Law Enforcement Bulletin 

Question: Can a suspect’s outstanding arrest warrant justify a stop-and-frisk if the peace officer didn’t know about the warrant at the time of the stop?
 
Quick answer: No.

Question: Is a person’s consent to search coerced, and therefore invalid, when peace officers warn the person of the legal consequences of refusing to cooperate?
 
Quick answer: No.

Question: Can a peace officer search every part of a motor home when the home’s owner tells the officer that drugs are located only in the front part of the home?
 
Quick answer: Yes, under the automobile exception. Officers also may conduct a limited “protective sweep.”

Question: Have a suspect’s rights been violated when the suspect only hears an officer issue Miranda warnings to other people in the next room?
 
Quick answer: No, as long as an officer personally confirms that the suspect heard and understood those rights.

Question: Can a peace officer request that a driver perform field sobriety tests based solely on the driver’s admission to consuming alcohol?
 
Quick answer: No, not without other indicia of drunk driving.

Question: If peace officers make a warrantless entry into a suspect’s home for a traffic offense even though they didn’t see the offense and don’t have a reasonable belief that the suspect is injured, have they violated the Fourth Amendment?
 
Quick answer: Yes.

Question: Can peace officers use information from several years ago to obtain a search warrant?
 
Quick answer: Yes, as long as the officers show in the warrant affidavit that the information is part of an ongoing criminal investigation.

Question: Can peace officers search a parolee’s home without a warrant?
 
Quick answer: Yes, but only if a parole officer has requested peace officer assistance and reasonable grounds exist to conduct the search.

In this day and age, gun violence in schools is a harsh reality. Unfortunately, teachers and administrators need to be as prepared for school-shooting emergencies as they are for fires and tornadoes. And the best partner in this preparation is law enforcement.

This is part of an occasional series of articles on broad law enforcement topics.

Consent is one of the most important exceptions to the search warrant requirement because it requires no level of suspicion. An officer can ask any person for consent to search a home, car, or container over which that the person has authority. In its broadest sense, consent is the voluntary agreement of one person to let another person do something.

Because about two-thirds of rapes are committed by someone known to the victim, sexual assault cases can be difficult from the start. A new eOPOTA course, Responding to Sexual Assault, can help law enforcement and prosecutors better understand sexual assault dynamics and how perpetrators take advantage of societal myths and misperceptions.