COPS: Think twice before breaking that lock!
If the gun is lawful there is no probable cause and no motor vehicle exception. A protective sweep needs facts showing danger, and a locked safe arguably cuts the other way.
Can You Order Someone to Show Their Hands During a Consensual Encounter?
Cops are being taught that a 1991 case makes this routine. It does not. The test is whether a reasonable person believes they can ignore you, and almost nobody ignores a lawful-sounding order.
Can Weed Odor Justify a Vehicle Search?
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 […]
Undercover Operations and the Sixth Amendment
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 […]
Can a Minor Infraction Lead to a Vehicle Search?
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 […]
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.
Stop and Frisk on Traffic Stop
One weapon gives probable cause there are more. Michigan v. Long covers the grab area and the containers in it, but peel the onion. And on a consensual encounter, armed alone is not enough.
Patdowns During a Civil Standby
It is not your detention, which makes it feel unorthodox. But lawfully present plus investigating something, with specific reasons you are in danger, is enough. And there may be an imminent battery in front of you.
Case Law on Standing
Abandoned property gets no Fourth Amendment protection, so there is no standing to contest the search. But asking only “is it yours” leaves the door open. Ask the second question.
What Do We Do if We Make Stop Under KS V Glover and the Driver Refuses to ID
The surrender-upon-demand statute is for citations, not reasonable suspicion stops, and California has no stop and identify law. But matching every descriptor behind the wheel is probable cause.
Give Me a Couple of Weeks to Think About It—The Shatzer 14-Day Rule Explained
Once an in-custody suspect invokes his Fifth Amendment right to counsel, police are barred from initiating further interrogative efforts on any matter while the suspect remains in custody, unless the suspect has been provided with counsel and counsel is present. Failure on the part of police to adhere to this rule creates an irrebuttable presumption […]
Armed and (Therefore) Dangerous—Rethinking Terry in Light of Bruen/Rahimi?
Will Terry frisks for lawfully carried guns survive? How did Bruen change the Second Amendment analysis? What does armed and dangerous actually require? Under the Fourth Amendment, in order to justify a non-consensual search of a lawfully detained person, an officer must have a reasonable belief the person is “armed and dangerous.” This is the […]
Could Police Detain a Driver Suspected for DUI on Their Property?
In a recent discussion about law enforcement and constitutional rights, a fascinating case from Montana brought up some thought-provoking questions about the extent of a police officer’s authority during traffic stops, particularly when a suspect enters their driveway or private property. The key issue revolves around the concept of “curtilage,” or the area immediately surrounding […]
Can You Detain Someone Based on Call They Have a Gun?
Hello my friends, it’s Anthony Bandiero here, attorney and senior legal instructor for Blue to Gold Law Enforcement Training, bringing you a roadside chat. This one comes from an officer in California. A call comes in of a man with a gun standing on a street corner, and when the officer arrives he sees the […]