Practical case law analysis, officer-safety guidance, and legal updates written for today's law enforcement professionals.
231 articles
Two routes: probable cause under the motor vehicle exception, or Gant reason-to-believe, which is a lower standard than probable cause. Just never tell a court the search was automatic.
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Officers go to a person’s residence during an investigation. They do not have an arrest warrant. The concern raised is officers going to someone’s home or porch with the intent to arrest them and using a knock on the door as a way to accomplish that arrest. There is no suggestion that the occupant has
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Ten years, a retirement credential, and a qualification inside the last year. Retirement by itself is not a basis to deny carry. And something is missing from this story, because Florida has constitutional carry.
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An officer conducts a traffic stop in Texas with multiple occupants in the vehicle. During the stop, the officer detects the odor of marijuana coming from inside the car. Marijuana remains illegal under Texas law. Based on the odor, officers decide to search the vehicle. Without asking for consent and without deciding to make an
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Should an agency have a policy that requires officers to notify their supervisors when evidence is suppressed in court? When a judge orders evidence suppressed, the judge is declaring the evidence was obtained unlawfully and is therefore inadmissible in the criminal trial. Shouldn’t the officer’s agency be made aware when this happens? Municipalities can be
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The statute lets you seize the car, but the driveway is the problem. The officer leaves, then a tow driver re-enters the curtilage thirty minutes later. On the street the answer flips.
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The Sixth Amendment right to counsel provides that a criminal defendant has the right to the effective assistance of an attorney during all critical stages of prosecution once the defendant has been formally charged. The Sixth Amendment right to counsel is charge-specific, meaning its protections only apply to any formally charged matter. One such critical stage of prosecution
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Collins v. Virginia is the answer: the motor vehicle exception has no exigency built into it, and a car on curtilage regains its expectation of privacy. Run the curtilage factors, then get a warrant.
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Officers in California encounter an illegally parked vehicle at approximately 3:00 a.m. The occupant is inside the vehicle sleeping. Under local municipal code, sleeping in a vehicle is a misdemeanor, but officers typically issue a citation rather than make an arrest. The violation provides lawful grounds for a detention. When officers approach and attempt to
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