Police and the Constitution

Focus Question:What does it mean when a police officer

uses his personal observation to infer probable cause?

Probable Cause

• The belief that an offense has been or is being committed.– Sources of Probable Cause: Personal Observation,

Information, Evidence, and Association– Framework: Probable cause limits the situations in

which police can make arrests, but also gives officers the freedom to act within that framework.

Exclusionary Rule

• Focus Question: How does the exclusionary rule protect an individuals rights under the 4th amendment?

• Answer: Any evidence obtained by an unreasonable search or seizure is inadmissible (may not be used) against the defendant in a criminal trial.

Focus Question

• Explain how association leads to probable cause.

• If the police see a person with a known criminal background in a high crime neighborhood, they have probable cause to stop that person.

Fruit of the Poisonous Tree

• Any physical or verbal evidence police are able to acquire by using illegally obtained evidence is inadmissible. Pg. 163– Forces police officers to gather evidence properly.

– A companion to the exclusionary rule is the Fruit of the Poisonous Tree doctrine, established by the Supreme Court in Nardone v. United States, 308 U.S. 338, 60 S. Ct. 266, 84 L. Ed. 307 (1939). Under this doctrine, a court may exclude from trial any evidence derived from the results of an illegal search. For example, assume that an illegal search has garnered evidence of illegal explosives. This evidence is then used to obtain a warrant to search the suspect's home. The exclusionary rule excludes the evidence initially used to obtain the search warrant, and the fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine excludes any evidence obtained in a search of the home

Warrantless Searches Scenarios

• Two homicide detectives employed by the police department of a town built around a mountain lake want to conduct a “knock and talk” at a murder suspect’s home. There is a gravel road to the home, but it is faster for the officers to go by boat, so they do. They dock their boat at the suspect’s dock, and walk up the dock to a path that leads to the suspect’s house. As they go around a bend in the path and approach the back door of the house, they see what looks like a trash pile in the suspect’s back yard. Atop the pile is a shirt with rust-colored stains on it. The officers seize the shirt, which turns out to be stained with the victim’s blood. The shirt is critical evidence at the trial, and the defendant moves to suppress it.

• What is the state’s best argument for the validity of the seizure

• A wildlife officer is in a boat, patrolling Jordan Lake in Durham County. He notices several people fishing from a remote beach. He sees one of the people place an object under a rock about 75 feet from the rest of the group. The officer stops to check whether the people have fishing licenses, and finds that they do. He then proceeds to the rock, finds a margarine tub underneath it, and opens the tub, finding drugs.

• Did the officer's decision to open the tub violate

the Fourth Amendment?

Stops and Frisks

• Law enforcement officers,– 1. briefly detain a person

they reasonably believe to be suspicious and

– 2. if they believe the person to be armed, proceed to pat down, or “frisk”, that persons’ outer clothing.

• Terry v Ohio ( 1968)• What was going on to

create reasonable suspicion? Who was involved? Why did the police officer approach the men? Did the Supreme Court support the lower court decision and why?

Stop and Frisk

The terms stop and frisk describes two separate acts.Stop takes place when a law enforcement officer has reasonable suspicion that a criminal activity is about to take place.Frisk should be a protective measure, and may occur only when the officer is justified in thinking that the safety of police officers or other citizens may be endangered.

Stop and Frisk

• In the case Terry v Ohio ( 1968) established the definition of “Reasonable Suspicion”. Why did the Court accept Detective McFadden argument he had reasonable cause to believe there was something to be suspicious about?

• The Court accepted the interpretation of the unfolding scene as based on objective facts and practical conclusions.

Focus Questions

• Self assessment. Pg 167• A police officer can make a _______, which is

not the same as an arrest, if she or he has a __________ suspicion that a criminal act is taking place or is about to take place. Then, the officer has the ability to _________the suspect for weapons as a protective measure.

Inevitable Discovery and Good Faith Exception

Inevitable Discovery: The legal principle that illegally obtained evidence can be admissible in court if the police using lawful means would have “inevitably discovered it”Good Faith Exception: the legal principle that evidence obtained with the use of technically invalid search warrant is admissible during trial if the police acted in good faith when they sought the warrant from a judge.http://www.nydailynews.com/news/justice-story/bury-christmas-article-1.1219790

The Totality of the Circumstances Test

• In Terry v Ohio, the U. S. Supreme Court did say that an officer must have “specific and articulable facts” to support a stop, but added that the facts may be “taken together”.

• The Court has consistently ruled that because of their practical experience, law enforcement agents are in a unique position to make such inferences and should be given a good deal of freedom in doing so.

Race and Reasonable Suspicion

• Define: Racial Profiling.• Is racial profiling justified in any

scenario?• Can crime statistics seem to show

that these factors do, at times, play a troubling role in this area?

Focus Question

• Mastering Concepts: page 168

• What is the intent of the officer in a Stop and an Arrest?

• In a Stop the officer’s intent is to investigate suspicious activity. In an Arrest the officer’s intent is to make a formal charge against the suspect.

Arrests

• Elements of an Arrest– 1. the intent to arrest. – 2. Authority: State laws give police officers the

authority to place citizens under custodial arrest or take them into custody.

– 3. Seizure or detention: occurs as soon as the arrested individual submits to the control of the officer, whether peacefully or under the threat or use of force.

– 4. understanding: Does the individual understand that an arrest has taken place.

Arrests with a Warrant

• An arrest warrant contains information such as the name of the person suspected and the crime she or he is suspected of having committed.

• What must a law enforcement establish in order for a judge or magistrate to issue an arrest warrant?

Entering a Dwelling• Exigent Circumstances: • Circumstances in which officers do not need to

announce themselves.– The suspect is armed and poses a strong threat of

violence to the officers or others inside the dwelling.

– Persons inside the dwelling are in the process of destroying evidence or escaping because of the presence of the police.

– A Felony is being committed at the time the officers enter.

Arrests without a Warrant

• 1. The offense is committed in the presence of the officer, or

• 2. The officer has knowledge that a crime has been committed and probable cause to believe the crime was committed by a particular suspect.

• Self Assessment: pg. 170

Lawful Searches and Seizures

• The Role of Privacy in Searches:– Two prong test:

–The individual must prove that she or he expected privacy–Society must recognize that

expectation is reasonable»Ex: individual garbage bag placed on

the curb.

Focus Question

• Fill in the blanks….

• In other words, if Greenwood had truly intended for the contents of his garbage bags to remain__________, he would not have left them on the side of the __________.

The Role of Privacy in Searches

• California v Greenwood (1988)• Trash collector brought the garbage bag to the police

officer who in turn found enough drug paraphernalia to obtain a warrant to search the suspect’s home. Greenwood was arrested and convicted on narcotics charges..

• Supreme Court held that Greenwood’s garbage was not protected by the 4th Amend.

• The Court did not believe that Greenwood had a reasonable expectation of privacy when it came to his garbage bags.

Search and Seizure Warrants

A. Information showing probable cause that a crime has been or will be committed.

B. Specific information on the premises to be searched, the suspects to be found and the illegal activities taking place at those premises and the items to be seized.

C. The purpose of a search warrant is to establish that a probable cause to search justifies infringing on the suspects reasonable expectation of privacy.

Particularity of Search Warrants

• Before police can obtain a Search Warrant the police must prepare an affidavit in which they provide specific information on the property, specific address, and specific description of the item(s) to be seized.

• 4 categories:– Items resulting from a crime (stolen goods)– Items inherently illegal for anybody to possess– Items that can be called evidence– Items used in committing the crime (i.e. ice pick,gun or

printing press etc.)

Searches incidental to arrests

• United States v Robinson– The original arrest was based on probable cause• The need for a police officer to find and confiscate any

weapons a suspect may be carrying.• The need to protect any evidence on the suspect’s

person from being destroyed.

– Chimel v California• “ area within immediate control”–“ arms reach doctrine”

Focus Question

In Figure 6.3, page 174, list the exceptions to the requirement that officers have a search warrant. Define each of the exceptions.

Searches with Consent

• Factors determining whether consent is voluntary are the following– The age, intelligence, and physical condition

of the consenting suspect.–Any coercive behavior by the police, such as

the language used in the request consent.– The length of the questioning and its

location

Searches of Automobiles

• Carroll v United States• Requiring a warrant to search an automobile

places too heavy a burden on police officers.• The Court has held that someone in a vehicle

does not have the same reasonable expectation of privacy as someone at home or even in a phone booth.

Warrantless Searches

• Arizona v Gant–Are allowed if the person being arrested is

close enough to the car to grab or destroy evidence or weapon inside the car.–The arresting officer reasonably believes

that the car contains evidence pertinent to the crime for which the arrest took place

Plain view Doctrine

• Coolidge v New Hampshire– The item is positioned so as to be detected easily by

an officer’s sight or some other sense.– The officer is legally in a position to notice the item

in question..– The Discovery of the item is inadvertent. That is, the

officer had not intended to find the item.– The officer immediately recognizes the illegal nature

of the item. No interrogation or further investigation is allowed under the plain view doctrine.

Focus Question

1.A police officer can make a warrantless arrest if the misdemeanor crime was committed in the presence of the officer.a.True b. False

Electronic Surveillance

• Consent is given by one of the parties to be monitored, or in the absence of such consent, with a warrant.– 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

Examples of Force Multipliers

• CCTV-closed circuit television• Traffic cameras– These forms of electronic surveillance allow law

enforcement agencies to expand their capabilities without a significant increase in personnel.

– “One camera operator can cover a lot more area than field officers can.”

Focus Questions

• What was the issue before the court in the Antoine Jones case?

• The GPS device constituted a search and the failure to obtain a warrant rendered much of the evidence against Jones invalid>

When Miranda Warning is not required.

• Routine booking questions.• Questioning witnesses at the scene of the crime..• When a person volunteers information before the

police have asked a question.• When the suspect has given a private statement

to a friend or some other acquaintance. Miranda does not apply so long as the government did not orchestrate the situation.

Miranda continued

• During a stop and frisk when no arrest has been made.

• During Traffic stop. • When can suspects waive their Fifth

Amendment rights?• What is the purpose of knowing Miranda?– On the part of the suspect?• On the part of the police

Recording Confessions

• Some Scholars have suggested that recording all custodial interrogations would satisfy the Fifth Amendments prohibition against coercion and thus render the Miranda warning unnecessary.