Why Can the Cops Explore Your Car With No Warrant When They Capture You?
“Unlawful search and seizure” are expressions you hear all the time when discussing police and their proceedings with people. You also hear “fourth amendment” and “search warrant,” two expressions one and the same with both prohibited and authorized searches. But what do those terms signify, and why can the cops regularly search your car when they have seized you, even if they do not have a warrant? Scan on to find out.
At the outset, the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution protects citizens from illegitimate searches and seizures. The exact words is “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.” This means that the police can’t search you or your things unfairly, and they can’t explore you without a warrant that is based on probable cause (criminal attorneys Seattle love this one).
Probable cause in and of itself is sort of challenging to describe. The way I’ve heard it explained is a rational feeling, based on articulable information, that crime is happening. Essentially, to get a explore warrant, the police force have to prove they possess a sound basis to think that a felony is being committed someplace, and that their belief is based on genuine confirmed facts, not hunches or conjecture.
In the real world, searches are committed on a daily basis without explore warrants, mainly in trucks. How can this be so? Well, the judges have decided there are situations that make the search of your car sound, even if no warrant is on hand. These circumstances include: consent; inventory search; exigent circumstances; and cop safety. If any of these are there, it is possible that the explore was legal (although as a Seattle criminal defense attorney, I might give it a shot to try to get the proof suppressed) and the evidence stays in. If not, it’s disallowed.
Tags: criminal attorneys, search and seizure, search warrant, searches and seizures, unlawful search and seizure, unreasonable searches and seizures