Can Officers Still Demand ID If the Driver Isn’t the Registered Owner?
You run a plate, the registered owner comes back suspended, you stop the car and it is obviously not him. Do you have to drive away, and can you still demand ID? Anthony works through Kansas v. Glover and where Terry actually ends.
Can You Trespass a Person Who Has a Service Animal?
A restaurant in Arizona wanted a man trespassed because he brought a service dog inside. Anthony covers what the ADA requires of a business that serves the public, the two questions a business is allowed to ask, why they cannot demand certification, and when the dog can be removed but the person cannot.
What Is Hate Speech, and Can Police Take Enforcement Action on It?
A police chief in Ohio sent Anthony a photo of a van covered in speech that had people calling 911. Anthony explains why there is no law against hate speech, how hate crimes are different, the narrow categories that can be criminalized, and the one thing he does not want you to bring up if you stop that van.
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.
Does Payton v. New York Apply to Porch Arrests? Explained for Officers
Officers go to a person’s residence during an investigation. They do not have an arrest warrant. The concern raised is officers going to someone’s home or porch with the intent to arrest them and using a knock on the door as a way to accomplish that arrest. There is no suggestion that the occupant has […]
Can a Person Who Has Access Code Give You Permission to Enter a Home?
Yes, they had common authority. The caveat is scope. A babysitter has the living room, not the safe. And to search the closed bedroom you need reason to believe he is presently home.
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.
Can an Officer Put a Foot in the Door During a Knock and Talk?
Chocking the door open with your boot so the occupant cannot close it. Is that a search, a seizure, or neither? Why it implicates the Fourth Amendment either way, and what could justify it.
Can Police Demand ID During Consensual Encounter?
Recorded at IACP 2024 in Boston. This question came from Trevor, who is from Canada and says he is not a LEO, but he followed down a rabbit hole and has been watching the videos pretty much all week. He has seen many videos on YouTube of police wanting to ID somebody during a consensual […]
Being Told to Leave During a Knock and Talk
If a citizen tells a cop to leave during a knock and talk, does the cop have to leave? This question actually comes from a citizen, a non-police officer. I think it’s great that non-police officers are also reaching out to see if I can help them with their constitutional questions. I want to help […]
Juvenile Consent to Search a Cellphone
This question comes from an officer in Kansas. What are the requirements for consent to search a cellphone? What happened when officers asked the kids for their phones? The situation was; several officers stopped some young kids that were suspected of throwing rocks from an overpass onto a car. The officers noticed that they had […]
Consent to Search by Co-Occupants
Today’s question is one that I get all the time around the country and it’s important. So let’s go through it. Can you get consent to search a home from a spouse, even if the non- consenting spouse has left? The answer is, “Yes you can.” You can use that consent even if there is […]
Traffic Stop Searches with Consent
Here’s a question from Texas. The officer says, If I get consent to search a vehicle, does the traffic stop have to end before I can search? And the answer is”No.” Consent includes with it the agreement to extend the traffic stop. Does that make sense? We know that when it comes to traffic stops, […]
Denying Consent to Search
Here’s our question from an officer in Minnesota. Does denying consent to search also end the consensual encounter? All right, good question. If, during a consensual encounter, I asked for consent to search their bag, their person, their vehicle, and they deny consent, can I continue the consensual encounter to try to build reasonable suspicion, […]
Can You Keep Asking for Consent Until You Get an Answer?
The driver keeps changing the subject instead of saying yes or no. Can you keep asking? Why persuading for consent runs into Rodriguez, and the simple fix that avoids the problem entirely.