The Plain View Doctrine Of Plymouth Police Department

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On December 20, 2016 per instruction of Staff Instructor Sergeant Donahue, the 63rd R.O.C at the Plymouth Police Academy was ordered to write a To-From about the Collective Knowledge Doctrine. This doctrine more or less describes that the knowledge of one, is the knowledge of all. Reasoning on behalf of this To-From, Staff Instructor Sergeant Donahue was informed about certain events that had happened to fellow student officers. During the 63rd R.O.C chow break on December 20, 2016, Staff Instructor Sergeant Donahue proceeded to call out the fellow student officers on so called “dirt” that he had on them. Of course, all of this information was retrieved from fellow Officers from their respected towns or cities. Which is again, the basis …show more content…

In the past couple days in our criminal procedure/ constitutional law class, as well as in our previous To-From regarding the Plain View Doctrine, we have stressed about the fact that officers need probable cause to efficiently make an arrest. Under the Collective Knowledge Doctrine, probable cause can be given by the collective knowledge from other officers who are aware of the person, situation or any other correlated factors. This statement is true even when the officer who is making the arrest did not have any other prior probable cause to stop or make an arrest before gaining information from other officers. The knowledge of one is the knowledge of all. So, this doctrine makes it possible to make an arrest simply on the foundation of information that is passed on from officer to officer, whether is it from an officer from a different jurisdiction or an officer whom you work …show more content…

Williams case law. A summary of the case law goes as follows. In the year 2008, a DEA agent had arrested an individual who was a part of an investigation dealing with drug-trafficking. The following day, the DEA agent received information about another drug transaction that was likely to occur. From gaining the information, the DEA agent informed Chicago P.D to have them on standby. The CPD officer who was also on the DEA task force who collaborated between the two, was advised about the type of vehicle in addition to when and where the probable transaction would occur. The CPD officer then found the vehicle and issued a traffic stop based on the fact that the driver was not wearing his seatbelt. Approaching the car, he saw pieces of marijuana on the lap of the driver and ordered them to exit the vehicle for a search and found additional marijuana inside the vehicle along with a kilogram of cocaine in the backseat. At trial, the court stated that the officer did not have plain view of the drugs or probable cause to search the vehicle based on a seatbelt violation. On the other hand, based on the information that was given to the CPD officer from the DEA agents provided enough probable cause that would allow that officer to search the

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