Chapter 5: Policing: Legal Aspects
US Patriot Act
A federal law (Public Law 107-56) enacted in response to terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. The law, officially titled the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Act, substantially broadened the investigative authority of law enforcement agencies throughout America and is applicable to many crimes other than terrorism. The law was slightly revised and reauthorized by Congress in 2006.
ECPA (Electronic Communications Privacy Act)
A law passed by Congress in 1986 establishing the due-process requirements that law enforcement officers must meet in communications.
Warrant
A legal paper, issued by a court, giving police permission to make an arrest, seizure, or search.
fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine
A legal principle that excludes from introduction at trial any evidence later developed as a result of an illegal search or seizure.
Plain view
A legal term describing the ready visibility of objects that might be seized as evidence during a search by police in the absence of a search warrant specifying the seizure of those objects. To lawfully seize evidence in plain view, officers must have a legal right to be in the viewing area and must have cause to believe that the evidence is somehow associated with criminal activity.
Landmark Cases
A precedent-setting court decision that produces substantial changes in both the understanding of the requirements of due process and in the practical day-to-day operations of the justice system.
suspicionless search
A search conducted by law enforcement personnel without a warrant and without suspicion. Suspicionless searches are permissible only if based on an overriding concern for public safety.
Emergency search
A search conducted by the police without a warrant, which is justified on the basis of some immediate and overriding need, such as public safety, the likely escape of a dangerous suspect, or the removal or destruction of evidence.
sneak and peek search
A search that occurs in the suspect's absence and without his or her prior knowledge. Also known as delayed-notification search.
Anticipatory warrant
A search warrant issued on the basis of probable cause to believe that evidence of a crime, while not currently at the place described, will likely be there when the warrant is executed.
Describe the circumstances under which police officers may conduct searches or seizure property legally.
Officers must have judicial approval for warrant. Four major exceptions to the warrant requirement are: 1) Searches incident to arrest. 2) Searches where an individual knowingly agrees to allow the police to search for evidence. 3) Searches which necessitate a quick search of premises in the event of an emergency. However, law enforcement officers are responsible for demonstrating that a dire situation existed that justified their actions. 4) Since vehicles are inherently mobile, the chance for evidence to be moved or destroyed is greater. The courts have given police officers greater flexibility to search vehicles because of this possibility.
Bill of Rights
The popular name given to the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, which are considered especially important in the processing of criminal defendants.
What is the role of interrogation in the intelligence gathering? List each of the Miranda warnings?
The role of intelligence gathering is to obtain information from a suspect through asking numerous questions and coming up with some conclusions later. Miranda Warnings are: you have the right to remain silent, anything you say can be used against you in a court of law, you have the right to have an attorney present, if you cannot afford an attorney one will be appointed you prior to questioning , and if you answer questions without a lawyer there, you still have the right to stop answering questions at any time.
inherent coercion
The tactics used by police interviewers that fall short of physical abuse but that nonetheless pressure suspects to divulge information.
Compelling interest
a legal concept that provides a basis for suspicionless searches when public safety is at stake. In two cases, the U.S. Supreme Court held that public safety may sometimes provide a sufficiently compelling interest to justify limiting an individual's right to privacy.
Electronic Evidence
Information and data of investigative value that are stored in or transmitted by an electronic device.
Probable cause
A set of facts and circumstances that would induce a reasonably intelligent and prudent person to believe that another person has committed a specific crime. Also, reasonable grounds to make or believe an accusation. Probable cause refers to the necessary level of belief that would allow for police seizures (arrests) of individuals and full searches of dwellings, vehicles, and possessions.
Search incident to arrest
A warrant-less search of an arrested individual conducted to ensure the safety of the arresting officer
writ of certiorari
A writ issued from an appellate court for the purpose of obtaining from a lower court the record of its proceedings in a case. In for discretionary review. A request for review is made by petitioning for a writ of certiorari, and the granting of review is indicated by the issuance of the writ.
good faith exception
An exception to the Supreme Court exclusionary rule, holding that evidence seized on the basis of a mistakenly issued search warrant can be introduced at trial if the mistake was made in good faith, that is, if all the parties involved had reason at the time to believe that the warrant was proper.
fleeting-targets exception
An exception to the exclusionary rule that permits law enforcement officers to search a motor vehicle based on probable cause but without a warrant. The fleeting - targets exception is predicated on the fact that vehicles can quickly leave the jurisdiction of a law enforcement agency.
illegally seized evidence
Any evidence seized without regard to the principles of due process as described by the Bill of Rights. Most illegally seized evidence is the result of police searches conducted without a proper warrant or of improperly conducted interrogations.
What is arrest, and when does it occur? How do legal understandings of the term differ from popular depictions of the arrest procedure?
Arrest; the act of taking an adult or juvenile into physical custody, by authority or law, for the purpose of charging the person with a criminal offense, delinquent act, or a status offense, terminating with the recording of a specific offense. An arrest takes place anywhere the crime occurred or at the police station. Legal understandings differ the term from popular depictions of arrest when it comes to the actual arresting. A law enforcement officer just restricts a person's freedom to leave. Also, the situation begins with a polite conversation and a request by the officer for information. The only time when the fourth amendment views all circumstances surrounding the incident, a reasonable person would have believed that he was not free to leave is when the suspect tries to leave and tests the limits of the police response.
Describe arrest and types of searches
Arrest; the act of taking an adult or juvenile into physical custody, by authority or law, for the purpose of charging the person with a criminal offense, delinquent act, or a status offense, terminating with the recording of a specific offense. The type of searches leading up to an arrest are searches incident to arrest, emergency searches of persons, vehicle searches, suspicion less searches, and high-technology searches.
latent evidence
Evidence of relevance to a criminal investigation that is not readily seen by the unaided eye.
Detention
Police custody, short of arrest, that is based on reasonable suspicion. Unlike arrest, the amount of time a person maybe detained depends on how long it would take to investigate the facts at hand or finish police business (i.e., to issue a traffic ticket).
Describe the intelligence function, including the roles of police interrogation and the Miranda warning
Police have authority to interrogate a person after arrest. Miranda v. Arizona (1966) Ruling: "The entire aura and atmosphere of police interrogation without the notification of rights and an offer of assistance of counsel tends to subjugate the individual to the will of his examiner." The court went on to say the defendant " must be warned prior to any questioning that he has the right to remain silent, that anything he says can be used against him in a court of law, that he has the right to the presence of an attorney, and if he cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed to him prior to any questioning if he so desires." Unless and until such warnings and waivers are demonstrated by prosecution at trial, no evidence obtained as a result of interrogation can be used against him.
Name some of the legal restraints on police action, and list some types of behavior that might be considered abuse of police authority.
Some of the legal restraints on police action are searches, seizures, stop-and-frisk, and arrest. The types of behavior that might be consider abuse of police authority would be physical abuse, inherent coercion, and psychological manipulation.
Describe the legal restraints on police action and instances of police abuse of power.
The 4th Amendment guarantees legal restraints on police action when it says that 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 being seized. This guarantees protections from searches without a proper warrant. The 4th Amendment applies to law enforcement through 4 areas: search, seizures, stop-and-frisk, and arrest.
How do the Bill of Rights and democratically inspired legal restraints on the police help ensure personal freedoms in our society?
The Bill of Rights democratically inspired legal restraints on the police help ensure freedoms in our society, by protecting all citizens of the United States from the abuses of police power. Also, the Bill of Rights created a system of checks and balances between the legislative, judicial, and executive (presidential) branches of government.
Describe the legal standards for assessing searches and seizures conducted by law enforcement agents.
The Fourth Amendment protects personal privacy and every citizen's right to be free from police or government intrusion to their homes, car, business, or personal self. The fourth amendment protects: A law enforcement officer's physical apprehension or "seizure" of a person, by way of a stop or arrest, police searches of places and items in which an individual has a legitimate expectation of privacy—his or her person, clothing, purse, luggage, vehicle, house, apartment, hotel room, and place of business, just to name a few. The Fourth Amendment is implicated by three scenarios, a valid search warrant, a valid arrest warrant, and an officer must have "probable cause."
Explain how the Bill of Rights and democratically inspired legal restraints to help protect our personal freedoms.
The United States Constitution guarantees certain rights to all citizens in the United States. Specifically, the Bill of Rights spells out some of the rights pertaining to arrest and search and seizure. It also provides for a system of checks and balances among the legislative, judicial, and executive (presidential) branches of government.
Arrest
The act of taking an adult or juvenile into physical custody by authority of law for the purpose of charging a person with a criminal offense, a delinquent act, or with status offense, terminating with the rewarding of a specific offense.
Miranda Warnings
The advisement of rights due criminal suspects by the police before questioning begins. Miranda warnings were first set forth by the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1966 case of Miranda v. Arizona.
Miranda Triggers
The dual principles of custody and interrogation, both of which are necessary before an advisement of rights is required.
Interrogation
The information- gathering activity of police officers that involves the direct questioning of suspects.
digital criminal forensics
The lawful seizure, acquisition, analysis, reporting, and safeguarding of data from digital devices that may contain information of evidentiary value to the trier of fact in criminal events.
Reasonable Suspicion
The level of suspicion that would justify an officer in making further inquiry or in conducting further investigation. Reasonable suspicion may permit stopping a person for questioning or for a simple pat-down search. Also, a belief, based on a consideration of the facts at hand and on reasonable inferences drawn from those facts, that would induce an ordinarily prudent and cautious person under the same circumstances to conclude that criminal activity is taking place or that criminal activity has recently occurred. Reasonable suspicion is a general and reasonable belief that a crime is in progress or has occurred, whereas the probable cause is a reasonable belief that a person has committed a specific crime.
Psychological manipulation
The manipulative actions by police interviewers, designed to pressure suspects to divulge information, that are based on subtle forms of intimidation and control.
exclusionary rule
The understanding based on U.S. Supreme Court precedent, that incriminating specifications of due process or it will not be allowed as evidence in a criminal trial.
