Liberty, Rights, and Due Process:

Liberty, Rights, and Due Process: Memo to my FTO

Supreme Court has frequently asserted that "the most basic constitutional rule in this area" of search warrant requirements is that "searches conducted outside the judicial process, without prior approval by judge or magistrate, are per se unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment." (FindLaw, 2005) However, there are "a few specially established and well-delineated exceptions," to this principle. One of these exceptions is Detention Short of Arrest: Stop-and-Frisk exception. Although arrest procedures "are subject to the requirements of the Fourth Amendment ... The courts have followed the common law in upholding the right of police officers to take a person into custody without a warrant if they have probable cause to believe that the person to be arrested has committed a felony or has committed a misdemeanor in their presence." (Findlaw, 2005)

This exception seems reasonable, given the community responsibility of police officers to enforce the law and make the community safer. If the police officer sees a crime being committed in his or her presence during an arrest it only seems reasonable that without having to stop and get a warrant, and come back to the crime scene cold, after the criminal has absconded, the officer should be able to use the evidence he or she collects during the arrest in a court of law. To throw out the evidence gained in such a situation would act to discourage police from taking criminals into custody, while they saw a felony or misdemeanor being committed, as this would punish the police for collecting evidence while enacting their enforcement capacity in the community.

A more questionable exception to the Fourth Amendment is the exception of "vessel searches," where, not only is the warrant requirement inapplicable to brief stops of vessels, but also none of the safeguards applicable to stops of automobiles on less than probable cause are necessary to allow the stops of vessels. (Findlaw, 2005) This exception can be seen during 'drunk driving' stops, where all vehicles are stopped and drivers are screened, tested, or simply asked questions to determine if they are intoxicated, for the purpose of community safety.