Law Enforcement Bulletin 

Question: Can a property owner give consent to law enforcement to search a room or area of his home that he rents to another?  What if the property owner is on probation and is subject to home searches? 

Question: Does a knock and talk have to begin at the front door of a residence?

The Ohio Attorney General’s Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy (OPOTA) provides specialized training for peace officers in areas such as Firearms and Specialty Munitions, Human Relations, Investigations, Management and Advanced Driving. In addition to these topics, OPOTA’s Advanced Training staff also conducts Instructor Level courses for numerous topics. You can find OPOTA’s complete course catalog here.

In addition to the Law Enforcement Bulletin, the Ohio Attorney General’s Office offers two other law enforcement newsletters: the monthly OPOTA Mobile Academy and the quarterly Criminal Justice Update. The Ohio Attorney General’s email subscriptions also offer other newsletters and alerts on a variety of topics. You can sign up online at for any or all of these newsletters.
 

Question:  Have you established probable cause for a search warrant by only the mention of one trash pull and information from several years ago?

Question:  Is consent from a third-party valid if they lie about their identity resulting in your mistaken belief that they have authority to give the consent?

Question: When attempting to obtain a blood sample, is consent from the suspect valid if you say “you can consent or I will get a sample by force”.

He remembers the day the police came to his house after his dad beat his mom. The officers told his dad to leave and cool down. At only eight-years-old, he remembers wondering how he was going to protect his family when the police left. That day he decided to become a cop. 

The Attorney General’s Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy (OPOTA) offers state-of-the-art courses led by expert instructors. Consider taking one of the following courses in November. To register for a course, click here.

Question: When is the community caretaking exception to a warrant applicable?

Question: If there is a public safety concern that a loaded weapon used to commit a crime is publicly accessible, can you ask a suspect about it without first giving Miranda warnings?

Question: Do you have probable cause for a Receiving Stolen Property arrest warrant if it is based on a sting operation in which you didn’t tell the buyer the goods were stolen?

Law enforcement agencies across Ohio and the nation have to work harder, smarter, and more collaboratively than ever before in the face of dwindling resources and increasingly cunning criminals. The Ohio Attorney General’s 2014 Law Enforcement Conference — scheduled Oct. 28-29 at the Hyatt Regency Columbus — will update attendees on recent trends and provide great networking opportunities across several criminal justice disciplines.

Questions: 1) Do you have to first inform a suspect that he can refuse to give a urine sample before his consent can be voluntarily given? 2) Is a sample considered compromised if you do not fill out the required information on the label?
 
Quick Answers: 1) No, informing the suspect he can refuse to give a sample is not a prerequisite to voluntary consent. It is, however, one of the factors a court will consider to determine the voluntariness of the consent. 2) No, the sample wouldn’t be compromised as long as other unique identifiers can link it to the suspect.

Question: Can you force entry into a residence, without a warrant, when you have identified suspects from past criminal incidents inside?
 
Quick Answer: No, unless there is an exception to the warrant requirement.

Law enforcement officers play a vital role in the safety and security of Ohio students. Whether you are a full-time school resource officer, patrol near a school, or could be a first responder to a school emergency, it is important to be aware of criminal trends involving teens and best ways to work with school officials in investigations.

Question: Is using a Taser on an inmate who suffered a seizure and refused to comply with orders to be cuffed excessive force?                      
 
Quick Answer: Not if the facts surrounding the Taser use show that the inmate resisted assistance and created a legitimate safety concern for the officers.

Question: Do you need a search warrant to request a suspect’s cell phone pings from the service provider?
 
Quick Answer: No. When a person voluntarily uses a cell phone, he has no expectation of privacy to the data voluntarily transferred to the service provider, such as a ping. As a result, you do not need a warrant to request this kind of information.

Question: Can you search the data on an arrestee’s cell phone without a warrant?
 
Quick Answer: No, a warrant is generally required to search the data of a phone after arrest because of the amount and type of private, personal information stored on a modern phone.

Criminal gangs pose a growing threat to our communities. They can endanger law enforcement and threaten the health and safety of neighborhoods through violence, drugs, prostitution, human trafficking, and other organized crime.

Question: Do you need to give Miranda if a person voluntarily speaks to you and you inform him he is free to leave and not under arrest?
 
Quick Answer: No, unless the circumstances change and the conversation becomes a custodial interrogation.

Question: Can you search a trunk of an “abandoned” vehicle without a warrant?
 
Quick Answer: Yes, if an individual intended to abandon the vehicle, through words or actions, he loses his right to privacy, and search without a warrant is proper.

The U.S. Supreme Court recently issued an important ruling in favor of law enforcement that expands the authority of officers to get consent to search premises after a lawful arrest. Fernandez changes the landscape of consensual searches in situations in which one co-tenant, who is present on the property, agrees and the other, who is not present, objects to the search.

Stops are one of the most dangerous parts of your job as a law enforcement officer. Whether you’re on foot or in your cruiser, stopping a stranger is an encounter with the unknown. It is the conflict point between law enforcement and the individual, and it’s also where everything can go right or everything can go wrong.

Question: Is it OK for you to hold a driver to wait for a canine search?
 
Quick Answer: Yes, you can conduct a canine search as long as the entire stop only lasts a “reasonable period of time” (about as long as it takes to write a ticket or run a computer search).