Paper Example on Criminal Investigation: Balancing Privacy and Law Enforcement

Introduction

Criminal investigation entails a multi-faceted applied science that study facts to inform criminal activities and traits. Often, a complete criminal investigation accumulates searches, interviews, interrogation, seizure, evidence collection and preservation, and other modes of investigation. However, one of the underlying issues in criminal investigation revolves around individual privacy and law enforcement. In either consideration, there are various clauses and laws such as the Fourth Amendment expanding on the issue concerning law enforcement and individual privacy. Thus, this paper will attempt to answer questions concerning a criminal investigation on a robbery of the "Stop & Rob" convenience store. More so, the paper will answer the questions by discussing the different issues around the 4th amendment search and seizure, probable cause to make an arrest, and also details on warrantless vehicle searches.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Where I would Write A Search Warrant For

The Fourth Amendment has protected individuals from unreasonable search and seizure with or without a warrant extending to individual property (Chang, 2018). In this case, concerning a robbery of the "Stop & Rob" convenience store, I would write a search warrant for Joe Johnson's house. According to the Fourth Amendment, before a search warrant can be issued, law enforcement must demonstrate probable cause to believe that a criminal offense was committed and that the proposed property or search area contains the fruits of the criminal activity (Chang, 2018). Thus, writing a search warrant for Joe's house would be justified since there is a probable cause. The probable cause is based on the fact that the surveillance footage shows Joe Johnson as one of the robbers and his 2001 Dodge Charger was used in the criminal activity. Through a probable cause determination, it gives the law enforcement the flexibility to enforce the law and avoid rash and unreasonable interference with individual privacy without a detailed affidavit explaining the necessity of the warrant.

Arresting Joe Johnson on the Spot

Correspondingly, if I saw Joe Johnson walking down the street toward Sarah's house, I could arrest him on the spot. Even though an arrest warrant would be essential to arrest Joe on the spot, various legal clauses are allowing his arrest without a warrant. According to the criminal procedure on arrest, I would arrest Joe Johnson on the spot as an arrest based on probable cause. According to the United States federal laws, an arrest based on probable cause is allowed when a criminal offense has been committed, and the police officer reasonably believes that the individual being arrested committed the felony (Cole, 2018).

Need for A Search Warrant to Watch the Stop & Rob Video

I would need a search warrant to watch the Stop & Rob surveillance video. Under the Fourth Amendment, electronic surveillance is a search which means that it is subject to similar warrant requirements as other searches. More so, to obtain a warrant to view the surveillance view, there must be a probable cause justifying the search (Houston, 2016). One can only forgo acquiring a search warrant if the situation threatens life, or is a conspiracy signifying an organized crime.

Searching Joe's Car Based on the Warrantless Search Automobile Exception

According to the Warrantless Search Automobile Exception, law enforcement can search a private car without a warrant in case they have a probable cause to believe that the vehicle may contain the evidence of a crime, contraband, or the fruits of the felony such as the Brinegar v. United States court case (Barrett, 2017). It means that I could search Joe Johnson's car without a warrant so long as I had probable cause. Also, vehicles are highly mobile, and evidence can be easily destroyed or moved before a search warrant is acquired.

Conclusion

For the longest time now, the tension between law enforcement and individual privacy has been an enduring issue. Often, the issues develop due to different interpretations of the legal clauses that protect individual privacy, such as the Fourth Amendment. According to the Fourth Amendment, police search with and without a warrant are based on the existence of probable cause regardless of the decision. Also, in the decision concerning arrest warrant, arrest based on probable cause, and notice to appear, the Fourth Amendment pushes for the existence of a proper affidavit warrant and a probable cause.

References

Barrett, L. (2017). Herbie fully downloaded: Data-driven vehicles and the automobile exception. Geo. LJ, 106, 181. Retrieved from https://georgetownlawjournal.org/articles/250/herbie-fully-downloaded/pdf

Chang, C. H. (2018). New Development Regarding Search Warrants under the Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution--Jones, Jardines & Grady. Eur America, 48(2), 267-333. Retrieved from https://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA549582189&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=abs&issn=10213058&p=AONE&sw=w

Cole, K. (2018). Privileges, Justifications, and the Positive Law Model of the Fourth Amendment. San Diego Legal Studies Paper (18-334). Doi: 10.2139/ssrn.3131246

Houston, C. (2016). Probable Cause Means Probable Cause: Why the Circuit Courts Should Uniformly Require Officers to Establish Probable Cause for Every Element of an Offense. U. Chi. Legal F., 809. Retrieved from https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/uclf/vol2016/iss1/21