“An arrest is using legal authority to deprive a person of his or her freedom of movement. An arrest is generally made with an arrest warrant. An arrest may be made without a warrant if probable cause and exigent circumstances are presented at the time of the arrest.” (Cornwell University) An arrest may be due to criminal or civil proceedings. In each case, the person is placed in custody or under restraint usually for the purpose of compelling obedience to the law. If the arrest is during the course of criminal procedure, the purpose is to hold the person for answer to a criminal charge or to prevent them from committing an offense. In civil proceedings, the purpose is to hold the person to a demand made against the individual. In both …show more content…
Observational evidence is what the officer sees, smells, or hears. An officer who observes a suspicious person looking into car windows while carrying a baseball bat late at night would fall into this category. Circumstantial evidence is an accumulation of facts that when viewed together imply that a crime has been committed; it is not direct evidence. An officer may call upon their expertise when gathering evidence. An example would be an officer who can read gang graffiti to conclude that a criminal activity has taken place. Evidence may also be gathered through information, like hearing a call on police radio or receiving a tip from a confidential informant. Some forms of evidence, such as circumstantial, must be supplemented by other types of evidence. However, some sources are strong enough to stand on their …show more content…
The USA Patriot Act of 2001 (Pub. L. No. 107-56, 115 Stat. 272) expanded a number of exceptions to the traditional search warrant requirements. Ordinarily a person subject to a search warrant is entitled to notice that it was issued. The USA Patriot Act allows magistrates to issue what are often referred to as “sneak and peak” warrants that do not require law enforcement to notify the person subject to the search. The act also expanded the abilities of law enforcement to install “roving” wiretaps of telecommunication devices used by individual suspects without naming specific telephone carriers in the warrant. It also allowed officers to search stored e-mail and voicemail
Financial records, library records, travel records, video rentals, phone records, medical records, and religious records can all be searched if the government states that the search is done to protect against terrorism. The act was passed after the 9/11 attack. Similarly to the Alien and Sedition Acts and the Espionage and Sedition Acts, the Patriot Act is a severe and controversial act passed in the wake of a severe and controversial event. This act is unconstitutional and disregards the personal liberties of the United States’ citizens.
The decision requires law enforcement officers to follow a code of conduct when arresting suspects. After an arrest is made, before they may begin questioning they must first advise the suspect of their rights, and make sure that the suspect understands them. These rights are known as the Miranda Warnings and include:
If handled with care the evidence can be the best assistance to the crime investigator and can be used as a major proof in court. To improve the investigation any detective or expert has to admit the necessity of the non-movable items observation and processing apart from the regular movable evidence collection.
Being suspicious about someone is not necessarily bad for police officers, as long as you have a reason to suspect. For example, have you ever seen a person that you have never seen before, walk by your neighborhood? Law enforcement officers patrol the streets making sure there isn’t anything suspicious going on. There have been cases were the police have been accused of stopping people over for no reason. Some say they were racially profiled. Whatever the case is, police have to have reasonable suspicion to stop someone.
A short background on the laws concerning surveillance will help clear up some misconceptions on the NSA. Back in 1968, the Wiretap Act protected citizens from the government listening to their phone call...
USA patriot Act, also known as the “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism” Act was passed October 26, 2001, after the September 11 attacks on the world trade center so that intelligence agencies can find terrorist in the united states and prosecute them. The Patriot Act allows the intelligence agencies to tap into phones, emails and banking history without the consent of a judge. The federal government have unlimited authority to spy on American citizens.
Following the terrorist attacks, Congress created the Patriot Act. The act allowed law enforcement's around the country greater ability to track terrorism or possible terrorists. It expanded the governments ability to investigate and punish terrorists. This act was accepted quickly by the House of Representatives, and was passed almost unanimously in the Senate. President George W. Bush signed this act into being on October 6th, 2001. This act allows the police to have surveillance over any form of communication that could be used by a terrorist. Things that were private privileges, such as emails, the internet, and, ...
What does this mean to you? Well if you are ever arrested for being suspected of a crime, the police are legally obligated to advise you of your Miranda rights. If they do not do this and they start to ask you questions, and interrogate you, then anything you say cannot be used against you in court, and you could have the charges dropped. The police are not supposed to question you at all unless you have been read your Miranda rights and you then waive those rights. You can waive your rights either verbally tell the officer you waive your rights, or by signing a rights waiver form.
There are a few elements that need to be introduced before an arrest is taken place. These few elements are Seizures and detention, Intention to arrest, Arrest Authority and lastly understanding for the individual that they are being arrested. To discuss these elements it first starts with seizure and detention. Seizure and detention have a two-lane road which is actual, meaning that a person is taken into custody without using the use of force but very few touching is sometimes involved or by firearm, the other way is constructive which means when an individual's corporates with the officer peacefully. It is known that if neither of these exists the arrest isn't valid (Del Carmen). Another element of arrest is the intention to arrest. The intention to arrest clear means that the law enforcement officer has the intention to arrest individuals by words of mouth or with action taking place. Without the intentions to arrest on the scene it would also be considered invalid (Wadia Whalen). Also with the intention to arrest once words and action are taken place, the officer has to take the person down to the police station or before a judicial officer. The intention to arrest is quite hard to prove because it's whatsit in the officer mind. The other element listed above that is
Shortly after the September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks, the US congress enacted a law, commonly known as The Patriot Act. This law enlarges the power of government and administration allowing them to obtain the personal records of any person of suspect in hopes of preventing any future terrorist act. Many of its provisions were going to expire in 2005, but Congress passed another bill named “US PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act in 2006” to reauthorize those.
The U.S. Patriot Act was set in place to better serve our country against terrorism. The U.S. Patriot Act is an Acronym for Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Acts (Lithwick). This act is to punish terrorist actions and improve law enforcement not only in the United States but also around the world. The United States Patriot Act consists of over 1,000 sections that describe the act in great detail. The sections include, but are not limited to, the power extended to the government by The U.S. Patriot Act to deport and incarcerate non citizens. With the U.S. Patriot Act a person’s phone line can be tapped, records of any and all purchases checked, and even library records searched. This Act also has sections to help money laundering, expand our country’s border protection, strengthening the extent of criminal laws and provide for people suffering from any type of terrorism acts (Huffman).
In order to understand how to compile evidence for criminal cases, we must understand the most effective types of evidence. This topic is interesting because there are ample amounts of cases where defendants have gotten off because of the lack of forensic evidence. If we believe forensic evidence is so important and it affects our decisions, then maybe we need to be educated on the reality of forensic evidence. If we can be educated, then we may have a more successful justice system. If we have a more successful justice system than the public could gain more confidence that justice will be served. In order to do this, we must find what type of evidence is most effective, this can be done by examining different types of evidence.
...dly, there should be a report on if the information acquired is used in court. This is a check on the usefulness of the information gathered by the law enforcers, and a way to monitor the proper use of the search warrant. Fourthly, a check on how the information attained is to be shared with other law based government agencies. It is a way to protect the privacy of the victim, so people do not needlessly read private documents. Finally, the public should be aware of the success or failure of the system. The people should be informed if their loss of privacy has done what it is intended to, which is to protect the country. These checks and balances of the USA Patriot Act are needed if the men and women of the USA want to feel safe.
Collecting evidence from a crime scene is a crucial aspect of solving crimes. Before evidence can be seized, there must first be a court order approving the search of the crime scene and the seizure of the evidence found at the scene. Standard protocol for officers is for them to always use latex gloves, avoid plastic bags, double wrap small objects, package each object separately, and to collect as much evidence as possible. It is better to have too much evidence than to not have enough. There are countless amounts of evidence that can be found at a crime scene.
When a person violates a criminal law, society’s traditions generally demand that society should take some action against the person: an arrest should be made. In order for a police officer to make a lawful arrest he must have probable cause to justify the detention of a suspect. An arrest generally involves a person being taken into custody, where the person is not allowed to leave freely. Afterward, the accuser is taken to a local jail facility where the person is booked (Aberle, 2014).