Chapter 6 Police and the Constitution Rules of Law Enforcement PDF

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For Professor Mukombe's CRJS100 Class...

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Chapter 6: Police and the Constitution: Rules of Law Enforcement Background Information: 4th Amendment: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Reasonable suspicion is a reasonable presumption that a crime has been, is being, or will be committed. It is a reasonable belief based on facts or circumstances and is informed by a police officer’s training and experience. Reasonable suspicion is seen as more than a guess or hunch, but less than probable cause.

Probable cause is the logical belief, supported by facts and circumstances, that a crime has been, is being, or will be committed.

Terry stop must have the belief that a crime has been,is being, or will be committed and that a person is presumed to be armed and dangerous.

★ Personal observation ○ Personally seeing crime being committed ★ Information ○ Getting insight from an informant, cameras, witnesses that saw that crime, 911 calls ★ Evidence ○ The crime scene, DNA ★ Association ○ Being near or around where crimes are committed ★ Probable cause framework allows police officers to pers=form their jobs effectively ○ Limits situations where officers can make arrests ○ Gives them freedom to act within framework ★ Exclusionary rule ○ Evidence obtained in violation of the accused’s rights will not be admissible in criminal court ○ Important legal tools in courts for regulating the activity of law enforcement officers ○ Fruit of the poisoned tree: Evidence acquired through the use of illegally obtained evidence which is inadmissible in court ■ The poisoned tree is the illegally found evidence and the fruit branches off all the aspects that could arise from the discovery of this illegal evidence. ★ Inevitable discovery exception states that illegally obtained evidence can be admissible in court if police would have inevitably discovered it ★ Good faith exception is evidence obtained using a technically invalid search warrant is admissible during trial if the police

acted in good faith when they sought the warrant ○ Officers must make an honest mistake in order for this exception to be valid ★ Search: Process by which police examine a person or property to find evidence to prove guilt in a criminal trial ○ Two-pronged test for a person’s expectation of privacy ■ Person must prove he or she expected privacy ■ Society must recognize expectations as reasonable ★ Search Warrant ○ Written order commanding police officers to search a specific person, place, or property to obtain evidence ■ Requires crime has been or will be committed, premises to be searched, suspects to be found, illegal activities taking place at the premises, item to be seized ★ Affidavit: Written statement of facts, confirmed by affirmation of the party making it ○ Made before a person having the authority to administer the oath or affirmation ★ Seizure: Forcible taking of a person or property in response to a violation of the law ○ Items that came Seized: ■ Items resulting from a crime ■ Illegal items ■ Items of evidence ■ Items used in committing a crime ★ Searches Incidental to Arrests ○ Searches for weapons and evidence that are conducted on persons who have just been arrested ○ Officers are required to: ■ Find and confiscate any weapons a suspect may be carrying ■ Protect any evidence on the suspect’s person from being destroyed ★ Consent Searches ○ Conducted by police after the subject has agreed to the action ○ Factors determining if a consent is voluntary: ■ Age, intelligence, and physical condition of the consenting suspect ■ Coercive behavior by the police ■ Length of the questioning and its location ★ Searches of Automobiles without a Warrant ○ Automobiles can be searched without a warrant only if the: ■ Person being arrested can grab or destroy evidence or a weapon inside the car ■ Officer believes that the car contains evidence pertinent to the same crime for which the arrest took place ★ Electronic Surveillance is the use of electronic equipment by law enforcement agents to record private conversations or observe private conduct ○ For the warrant to be valid, it must: ■ Detail with particularity the conversations that are to be overheard ■ Name the suspects and the places that will be under surveillance

■ Show probable cause to believe that a specific crime has been or will be committed ★ Stop: Brief detention of a person by law enforcement agents for questioning ★ Frisk: Pat-down or minimal search by police to discover weapons ★ Law enforcement officers: ○ Detain a person they reasonably believe to be suspicious ○ Pat down or frisk the suspect’s outer clothing if they believe that the person is armed ★ Terry v. Ohio ○ Detective observed suspicious behavior in three men ■ Suspected men were frisked, and handguns were found on two of them ○ Court concluded that the detective's suspicion was reasonable ○ Court judgement was based on the totality of the circumstances ★ Elements of an Arrest ○ Intent to arrest ○ Authority to arrest ○ Seizure or detention ○ Understanding Differences between a Stop and an Arrest Stop Justification Warrant Intent of Officer

Arrest

Reasonable suspicion

Probable cause

None

Required in some, but not all, situations

To investigate suspicious activity

To make a formal change against the suspect

Search

Scope of Search

May frisk, or “pat down,” for weapons

May conduct a full search for weapons or evidence

Outer clothing only

Area within the suspects immediate control or “reach”

★ Arrest: To deprive the liberty of a person suspected of criminal activity ★ Arrest warrant: Written order commanding that the person named on the warrant be arrested by the police ○ Based on probable cause and issued by a judge or magistrate ★ Exigent circumstances: Require extralegal or exceptional actions by the police ★ Warrantless arrest: Made without seeking a prior warrant for the action ○ Is permissible in the following circumstances: ■ Offense is committed in the officer’s presence ■ Officer believes that the suspect has committed a certain crime ■ There is a possibility that the suspect could escape or destroy evidence in the time taken to procure a

warrant ★ Miranda Warning ○ Suspect has the right to: ■ Remain silent ■ If the suspect gives up the right, anything he or she says can and will be used against him or her in a court of law ○ Speak with an attorney and to have an attorney present during questioning ■ Attorney will be appointed for the suspect if he or she cannot afford one ○ Legal Basis: ■ Protection from coercion, the use of physical force or mental intimidation to compel a person to do something against his or her will ■ Custodial interrogation: Questioning of a suspect after he or she has been taken into custody ● Suspect must be read his or her Miranda rights before the interrogation can begin ○ When Miranda is NOT Required: ■ Officer does not ask the suspect any testimonial questions ■ Police question witnesses without a focus on the suspect ■ Individual gives information voluntarily ■ Individual has given a statement privately to a friend or acquaintance ■ During a stop and frisk or a traffic stop ★ False Confessions ○ Admission of guilt when the confessor did not commit the crime ■ Types ● Voluntary when suspect is seeking attention, or is delusional ● Internalized when suspect comes to believe that he or she committed the crime under the stress of the interrogation ● Compliant when suspect believes that to confess is in his or her best interest...