 Welcome to our second seminar!
 Can you believe we are almost at the mid term? You
all have been doing a wonderful job and I’m sure the
second half of the term will be just as good! As
always, if you have questions, don’t hesitate to contact
me. I am happy to help!
 Does anyone have questions before we get started?
 In unit 4 you will need to complete the discussion
boards regarding legal and illegal searches. There are
two questions, so make sure you answer both!
 There is also information on the search and seizure
paper that is due in week 5. It is a 5 – 7 page research
proposal stemming from the scenario given.
 To start, let’s go over a little information regarding
search and seizure. I’m sure you’ve all learned this
before, but a refresher is always good before a project is
due!
 The U.S. Constitution was designed to protect
against abuses of police power.
 Restraints on police behavior:
 Help to ensure individual freedoms.
 Must be balanced against the need for police to
effectively do their jobs.
 WHAT IS A SEARCH AND SEIZURE?
 search and seizure - examination of a person's
premises (residence, business, or vehicle) by law
enforcement officers looking for evidence of the
commission of a crime, and the taking (seizure and
removal) of articles of evidence (such as controlled
narcotics, a pistol, counterfeit bills, a blood-soaked
blanket). The basic question is whether the search and
seizure were "unreasonable" under the 4th
Amendment to the Constitution (applied to the states
under the 14th Amendment), which provides: "The
right of people to be secure in their persons, houses,
papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and
seizures, shall not be violated."
 Thus, searches and seizures must be under the
authority of a search warrant or when the officer has
solid facts that give him/her "probable cause" to
believe there was evidence of a specific crime in the
premises and no time to get a warrant. Evidence
obtained in violation of the Constitution is not
admissible in court, nor is evidence traced through
such illegal evidence.
 Courts also deal with issues involving rights
violations, which have become the basis for
dismissal of charges, acquittal of defendants, or
release of convicted offenders upon appeal.
 Most due process requirements relevant to
the police involve:
 Evidence and interrogation (search and seizure) ,
Arrest, and interrogation
 Landmark cases clarify the “rules of the game”—
the procedural guidelines by which the police and
the rest of the justice system must abide.
 The Court addresses only real cases and does so
on a writ of certiorari.
 Search and Seizure – the Fourth Amendment: “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 to be seized.”
 The Fourth Amendment protects one’s privacy from unreasonable
searches and seizures.
A police officer may only search
people and places when the officer
has probable cause or reasonable
suspicion to suspect criminal
activity.
Probable cause" means that the officer must possess
sufficiently trustworthy facts to believe that a crime has
been committed. In some cases, an officer may need only a
reasonable suspicion of criminal activity to conduct a
limited search. Reasonable suspicion means that the officer
has sufficient knowledge to believe that criminal activity is
at hand. This level of knowledge is less than that of
probable cause, so reasonable suspicion is usually used to
justify a brief frisk in a public area or a traffic stop at
roadside. To possess either probable cause or reasonable
suspicion, an officer must be able to cite specific articulable
facts to warrant the intrusion. Items related to suspected
criminal activity found in a search may be taken, or seized,
by the officer.
http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Search+and+Seizure
 Under the Fourth Amendment, a seizure refers to the
collection of evidence by law enforcement officials and to
the arrest of persons. An arrest occurs when a police officer
takes a person against his or her will for questioning or
criminal prosecution. The general rule is that to make an
arrest, the police must obtain an arrest warrant. However, if
an officer has probable cause to believe that a crime has
been committed and there is no time to obtain a warrant,
the officer may make a warrantless arrest. Also, an officer
may make a warrantless arrest of persons who commit a
crime in the officer's presence. An invalid arrest is not
generally a defense to prosecution. However, if an arrest is
unsupported by probable cause, evidence obtained
pursuant to the invalid arrest may be excluded from trial.

http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Search+and+Seizure
 A warrant is not required for a search incident to a
lawful arrest, the seizure of items in plain view, a
border search, a search effected in open fields, a
vehicle search (except for the trunk), an inventory
search of an impounded vehicle, and any search
necessitated by exigent circumstances. It is also not
required for a Stop and Frisk, a limited search for
weapons based on a reasonable suspicion that the
subject has committed or is committing a crime. A
police officer may also conduct a warrantless search if
the subject consents.
Emergency Warrantless Searches - Three threats
provide justification for emergency warrantless
searches (search during exigent circumstances).
 Clear dangers to life,
Clear dangers of escape,
 Clear dangers of removal or destruction of
evidence
Police officers “may enter a home without a
warrant when they have an objectively
reasonable basis for believing than an
occupant is seriously injured or imminently
threatened with such an injury.”
THE EXCLUSIONARY RULE:
Weeks v. U.S. (1914) established the exclusionary
•rule.
 Illegally seized evidence cannot be used in a trial.
 This rule acts as a control over police behavior.
 The decision was only binding to federal officers.
•Mapp v. Ohio (1961) extended the rule to the
•states.
 The 14th Amendment due process applies to local
– police, not just federal officers.
Fruits of the Poisonous Tree – If the source of the
evidence was tainted (the tree) than anything
gained from it (the fruit) is as well.
 Search incident to arrest – Chimel v. U.S. (1969) Clarified the scope of a search incident to
 •an arrest. Officers may search: The arrested
person and the area under the arrested person’s
“immediate control”
 •Officers can search for following reasons:
 To protect themselves
 To prevent destruction of evidence
 To keep defendant from escaping
Good faith exception- When law enforcement officers
have acted in good faith, the evidence they collect
should be admissible even if later it is found that the
warrant they used was invalid.
Good Faith Exception to the Exclusionary Rule - U.S.
Supreme Court held that the good faith exception
applied to warrantless searches supported by state law
even where the state statute was later found to violate
Fourth Amendment rights. Good faith can be
established if the police reasonably believe they are
performing their jobs in accordance with the law.
U.S. Supreme Court created the computer errors
exception to the exclusionary rule. Police officers
cannot be held responsible for a clerical error. The
exclusionary rule was intended to deter police
misconduct, not clerical mistakes made by court
employees.
 Plain View Doctrine – Harris v. US (1968)
 Objects falling in “plain view” of an officer, who has
the right to be in the position to have the view, are
subject to seizure and may be introduced as evidence.
 The Plain View Doctrine applies only to sightings by the police
under legal circumstances.
 Officers cannot move objects to gain a view of
evidence otherwise hidden from view. Officers cannot
move or dislodge objects to create “plain view.”
 Inevitable Discovery Exception - Nix v.
Williams (1984) Evidence, even if it was
otherwise gathered inappropriately, can be
used in a court of law if it would have
invariably turned up in the normal course of
events.
Questions……Questions…..
 Take a few minutes now to read the scenario in Unit 4
and discuss the following questions:
 On what basis would the defendant’s attorney’s ask for
evidence to be excluded? Should it be?
 What steps would you have taken (or done differently)
than stated in the scenario?
In Unit 6 you also have a discussion board dealing with
police/community partnership and the function of the
police.
You may also begin reading/researching for your
Community Policing Project due in week 7. This is
another 5 – 7 page paper. Be sure to read the
requirements for the project!
Community Policing
 Community policing is a philosophy that promotes
organizational strategies, which support the
systematic use of partnerships and problem-solving
techniques, to proactively address the immediate
conditions that give rise to public safety issues such as
crime, social disorder, and fear of crime.(doj.gov)
 In Unit 7 – you have a discussion board regarding your
community policing project.
 You will also need to submit your community policing
project. Be sure to double check the requirements
before you turn your project in.
When to Cite
 Whenever you are referring to an idea that is not
uniquely your own, one that has been drawn from
another source, you must “cite” that idea as someone
else’s. The most common example is from a periodical
or book:
 Community policing involves developing a relationship
between citizens and the police department (Jones,
2005).
 You must cite the particular book each time you draw
from it; not just the first time you use it in a text
 If your citation refers to a specific page or pages, you
should also include that in your citation:
 Community policing involves developing a relationship
between citizens and the police department (Jones,
2005, p. 48).
 Important: if you directly quote a text, you must put
the quote in quotation marks:
 “Community policing involves developing a relationship
between citizens and the police department” according
to one source (Jones, 2005, p. 48).
 You must “credit” others for their work; APA will do
this for you
 If this credit isn’t given, you might be committing
plagiarism
 You must connect your citations to a link in the
reference list (with the exception of personal
interviews)
 That’s it for tonight everyone!! Thanks for a great
seminar!
 Our last seminar will be July 9th at 8 pm Eastern Time.
I hope you will join us.
 As always, if you have questions or concerns, please
don’t’ hesitate to contact me. You can reach me at
chorwath@kaplan.edu or on AIM at cherylahorwath.
I am happy to assist you in having a successful term.
 See you on the boards!
 Cheryl