Can Officers Run Names From a Voluntarily Provided Hotel Registry List?
An officer in Oregon asks whether he can run everyone on a residence list a manager volunteered. Anthony works through City of Los Angeles v. Patel, the third-party doctrine, and why the real limit is NCIC terms of use.
Can Investigators Share Bank Records Between Cases Without a New Search Warrant?
An officer in South Dakota asks whether bank records another agency obtained by search warrant can be used on his own case, or whether he needs a new warrant. Anthony walks through the first look and second look distinction.
Can You Search a Cell Phone Left Behind in a Car After Someone Runs?
An officer in Texas watched a driver light up his car and leave the moment he made eye contact, then slow roll into an apartment complex and run, leaving two cell phones behind. Anthony works through whether that is reasonable suspicion, whether the phones are abandoned, and what he would actually put in the search warrant.
Can You Stop a Car on a Flock LPR Hit for a Wanted Registered Owner?
A sergeant in Atlanta asks about license plate reader hits showing the registered owner is wanted, with no traffic violation and no probable cause. Anthony says yes, and walks through why Kansas versus Glover is almost directly on point, plus the facts that make you call it off.
Drones on Property Rights and Privacy
Drones are now part of the Fourth Amendment analysis, whether we like it or not. In training, this often comes up as a thought exercise: imagine being in an urban environment, looking out your window, and seeing a government drone hovering nearby. If that drone can see into a backyard and potentially observe evidence of […]
Do We Need a Warrant to Use Grabify?
Generally, ruses do not require warrants. Clicking is voluntary, and most courts treat IP addresses the way the Supreme Court treated dialed numbers under the pen register cases.
Did the 2nd Circuit Allow Police to See Into Tinted Windows With Cell Phones
No. The court dodged the trespass question entirely and assumed a search for argument’s sake. Hovering a phone is one thing. Touching the glass is still a search, and this case does not say otherwise.
Binoculars in Public Areas
This question comes from an officer in Alabama. And basically, the question is: Can cops use binoculars to view suspects in a public area? They want to see, for example, sales of narcotics, and so forth. Now, does the officer need probable cause to do that? Does the cop need probable cause to make contact […]
Unlocking Cellphone with Fingerprint
The answer is, “Yes.” Because fingerprints and facial ID are not testimonial, there is no recognized privacy interest in your fingerprints or in your face. So that’s generally the case. I’m also thinking of mass facial recognition software that you’re putting downtown, and you’re identifying everybody who is downtown. That implicates a different constitutional principle, […]
Seizing a Victim’s Cellphone
The question: Can officers routinely seize a victim’s cell phone if they’re the victim of a drive by shooting? He goes on to say, “Look, I’m an officer here, working at CHP. And we’ve had a lot of shootings that occur in my area, right? So we get out there, and we have some victims […]