation's high court will hear a case involving a California SWAT sergeant who was fired for using his departmental pager to transmit sexually explicit messages to his wife.

December 13, 2009