The Search & Seizure Show

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Anthony Bandiero


    • Feb 8, 2022 LATEST EPISODE
    • infrequent NEW EPISODES
    • 6m AVG DURATION
    • 94 EPISODES


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    Latest episodes from The Search & Seizure Show

    Can you search the trunk of a vehicle?

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 8, 2022 3:06


    The following is a computer-generated transcription, some grammar and spelling errors may be inherent Hey guys, welcome to another roadside chat. My name is Anthony Bandiero. I'm an attorney and senior legal instructor for Blue to Gold enforcement training. And let's get right into it. So this question came from an officer from New Jersey. And the hypothetical goes something like this patrol was notified of a suspicious person and vehicle, they found a male under the influence of heroin, located right outside the vehicle, a semi conscious female was under the influence of heroin in the passenger seat. So the mail tells the cops that there is heroin crack, and a handgun in the vehicle. So the cops then search the passing department, they find those things. So the mail wasn't lying, there was drugs and gun a gun in the vehicle, then the cops asked for consent to search the trunk. The male denies consent.So the question is, is can police search the trunk on the motor vehicle exception? And the answer is going to be most likely? Yes. Here's why. First, do you think under these facts, right, a judge would give you a warrant for the car for the trunk? And I think the answer is yes, there's multiple drugs found in the car. And the actually says, There was heroin folds in the in the car, which is indicative of selling and so forth, right trafficking, there's a gun in the car, again, indicative of trafficking.Dealers use weapons for self help, they can't call 911 When they get robbed, right. So they have to resort to their own self help. So it seems to me that he may be involved in in dealing, and where would more evidence be of that crime, it's certainly in the trunk, maybe even the engine compartment. Dealers are known to just keep a small supply in the passenger apartment. But the big stuff is, you know, in the trunk and an engine compartment, it could be in the airbox under the manifold cover in a fuse box, in a box and so forth. So that's really what it comes down to me. If the officers do feel confident that they have the facts and circumstances that would lead a neutral and detached judge to issue a warrant for that trunk, then it's searchable under the motor vehicle exemption.If the cop does not feel confident, and does not have any facts or circumstances about why he believes that there's more evidence in the truck, then don't search it. Right. But if you do, then that's the quintessential motor vehicle exception search. I hope this helps. Thanks for your questions help to move the ball forward. Please join me for my live webinars on Demand training and of course, the in person training that we're doing around the country. Until next time, stay safe

    Can a juvenile give consent to search his phone?

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 8, 2022 4:40


    The following is a computer-generated transcription, some grammar and spelling errors may be inherent Hey guys, it's Anthony Bandiero here with blue to gold law enforcement training, giving you another roadside chat. Alright, so this question comes from an officer in Kansas, and the officer asked this. So the situation was several officers stopped out with young kids that were suspected of throwing rocks from an overpass onto a car. And the officers noticed that they had cell phones, and they asked for consent to search the cell phone for evidence of them, you know, throwing rocks and so forth, they reasonably believe that if they were up to no good, they would be recording it. So a,the kids were 1112 13, and 12. So four kids total, and a couple of my believe, offered their cell phones to be viewed and the videos looked at and so forth. So the officers got consent from the kids. They looked at the videos, they did not see anything illegal. They gave the phones back and the kids were released. Well, what happens later, mom calls, right, one of the kids mom's calls and says, You have no right to search my kids cell phone without my permission. My son cannot give you permission. That's my cell phone, I pay for it. And the officer asks, well, did my you know these officers mess up?And the answer is no.It is.It is legally possible for a juvenile to consent to search. So what are the requirements of consent to search? Well, it has to be free and voluntary. In other words, the person gave consent to search freely on his or her own will. And it was voluntary. In other words, there was nogun to the kit to the person's head, right. So that's free and voluntary. Also, the requirement is that the person has to have authority to give consent over the things searched.These factors are judged based on a totality of the circumstances, a totality of circumstances, the whole thing comes into all the facts come into play.And then finally, the prosecutor the burden of proof is preponderance of the evidence. That is how much proof you need to prove to the court that you had free voluntary consent. So free and voluntary consent.The person giving consent has the authority.And based off to the totality of circumstances, can the prosecutor prove by a preponderance of the evidence more likely than not that the consent was free, you know that those factors are met? Well, let's look at it here. Okay. So first of all, courts do not have an age cutoff. There are plenty of cases out there where juveniles are consenting to search.The juvenile has authority over the phone, the juvenile is a user of the phone, the mom can also give consent, but they do not need to track down mom, they can get consent from somebody else who can give it the officer who shared the story said that there was no threats. There was no you know, it was it was just very calm and cordial and asked the kids to kind of prove that there weren't anything by showing the videos. So there is no threats, there is no harassment.And this is there is no facts given to me at least, that would show that the cops cannot prove that the kids the kid gave free and voluntary consent. Mom's consent is not required.They can get it if they want, but it's not required. So based off of this question, we are good to go. This is a valid consent. And if the officers would have found evidence on the phone, not only would we be good, but the officer presents convinced sees the phone as evidence to be used at trial.There you go. Keep your questions coming. I can't answer all the questions, but ones that I believe other officers like know the answer, I will share them on this YouTube format. Until next time, stay safe

    What is a private search?

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 8, 2022 4:07


    The following is a computer-generated transcription, some grammar and spelling errors may be inherent Hey guys, it's Anthony Bandiero, here, Senior Legal instructor at Blue to Gold law enforcement training. And today's question is, what evidence can I use from a private search? Well, the short answer is all of it. And here is why a private search is when a person searches or ceases something and there's no government involvement. Now, the general rule is, is that if there is no government involvement, you can use any evidence that they obtained period in the story, even if what they did, would have been completely prohibited if you did it. So what does it mean for a private person to be, you know, to be converted into a government agent, we are looking for things like the officer encouraged the person to do it, they directed or ordered them to do it, or they participated in the in the search, right? When you have those things in play, you have just made that private person, a government agent, and that now everybody has to play by the fourth minute rules. But the other the reverse side of that coin is also true. If the private person is not involved with law enforcement, and they're not being encouraged, directed, ordered. And they're not, you know, in law enforcement officers not participating in it, you can use any evidence they bring you, even if it would have offended the Fourth Amendment. Let me give you a couple examples. Security personnel, detain somebody because they were counting cards, and it was against house rules, right. So they brought the person back to the casino security office, they then opened up this guy's backpack and found drugs. Now they're not going to arrest this person, they were just going to trespass them. So what we have is a detention by a private security officer, and those is going to trespass them. Now they call police that the officers showed up, saw the drugs, right, that was obtained from the backpack. And the question is, can the officer use those drugs? In a case? Can I use it as evidence and answers? Absolutely, yes, no problem. Because even if the officer may have not been able to do the exact same thing, if he or she was on scene, for example, trespassing, somebody would not allow you to go right into their backpack. But it didn't happen with police involvement. Right. So we have another case, where a FedEx employee was really on the hunt for drugs being concealed in FedEx shipping packages. And he apparently, maybe even violated some FedEx rules, by searching boxes and so forth that he thought was contraband. And, in fact, he made, he was behind eight cases for the DEA.

    Can you pat-down purses, bags or backpacks?

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 8, 2022 3:31


    The following is a computer-generated transcription, some grammar and spelling errors may be inherent Hey guys, it's Anthony Bandiero here with blue to gold Law Enforcement Training bring you another roadside chat. This question is is can you look inside a woman's purse, or a man's backpack during a pat down?The answer is maybe. So here's, here's how this works. So we know that pat downs are, you know, an overall minimally intrusive way to protect yourself from weapons and blunt objects during a Terry stop. And if you have reason to believe that the person is either armed or dangerous, you can pat the person down for weapons. As far aspurses and backpacks go, if you can also articulate that you believe that the weapon could be in there, then what the courts want to see is that you start from the outside and only go into the container, the backpack or purse, if you cannot effectively pat the item down from the outside. So literally, what I would like to see in your reports, if you are doing this on a purse, for example, is that, you know, you articulate that the purse is thick sided, it's not conducive to a pat down, therefore, you opened it up, and only did those things necessary to find a weapon, blunt object, knife, and so forth. You know, again, you're not looking for evidence. Now, if you see evidence, in plain view, it is going to come in, but the courts do want, especially when you're doing something a little bit non traditional as looking inside containers, they're gonna want to make sure that you're on the up and up, and not using this as a as a, as a ruse to get into people's, you know, backpacks, and so forth. So that's the rule you if they have access, and also that they have access to it, right. So typically, when people are detained, they,you know, either they can be handcuffed or not, but usually they still have, or will have access to those places. So if you stop somebody for potentially being involved in an armed robbery, and you pat that person down, and they're carrying a backpack, you know, most cops are probably going to pat down the backpack as well, because that's where the gun would be right? If they if you haveevidence that they actually use a firearm, while if you've Terry stop them, they probably have a firearm on them somewhere. And if it's not on there person, it's likely in that backpack. So start from the outside, if you can effectively do that, you unzip it, and just look for the gun, and then you secure the gun and you go from there. That's the rule on containers associated with pat downs. I hope this helps. Again, you gotta do me a favor, you got to subscribe. And like that gives me the feedback that I need. Also, if you want legal updates, go to my website, blue to gold calm and you'll see you know, sign up for legal updates. And don't forget the live training, right? This is just a small piece of it. I'm going to give you a small piece of go to bluetogold.com, look at a training calendar and see if there's a class that you can attend online or in person. You want to see the whole shebang right I do this I do three days of search and seizure training, which makes cops experts in the law. Until next time, stay safe.

    Can you get consent to search after the non-consenting spouse has left?

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 8, 2022 6:10


    The following is a computer-generated transcription, some grammar and spelling errors may be inherent Hey guys, it's Anthony Bandiero here with blue to gold law enforcement training, giving you another roadside chat. Today's question is one that I get all the time around the country. And it's, it's important. So let's go through, can you get consent to search a home from a spouse, even if the non consenting spouse has left?Okay, so the answer is yes, you can, you can use that consent, even if the person who is non consenting, let's say, let's say the wife will allow you to search the home, but the husband is like, no way you can not search the house. And he tells you, you know, that, that, that my lack of consent is good for the next two years, right. And then he goes to the store, he goes to work, he gets arrested. And the question is, can we now go back to the wife and ask her for her consent, even though we know that her husband has already said no? And the answer is? Absolutely, yes.Here's why.When a spouse leaves the property, for a lawful reason, for example, they get arrested. And that arrest was not done to remove them from the you know, from the environment, but done for lawful reason, domestic warrants, whatever, or they go to the store to get a six pack of beer, they are taking the risk, that the person that they leave behind will betray their trust.All law enforcement officers need to conduct a consensual search on a house, apartment, whatever is valid consent from someone with a parent authority. Anda non consenting spouse or roommates is not present at the time of the search. That's what it is. That's the rule. This comes from a Supreme Court case called California vs. Fernandez. Now many officers are thinking about a case called Georgia versus Randolph, where the non consenting husband was on scene and says you cannot search my house, the wife said yes, husband said no, the police searched anyway. Well, we know the result of that case, you can't do it. But if the husband is going to leave his drugs, his illegal guns and whatever at the

    When is Miranda required?

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 8, 2022 5:49


    The following is a computer-generated transcription, some grammar and spelling errors may be inherent Hey guys, it's Anthony Bandiero here with blue to go Law Enforcement Training. This week I'm in Independence, Missouri, doing advanced search and seizure. If you're interested in this training, and you want me to come to your agency, shoot me an email on blue to gold.com Alright. Today's question is, when is Miranda required during a detention? So first of all, this is a little bit of a pet peeve of mine, because when I go around the country, many officers tell me that Miranda is required when the person is not free to leave. They were taught this. But unfortunately, it's bad training.And oftentimes, it's the lawyers that are training them to say this, that is not the legal standard, being not free to leave, is a detention. But we know that during the tensions, Miranda is not required. For example, during a DUI investigation, how many times have you read Miranda, to a DUI suspect during fsts? Almost never, because it's a detention and you're you're in the investigative phase. But yet the person is not free to leave. Certainly, if the person turned around and started walking away, you would detain them and probably arrest them for obstruction and so forth. And in addressing for the product DUI as well. But my point is, is they are not free to leave. So but Miranda is not required. Instead, officers need to articulate that it's that Miranda is required, when there's actually three components, one arrest like custody, not free to leave arrest, like custody, number two eminence interrogation. So for example, if you arrest somebody, and put them back in a police car, and you're going to question them at the station, what Miranda is not required at this point, because you're not interrogating him, you're not asking him questions that are reasonably likely to elicit a incriminating response. You can wait for the Miranda until you get to the stage or you can read it on scene, and you will, there it's not going to expire that soon. And finally, the third requirement is known officer.This makes sense. Because if you have a suspect that is in jail, pre assignment of a lawyer, right, that's when the Sixth Amendment kicks in. But you have somebody in a holding cell a pre arraignment, the 48 hour holds whatever you know, your state does. And you insert an undercover agent into that jail cell and that personconfesses that is valid that can be used against them.

    What is a "cat out of the bag" search?

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 8, 2022 8:03


    The following is a computer-generated transcription, some grammar and spelling errors may be inherent Hey guys, it's Anthony Bandiero here with blue to gold law enforcement training. And today I'm bringing another roadside chat from Studio.Today's question is, what is a cat out of bag search? So this ties in with another video that I made about private searches. Just to remind you a private search is not a Fourth Amendment search. It does not have to be reasonable. We don't care if it would offend the Fourth Amendment. If you know if you did it, if the police are not involved in it, and they didn't encourage it. It's not a fourth research period, you can use the evidence. Now let's talk about this related issue, which is, what if somebody sees something right from a private area? Like say for example, they bring you a backpack from the from a roommates bedroom, right? And they say, look, there's drugs in here.There is a doctrine out there called cat out of the back search and allows officers to conduct the same private search that the private person did without offending the Fourth Amendment.So let's kind of dive a little dive into this and explain what's going on here. So let's walk through this. So imagine a roommate suspects that their that their fellow occupant is selling drugs. One day, they go into the occupants bedroom, snooped around and open up drawers and look in closets and look into a backpack. And lo and behold, they find two ounces of methamphetamine,shocked and pissed off, because their roommate is, you know, is they confirm what they are doing. They bring the backpack to you at the police station.The legal question is, what can you do with that backpack? And the answer is the exact same thing the private person did before they entered the police station. That means that if an officer unzipped the backpack, and looked inside and saw those two ounces of methamphetamine, that officer could seize that meth as plain view. And here's why the cat is out of the bag. In other words, the private person, the actual defendant in this case, has lost his reasonable expectation of privacy as to what is in the backpack? Think about him? Is it reasonable for a person to have this private search conducted by their roommate or talk about the defendants point of view, and their roommate found the drugs and and brings it to the inn brings it to the police station? And that roommate says, hey, look, I know what's in here. You know, there's, there's this substance that looks just like, you know, like narcotics is the way it's packaged. And maybe they have personal experience with it. But my point is, you know, there is probable cause that there's evidence in this bag. It's not reasonable anymore, that the defendant has privacy as to those contents. I mean, it just doesn't make any sense. But the Supreme Court said in a case called Jacobson, the cat is out of the bag, we know what's in it. Therefore, the police can do the exact same search.

    Can you run a K9 in a motel parking lot?

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 8, 2022 2:10


    The following is a computer-generated transcription, some grammar and spelling errors may be inherent Hey guys, it's Anthony Bandiero here with political law enforcement training. Today's question is, can you run a drunk canine in a motel parking lot? The short answer is yes, you can. And here's why. A person that staying at a hotel does not usually have any reasonable expectation of privacy in the parking lot. Think about it, you go stay at the Hilton, the Motel Six, whatever, you certainly have a reasonable section of privacy in your hotel room. But the but the parking lot, why would you have no exclusive right of access. Other people are, you know, entering the parking lot. It's usually these are not gated. But even if they are gated, they're not just for you, you know, they're for anybody who has access to the hotel. So, generally speaking, there is no privacy interest there. Therefore, the dog is lawfully present if the dog is lawfully present, that is the definition of a free air sniff, a dog can be run around a vehicle, I would not touch the vehicle on purpose. That is another issue involving that may be a search in the Fourth Amendment. I have other videos that address that issue. But as long as the dog is lawfully present, there is no constitutional search occurring. Therefore, when the dog alerts to the presence of contraband, now you have probable cause that can allow you to either a go get a search warrant, or be it under the Fourth Amendment, you can search that car under the motor vehicle exception, even though there's not somebody present in the vehicle, as long as police have lawful access to the vehicle, plus probable cause, and the vehicle appears mobile that it can it does drive, it does move, even if you don't have the keys, that is a motor vehicle exception. And there you have it. So keep these questions coming. Also, please hit subscribe. Follow me on Facebook. Let's get these conversations going. Let's clear up all these confusions that cops have under the Fourth Amendment and the Fifth Amendment. Until next time, stay safe

    What is a cause of injury search?

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 8, 2022 0:09


    The following is a computer-generated transcription, some grammar and spelling errors may be inherent Hey guys, it's Anthony Bandiero Here, Senior Legal instructor at Blue to Gold law enforcement training. And today's legal question is, what is a cause of injury search? Before I dive into what that is, don't forget to hit subscribe, follow me on Facebook, it's gonna be a great resource for you to get information and share tactics and so forth, your fellow officers, alright, a cause of injury search is when officers arrive at a medical scene. And they search the person's belongings for things that can help explain while the why the person is in medical distress. And oftentimes, these cases are about discovering evidence in plain view. So this is an exception to the fourth member crime, right? So you arrive on scene, it's a call is a man down, let's say it's in their home, and fires their you know, medical is there, the ambulance there, and you walk into, you know, provide coverage and support for the situation. Maybe it's a drug den, and so forth. Maybe it's you've had calls there previously. So you want to make sure the other first responders are safe. And while you're in there, you see a backpack next to the to the person, let's say the person is apparently odd, and you open up the backpack, and you find a gun, you find, you know, a drug evidence, you find maybe some fraudulent credit cards, now we're going to have a fight in court in the defendants argument is, you should have never went into my backpack. And your response would most likely be I had a right to do it as the core cause of injury, I'm looking to help you. I'm looking for reason for the overdose. I'm looking for medical alert bracelets, maybe even you know Id because that can also help provide care for the person, maybe the their refreshes in the system, they've they've had medical care before, and there's past notes about allergies and so forth. That's really why you're doing this. Now, as far as the mental mindset goes, by the way, we don't really care what you're thinking personally inside. I mean, certainly, many cops are going to have a hunch at the least that they might find other evidence in plain view. But as long as you were objectively reasonable, we don't care about your mental mindset. Now. Once what does that cause of injury search end? It ends when the necessity for terminates, you know, so for example, if the person is not overdose, but is in diabetic shock, and now, medical tells you hey, look, we're good. Like we know what this person is what's going on with this person or they start becoming you know, they're revived, then it doesn't seem with those facts that I gave you that there is still a need to keep looking for a cause of injury. So that's what it ends. Now, one other note on this is what about the evidence? in plain view, many states have immunity laws for drugs in plain view? Well, certainly, if your state gives immunity to people who have overdosed, and that's not going to be used for evidence, but what about the gun? And what about the fraudulent credit cards? You know, certainly those things are not protected by most immunity laws. So those things would come in as plain view evidence. I hope this helps keep the questions coming. And until next time, stay safe. When it comesto legal training. We're the gold standard. Visit blue to gold.comor Call 888-579-7796 today to purchase the search and seizure Survival Guide, register for a class or learn how to bring our search and seizure training to your agency.

    Can you inventory locked containers?

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 8, 2022 4:59


    The following is a computer-generated transcription, some grammar and spelling errors may be inherent Hey guys, it's Anthony Bandiero here with blue to gold law enforcement training, bring it to the roadside chat from the studio since travel restrictions are in place. Alright. Today's question is, is can officers search a locked container during a vehicle inventory search? And before I give you the answer, I just want to remind my viewers to please hit subscribe, please visit me on YouTube and Twitter and get connected with me because what my goal is, I want to make the largest law enforcement community for getting answers and sharing tactics, getting legal, you know, answers and so forth. That's my goal, because I want to train all law enforcement officers in this vital information. And I want to work to, I want to help us all work together to share best practices. Alright, let's dive right in. If you have a policy that allows you to go into law containers and the answers you can, so that's really the answer. Courts want you to conduct vehicle inventory searches, and they are searches I subconsciously anthony They're not really searches. We're not supposed to call them searches. They are searches. They're just inventory searches. And that searches for evidence. Anyway, as long as your policy says it, you know, that is the kind of that's the kind of thing that courts are looking for, because they courts want to either reduce or eliminate officer discretion when conducting a vehicle inventory search, because they do not want them to be a, you know, wholesale rummaging for evidence, they want them to be legit. They want to be in good faith. You know, why do you get to inventory search a car, to protect somebody's property, to protect your agency from false claims, and to also secure dangerous items. That's why these are not supposed to be, hey, let's get into that car through an inventory search type of mentality. So policies now coming in two flavors, written and Customs and Practice. Ideally, if you want to keep your agency out of suppression hearings, and so forth, your policy should allow you too, to inventory locked containers. If you have access to them with a key or the person gives you a combination and so forth. I do not recommend that you break open closed containers or lock containers during inventory search. Because if you do it, if you do not do it on all cars, but just doing uncertain cars, what the defense attorney is going to likely say is, Why are you breaking my client's property? You know, it just doesn't, it doesn't sound reasonable.

    It's Armed or Dangerous, Not "Armed and Dangerous"

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 8, 2022 5:53


    The following is a computer-generated transcription, some grammar and spelling errors may be inherent Hey guys, it's Anthony Bandiero here with blue to gold law enforcement training. And I'm in Scotch Plains, New Jersey delivering a fantastic advanced search and seizure class to some great officers. And I want to give you take this opportunity, give you some advice. Okay? The advice is this. When it comes to pat downs, it's armed or dangerous, not armed and dangerous. And here's what I mean. In the seminal case of Terry versus Ohio, the US Supreme Court talked about, you know, Officer Martin McFadden with the Cleveland Police Department, you know, patrolling Euclid Avenue for something like 38 years on the job and most of them as a plainclothes officer. And he sees Terry and his friends going back and forth in front of stores and things that they're up to something about to commit an armed robbery. And he Pat's him down and finds two, revolvers Ontarian in a cohort. And the Supreme Court said that if the officer can articulate that the person is armed and dangerous, they can do the pat down will certainly McFadden had reasonable suspicion that Terry and his friends were on dangerous because there but the hold up the store. But I wish they didn't use that phrase. That phrase comes from Old Hollywood, you know, be on the lookout for a suspect who is considered armed and dangerous. But what they should have said, and it would have given a lot more guidance to hard working police officers out there that want to go home at night, is it's not armed and dangerous. It's armed or dangerous. We got to get out of our mind is armed and dangerous. Because here's what happens. Officers are sometimes not patting down people, because they consider them dangerous. But they have no articulation that they're also armed. That is not what courts look for. They routinely look for armed, are they armed? Do they have the bolts consistent with the weapon? Are they favoring one side, you know, on their waist area? You know, are they walking in with a certain gate? That seems like they have a concealed carry and so forth? Are they visibly armed, you can certainly disarm people during a lawful detention or probable cause traffic stop for your safety, even if they're lawfully carrying, if you believe that this would help your safety that is, that is easy for the courts. I mean, a person with a gun can instantly become dangerous.

    Can you lie during a knock & talk to enter a home?

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 3, 2022 5:18


    The following is a computer-generated transcription, some grammar and spelling errors may be inherent Hey guys, it's Anthony Bandiero here with blue to go Law Enforcement Training. I'm in Martin County, Florida teaching advanced search and seizure having a great time out here. And the question I got was, Can officers lie during a knock and talk? And the answer is, yes, certainly officers are not, you know, required to share all their inner secrets about an investigation with an occupant. So that's not a problem. You know, courts have upheld, you know, deception during investigations for centuries. But I want to transition to another related question. And that is, Can officers lie, to get into a home to, you know, see evidence and so forth. And the general rule for known officers, these are, you know, these are not undercover officers. These are known officers, that the documents know that they're dealing with the police. The general rule is that officers should not lie about their primary purpose about coming into the home. Let me give you some examples. And an infamous case, officers told the occupants that there was a bomb planted somewhere in the building, right? That's, that's they got a bomb threat, and they want to look for it. What the cops were really after was plain view evidence of drugs. Well, they get into the apartment to look for the bomb, they find no drug evidence, and we go from there. The court easily suppress that evidence, no rational person would say no to the police. After hearing that there's a bomb somewhere in the building. Let me give another example. Officers were investigating disability fraud. The occupant was suspected of being highly mobile, and he's lying about his disability and so forth. They wanted to catch them on camera inside his home moving around with no issues. They told him that he was the victim of identity theft. This was a lie, he there was no evidence of him being the victim of an ID theft. Based off this, though, they won't take a report, the occupant invites him in, and they secretly record him moving around and so forth and use that against him in his disability disability fraud case, that was suppressed, because the primary purpose was a lie, that we're not there for fraud. Compare that to these two cases. cops told the suspect that they were following up on a two year old burglary that he reported. Okay, so the he was the victim of the Burgh. But that was a lie. The case was closed, there was no leads, and so forth. What they were really after was child porn evidence. They want to see if there's something in plain view. So they told him this and they wanted to talk to him further inside the home. So the occupant of Vida men, they're acting like they're taking more information about stuff that was stolen, all the while they're looking around the home looking for the, you know, plain view evidence that was suppressed, the primary purpose was a lie, there was no investigation. But compare it to this case, officers were investigating a burglary. And the occupant was the target. They were hoping to get into the home to see if there was plain view evidence of the property stolen. Now, when they went to his house, they said, Look, we're rescuing a Burg. And he asked him I suspect and the cops lied and says, No, you're not. Okay. He says, Come on in. And while they're taking the report, and so forth, and asking him questions, they see plain view evidence that was upheld as constitutional, because the primary purpose was not a lie. They were there for the burglary. But the secondary purpose, of course, was also to see if they saw plain view evidence. So this is just about telling somebody why you're there. Remember, though, is if you do not, if you remain silent about why you're there, and you're like,

    What is the motor vehicle exception (i.e. Carroll Doctrine)?

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 3, 2022 4:36


    Hey guys, it's Anthony Bandiero here with Blue to gold Law Enforcement Training. I'm in Scotch Plains New Jersey teaching advanced search and seizure. And I'm going to answer a question today that I know a lot of you have on your mind. Can you search a vehicles passenger for marijuana? And the answer is, probably, but I have to go into some, you know, legal reasoning here because the answer is really not that clear. In some regards, this video is probably going to be more than average, I try to keep my videos all under five minutes, this one is probably going to go a little longer. But let me dive right into it. Here's what the Supreme Court has told us about passengers. There's two key cases I want you to know about. Before we dive into a little more discussion about the marijuana issue. One, back in the 1940s, the US Supreme Court said that if you have probable cause for the vehicle, right, that there's something in a vehicle, it doesn't give you automatic right? To search passengers, you have to have a Nexus that just makes sense. If you pull over a vehicle, and let's say it's Uber, and you find drugs on the Uber driver, certainly that would not give you probable cause in and of itself to search some passenger who does not know that Uber driver. The other case, happened 1970s. And what happened there is the officer gave the driver a citation for speeding, and then did a search incident to arrest. Well, the logic here and I do hear cops, you know, saying this, and they're kind of taught this way is that a citation is in lieu of arrest you have you heard that before? Right? It's like, I'm not, I'm kind of like a rescue, but you're going to be free to go. That's an old school language from some court cases, quite frankly, I don't teach it because I see no value in it. If you have even if you have an arrestable offense, let's say a suspended license, and your state allows you to arrest somebody for a suspended license, but you're just going to cite and release them, you get none of the benefits of an arrest, you get no search, you have to be diligent in your time, and so forth. So there's no value in saying it's Aluma. Rest, from our perspective, from the law enforcement, or maybe academically, it's, it's, it's in lieu of arrest, let the prosecutors enjoy that doctrine, if it gives them anything, but for you, it gives you nothing new, they're having arrest or you don't, if you don't have an arrest, it's treated like a Terry stop, even though you're citing the person. All right, now let's move into the marijuana discussion. If you have probable cause, that a passenger has drugs on them, like marijuana, and you are not intending to arrest, that's where the problem comes in. When you do a search of somebody person, and it's not for weapons, that is arrest, like, in other words, if if you have a passenger probably cause that they have drugs in their pocket, you go right into the pocket and pull out the drugs. That type of action is arrest like meaning it needs to be supported by probable cause. And you probably technically arrested them, even though they may not go to jail that day. That is actually not a big deal. The fact that they don't go to jail, but still you have, you know, essentially did a search incident to arrest. That's the only exception. We do not have an exception at the Supreme Court level that says if you have probable cause that somebody has evidence on their person that in and of itself allows you to search the person, you know, for example, you have probable cause that somebody has drugs in their backpack and they're walking down the street. Do you have automatic authority to stop the person and search the backpack? Under some recognized exception of search one requirement?

    Can you search vehicle passengers for marijuana?

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 3, 2022 8:28


    The following is a computer-generated transcription, some grammar and spelling errors may be inherent Hey guys, it's Anthony Bandiero here with Blue to gold Law Enforcement Training. I'm in Scotch Plains New Jersey teaching advanced search and seizure. And I'm going to answer a question today that I know a lot of you have on your mind. Can you search a vehicles passenger for marijuana? And the answer is, probably, but I have to go into some, you know, legal reasoning here because the answer is really not that clear. In some regards, this video is probably going to be more than average, I try to keep my videos all under five minutes, this one is probably going to go a little longer. But let me dive right into it. Here's what the Supreme Court has told us about passengers. There's two key cases I want you to know about. Before we dive into a little more discussion about the marijuana issue. One, back in the 1940s, the US Supreme Court said that if you have probable cause for the vehicle, right, that there's something in a vehicle, it doesn't give you automatic right? To search passengers, you have to have a Nexus that just makes sense. If you pull over a vehicle, and let's say it's Uber, and you find drugs on the Uber driver, certainly that would not give you probable cause in and of itself to search some passenger who does not know that Uber driver. The other case, happened 1970s. And what happened there is the officer gave the driver a citation for speeding, and then did a search incident to arrest. Well, the logic here and I do hear cops, you know, saying this, and they're kind of taught this way is that a citation is in lieu of arrest you have you heard that before? Right? It's like, I'm not, I'm kind of like a rescue, but you're going to be free to go. That's an old school language from some court cases, quite frankly, I don't teach it because I see no value in it. If you have even if you have an arrestable offense, let's say a suspended license, and your state allows you to arrest somebody for a suspended license, but you're just going to cite and release them, you get none of the benefits of an arrest, you get no search, you have to be diligent in your time, and so forth. So there's no value in saying it's Aluma. Rest, from our perspective, from the law enforcement, or maybe academically, it's, it's, it's in lieu of arrest, let the prosecutors enjoy that doctrine, if it gives them anything, but for you, it gives you nothing new, they're having arrest or you don't, if you don't have an arrest, it's treated like a Terry stop, even though you're citing the person. All right, now let's move into the marijuana discussion. If you have probable cause, that a passenger has drugs on them, like marijuana,...

    Can officers can go into the backyard to serve arrest warrant?

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 3, 2022 3:26


    The following is a computer-generated transcription, some grammar and spelling errors may be inherent Hey guys, it's Anthony Bandiero, here with blue to gold law enforcement training this week. I'm in Martin County, Florida. And the question I have for you is whether or not officers can go into the backyard when they're serving an arrest warrant and not violate curtilage? And the answer is, yes, officers can do it. And here's why. Now, first of all, the question comes up, because when I talk about curtilage, in my class, I remind the students that from the Supreme Court's perspective, the back yard is typically treated like the home itself. So if you're going to be there, you need a reason you need what I call crew, you need the person's consent, you need a recognized exception or a warrant. There's the crew. Now, here, the recognize exception is the arrest warrant. An arrest warrant gives the officers permission to invade somebody's privacy, in the same manner as if they had a search warrant. Really, an arrest warrant is two things. One, it provides judicial probable cause to arrest somebody, but it also gives the police officer authority to search for that person at their home under three conditions. One, that that do have a valid arrest warrant that this is their house or their domicile, it doesn't necessarily mean that the address you're serving, it has to be on the warrant. But you do have to if there's a any doubts about that, let's say for example, they moved, and you look at DMV records, and you talk to a neighbor, and you talk to their employer, and they're like, yeah, they put this address on their employment application, you're gonna want to explain to the court why you had probable cause that this is now their legal domicile where they live. And then finally, the third ingredient is there, you have reason to believe they are present at the time of execution. One thing I want to kind of guide you on though, is that because going into the backyard is in a sense, like going into the home itself, that third element should be there before you go into the backyard. So for example, you should have a reason to believe that they're presently home before you go into the backyard. The cars in the driveway, the neighbor says they saw them there you see them, and so forth. If you have those elements, you can go into the backyard to serve the arrest warrant for officer safety purposes and so forth in the same manner as if you had a search warrant, which does mean forced entry after following complying with knockin announce. I hope this helps keep the questions coming in. Until next time, stay safe.When it comes to legal training, we're the gold standard. Visit blue to gold comm or Call 888-579-7796 today to purchase the search and seizure Survival Guide, register for a class or learn how to bring our search and seizure training to your agency.

    Can you run a gun's serial number during a traffic stop?

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 3, 2022 5:37


    The following is a computer-generated transcription, some grammar and spelling errors may be inherent Hey guys, it's Anthony Bandiero, here with blue to gold law enforcement training, and just outside of Cleveland, Ohio. And today's question is, can you run the serial number of a firearm that you are holding during a traffic stop? And the answer is most likely, but there are some caveats I want to go over. So first of all, we do know that if you are lawfully seizing a gun, for example, during a pat-down during a traffic stop, even if some is lawfully concealed carry, and you want to seize that gun during the traffic stop for your safety. Well, that certainly is going to be upheld. That's pretty clear. And then when you have the firearm, normally the firearms serial number is in plain view, you can just look at it. And that's not going to be a search under the Fourth Amendment right to be right to see, that's plain view. But what happens when you are running the gun, and the gun itself has nothing to do with the traffic stop, you know, it's just a safety issue. For example, the traffic stop is for speeding feller to maintain lane and so forth. The next legal question that we have to address is, does the running the gun extend the traffic stop? Because if it does, it could be prohibited under Rodriguez. So let's go through if you're running the firearm, and the serial number is is offered along with the suspects or the driver's license information, so forth, and dispatches gives you all that at one time, that's not usually gonna be an issue because it didn't extend the stop. It's part of the other things that you did it did not measurably extend the stop. So that's that's the first issue benefit. But if it does extend itself, let's say for example, dispatch tells you, hey, look, NCIC has taken a while to get back on this gun. And everything else is, is completed on the traffic stop, and you just waiting, there is an argument that that unrelated investigation is extended stop. And if something is found as a result of that, it's the fruit of the poisonous tree. So keep that in mind, I think courts are going to bend over backwards to give you the tools you need to, to find stolen firearms and so forth. But just keep that in the back your mind at some, at some point it can become extended, it could extend the stop. The next issue is what if the if the serial number is hidden from plain view. So for example, if there's a Hogue grip on the grip, and that certain number is, is underneath those I know, some Rugers have their serial number plates there. And you have to actually remove a grip or you have to remove a firearm part, you know, part of the furniture of the firearm and so forth. That is not playing view, right, that is a search under the Fourth Amendment. And I recommend that if you're going to do that, and be that and be intrusive on the person's firearm, have some reason to give to the court why you believed that run the firearm was reasonable...

    May officers run a drug detection dog in an apartment or motel hallway?

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 3, 2022 5:54


    The following is a computer-generated transcription, some grammar and spelling errors may be inherent Hey guys, it's Anthony Bandiero, here with blue to gold law enforcement training. And I'm outside of Cleveland, Ohio. And today's question is, may officers run a drug dog in apartment or motel hallways? And the answer is yes and no.Officers can run a drug canine in a motel or hotel hallway, but they cannot run the same dog in an apartment hallway. Usually, these are the most these are the this is the best approach here. And let me explain to you why. Now, first of all, when we are talking about areas outside of the front door, you know, are around a home, motel apartment and so forth. Those areas are classified under one of three categories. First, curtilage, curtilage, is protected, like the home itself. And these are areas intimately associated with domestic life, you know, playing with the kids barbecues, you know, hanging out on lawn chairs, and so forth. And then the second area are areas where there's a reasonable expectation of privacy. And finally, is open fields. So curtilage,reasonable section of privacy, and open fields. Now let's go let's start with motels. motels don't have curtilage. You know, most motels do not have curtilage. Colleges is more associated with non traditional home, like a tent. But there are areas where the person the occupants have an exclusive right of control over it. If you think about most motels, they cannot exclude anybody from the hallways. This is why or that is why it is not curtilage. Let's go on to reasonable expectation of privacy. Hallways in a motel also are not protected under a reasonable expectation of privacy tests. The main reason is that society does not think it's reasonable. For the for a multiwell a motel occupants to have such a high expectation of privacy, that it would be unreasonable for officers public in canines to be in those hallways, it's just not that type of environment. And if you think about it, that makes sense. motels are certainly like a home inside the motel room when the person is lawfully occupying it. But there's real world consequences and limitations. You know, for example, people can be immediately evicted. If they violate a rule, like smoking and fighting and partying and breaking stuff. You know, that's not true with a home. And it's it's a commercial establishment. So really, hallways are the third category, open fields, let's move on to apartments, apartment hallways are not curtilage. Generally speaking, there is no right of exclusive control, you know, an occupancy over that hallway, other people can access it, they can invite the public. So it's not curtilage. You know, there may be an area in an apartment that is exclusive to one resident, but generally speaking hallways are not. But they are often considered areas where a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy. The reason is, is that most courts find that the apartment dweller, this isn't this is a traditional home, right, clearly, and they want to uphold a higher level of privacy in these areas. In some ways, I think courts feel it's unfair for the traditional home with the white picket fence, and the cops can bring the drug sniffing dog onto that property into the front door. Why should the apartment dwelling dweller have a less expectation of privacy? Will they do because again, hallways are not exclusive. They're not like the front door with a white picket fence. But this is a this is a proper balance.

    How do you handle misdemeanor crimes that were not committed in your presence?

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 3, 2022 8:26


    The following is a computer-generated transcription, some grammar and spelling errors may be inherent Hey guys, it's Anthony Bandiero Here, attorney and senior legal instructor with Blue to Gold law enforcement turning, bringing the roadside chat from the studio got an excellent question from an officer from Florida, right, the great state of Florida. So I'm going to call this chat. How do you handle misdemeanor crimes that are not committed in your presence? That's what I want to call this, right. And so the giveaway some context, if I give you this scenario, many states, not all, but many states have a misdemeanor restriction that you can, you can not make an arrest for a misdemeanor, that was not committed in your presence. Now, all of those states that have this restriction also have some rules that have exceptions. So for example, DUI, not coming in your presence, domestic violence, not coming your presence, you can still arrest on those, even though they're misdemeanors, but they still have this common law rule that if you didn't see with your own senses, then you have to go another route. So I want to give some cops some tools to use to address those situations that come up frequently, right. So before I dive in with those tools, let me give you the scenario. I got my computer up in front of me so we can read a little bit. So officers get a call that the victim had or her purse stolen. They arrived 30 minutes later, now they have a suspect description. They see the suspect, you know, a few blocks from the place where this the purse got stolen. Now this purse wasn't as this is not a strong arm robbery. This was simply the lady was on her phone. She's not she's not paying attention that she's an outside cafe. And the guy just comes up and grabs the purse and leaves right so then she realizes a purse is gone. So not a strong arm robbery or theft. Now in Florida, the have a felony? I think it's is it a felony? Yes, I felony is $750 or more in value. The victim says The purse is worth about 450 Not a lot of contents that are worth anything inside the purse. So she's claiming a loss of approximately $45. So we're in the misdemeanor level. Now they also have video of him. You know, behind some bushes, they add a school they go behind the bushes, they find the contents of the they find the person so forth. And here's where we're at, you know, can we make the arrest or not? If we can't make the arrest? What are we supposed to do? Okay, well, let's, let's address a few things

    Does a NO TRESPASSING sign and closed gate prohibit police officer from doing a knock & talk?

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 3, 2022 6:45


    The following is a computer-generated transcription, some grammar and spelling errors may be inherent Hey guys, it's Anthony Bandiero Here attorney and senior legal instructor for Blue to Gold law enforcement training, bringing into the roadside chat from the studio. Alright, this question comes from an officer in California, all right. So let me just kind of give you the question basically is will a no trespassing sign and they closed gate prohibits you from doing a knock and talk. Alright. So before I kind of go into my feedback here, let me get, let me give you some context here. So deputies in a role setting, they want to do a knock and talk on a burglary suspect. They don't have probable cause to arrest them. Now the suspect lives on a 100 acre ranch. It's fenced barbed wire, the driveway gate is closed, but also to keep the cows in, right. It's a rancher to working ranch, but the gate is not locked. There are several no trespassing sign No Trespassing signs provided near the front gate. about midday, the deputies open the gate drive through and close the gate behind them don't let the animals out. Right. They drive down a mile long driveway to reach a suspects house. And they talk to him. So the officer has two questions. Number one is are we good here on a knock and talk in number two is if if we are or not, you know, if we develop probable cause to arrest him? Can we arrest him? Okay. So whether or not whether or not a knock and talk is lawful, is falls into the Girl Scout rule. Okay, it's it comes from a case called Florida versus Jordan's US Supreme Court. So the Girl Scout rule basically means this do you believe? You know, take the cop part out of it? Right? I know your mission is to find out. But take the car cop part out. Do you believe that the Girl Scouts could do the same thing without offending? This person's raised quantitation of privacy? Right? Or trespassing on his property? Do you

    Can police officers tag a junked or abandoned vehicle when it is on curtilage?

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 3, 2022 6:18


    The following is a computer-generated transcription, some grammar and spelling errors may be inherent Hey guys, it's Anthony Bandiero Here attorney and senior legal instructor with Politico law enforcement training, bringing you a roadside chat from the studio. We got a doozy today, this is a question that comes up a lot. I also see it a lot. I'm being very proactive about this particular issue, which is, can police tag an abandoned or junk vehicle? When it's on curtilage? Okay, here is the scenario, I'm looking at my computer here. Right? So there's a new ordinance. This is this comes out of Louisiana, the great state of Louisiana. So this is there's an ordinance that's that, that directs police officers to tag abandoned or junk vehicles on private property without consent without a search warrant. Right, and then order to put give them notice that they got to get the thing out of there. And now the next question, which is not answered by the scenario is okay. Even if officers tag it, and you know, it, it goes nowhere. I guess we're gonna need a warrant to seize it. I don't know. I like to know that. I like to know what the ordinance says about that, too. Alright. So can officers do this? And it also applies to code enforcement and applies to, you know, agents of the government. Right, not just law enforcement. But I would recommend that cops be extremely cautious about this. So here's the first question I have for you. Is the vehicle on curtilage? Or is it on open fields, right? open fields are those areas that a person may own, but they're not protected by the Fourth Amendment. I mean, somebody can own 100 acres, but that 100 Acres is not going to be 100 acres of cartilage, it's going to be maybe an acre of curtilage. I mean, I'm just kind of, I want to see pictures, but of what the land looks like and where the home is, and things that they set up barbecues, lawn furniture, corn Hall. But certainly you can own a lot more land and curl it. So if the vehicle is on curtilage, buyer beware, you're probably going to get burned very bad. curtilage are those areas that are intimately associated with the home, right with family life, they're physically and psychologically associated with domestic life. The backyard is your quintessential curtilage, your carports your side, you know, areas rent your home. And if the car is there, my belief is 100%. Cops cannot be there tagging cars. Now, if the car is in the driveway, I've seen cases go back and forth. But if that portion of the driveway is curtilage, I would not be on it. Why Anthony? It's just the driveway because you don't have the homeowners consent.

    What is the "stale misdemeanor rule"?

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 3, 2022 5:24


    The following is a computer-generated transcription, some grammar and spelling errors may be inherentHey guys, it's Anthony Bandiero Here, attorney and senior legal instructor with Blue to Gold law enforcement training, bringing you another roadside chat from the studio. Let's get right into this. This question comes from California, and the officer is asking about the stale misdemeanor rule. So I guess the question is, is, what is the stale misdemeanor rule? Okay, I'm gonna give you a scenario to apply to, all right. The stale misdemeanor rule is a common law doctrine, that essentially means that if a crime was committed within the officer's presence, and he or she could arrest that person right then and there, right, but yet waits, and doesn't arrest and then arrest sometime down the road, let's say the next day, next week, whatever that makes that arrest. courts have held that that is a stale arrest, it's a still misdemeanor, and the appropriate response is not to arrest them anymore. But to submit a warrant request, or give them a citation and kick them loose. So the first thing is this stale misdemeanor rule is not really alive. And well, in many states. It is a live in California, but it's a very the case all on this doctrine is very limited. And the idea behind it is that, you know, we don't want this threat of arrest, hanging over people's heads that simply commit a misdemeanor and the officer's presence. And then, you know, because you have a year in a day, usually the file, right, the file the charges, we don't want this hanging over the person's head forever. So like, if you saw a person breaching the peace, right, disorderly conduct, let's just go with that disorderly conduct on Saturday, and you go up to them and say, hey, you know, knock it off, right? Or, or you don't do anything? And then you don't, you know, and then the next week, you see the same guy. And you decide just to arrest them for that disorderly conduct happened last week, the courts don't see that being legitimate for a misdemeanor that you didn't arrest for before. Okay, so there it is. It's, it's, again, a very rarely used doctrine in courts. But let's apply it to some facts. So my officer friend here says, Look, cops investigated domestic, right. And the husband is not home, he took off on foot, but we have probable cause. So the officer on that shift, writes a PC declaration for the husband, they handed off to the next shift and say, Hey, you can find them. Here you go, here's the, you know, here's the PC declaration, it's all ready to go. You can book them in the next shift finds them or the next morning, they find him, they then arrest him. Right. And we go to court. Are was that a still misdemeanor?

    If police get consent to search, does the traffic stop need to end first?

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 3, 2022 4:47


    The following is a computer-generated transcription, some grammar and spelling errors may be inherent Hey guys, it's Anthony Bandiero Here, attorney and senior legal instructor for blue to gold law enforcement training, bringing you another roadside chat from the studio. Okay. So here's the question from Texas. The officer says, If I get consent to search a vehicle, does the traffic stop have to end first? Before I can search? And the answer is no. So consent includes with it, the agreement to extend the traffic stop. Does that make sense? So we know that when it comes to traffic stops, you know, the scope of the traffic stop is determined by its mission. Which means why do we stop this person? If we stopped the person for speeding, we have the scope is a speeding investigation, we do not get a free drug investigation, right? So. So that's what it is now. Here, the officer says he actually built up reasonable suspicion for drugs, then asked for consent. And now he's wondering, do I have to stop the traffic stop? And then, you know, ended and then go for the search? And the answer is absolutely not. In fact, that'd be kind of silly, actually. Because if you have reasonable suspicion for drugs, asking for consent is now actually related to the traffic stop, because it concerns what's going on. Um, what you should do is actually put the original reason for the stop on ice. Just if you're writing a ticket, you should probably stop writing that ticket and now diligently pursue what the new issue is right? For drugs and so forth. That's actually what courts would want to see. I've had a there's a case out of Kansas, where the officer had reasonable suspicion pretty early into the traffic stop, did all of the traffic stop. And then, you know, include right in the ticket, all that kind of stuff, and then started pursuing the drug investigation, and then of calling a dog later the core throughout the throughout the evidence, because they're like, hey, look, you were not diligently pursuing your reasonable suspicion. And so that's, that's a great point, put the original reason on ice and then go from there. Okay. If you don't have reasonable suspicion, now, some states require reasonable suspicion before even asking for consent, you know, like Oregon, and so forth. So just think about that. But even if you don't have reasonable suspicion, I mean, the person giving you consent, is, again, consenting to extend the traffic stop here, the officer said, oftentimes, they'll talk to the drivers and ask Is anything any contraband in the vehicle and so forth? And they're like, no, do you want to take a look?..

    Did courts relax the manipulation rule under terry patdowns?

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 3, 2022 6:54


    The following is a computer-generated transcription, some grammar and spelling errors may be inherent Hey guys, it's Anthony Bandiero Here attorney and senior legal instructor for blue to gold law enforcement training, bringing you another roadside chat from the studio. This question comes from an officer in Florida. And he asks, have courts relaxed the manipulation rule? Under Terry pat downs? So what the officers talking about here is a case that's called Minnesota versus Dickerson, US Supreme Court. Basically what happened there were officers patted down Dickerson, they felt an item in his pocket while during the pat down. And they described the path and you know, when they're feeling sad, they described it as manipulating it, feeling it, pinching it, squeezing it, to basically determine whether or not it was drugs, right. And then they felt, you know, that that was a rock like substance. And that combined with all the other circumstances, while the stop was made in the first place, because we thought that drug activity is occurring.The court, the cops knew that it was, you know, potentially rock cocaine, or at least had probable cause? Don't you want to know it? But you had probable cause? They removed it? Sure enough, they're correct. And we're going to the US Supreme Court. So the US Supreme Court held that in that case, right. The cops manipulation of the item failed to satisfy the playing field doctrine, or the plain touch doctrine, wherever you want to call it. But they did say if while patting somebody down, an officer feels an item that is immediately apparent. Remember that immediately apparent as contraband evidence, fruits or instrumentalities, of a crime and so forth, that they could go into the pocket and seize it. Now, back to the original question, the officer is asking, have courts relaxed this rule? And the answer is no. They're very strict on it. If a cop goes to court, and is asked, at the time that you felt this item in the pocket,did you believe that it was a weapon or something that could hurt you? And then they in the officer says, No, I knew at that point, that it's not something that can hurt me. Okay. But you continue to feel the item? Yes. And how describe how you felt that item and so forth? Well, I felt that I put my hand in it, you know, I pinched it, I squeezed it...

    Can police officers evict occupants from a long-term stay motel?

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 1, 2022 7:54


    The following is a computer-generated transcription, some grammar and spelling errors may be inherent Hey guys, it's Anthony Bandiero Here attorney and senior legal instructor for blue to gold law enforcement training, bringing on the roadside chat from the studio. Here we got a great question from the great state of Idaho, which is going to be my future residence one day already bought the lands as the build the house. So, here's, here's we got going on there.So this question is, can police evict tenants or occupants from a long term stay motel? Man, before I get into this, this is this area of the law is really underdeveloped. We certainly have a lot of cases from evicting people from hotels and hotels, and, and so forth. And of course, we have lots of cases from trying to get people out of, you know, apartments and houses. And then in between those two is the long term stay the extended stay America type of situation. And let's go through it. Alright, let's go. This is good stuff here. Okay. So here's a scenario. A local hotel, it was a Motel Six, and now it's called the extended stay. Is it? Yeah, extended stay. What I mean, I would love to, I would love to live there. It just sounds like a beautiful place. And so the cop, you know, gets requests by staff to evict people, right. And they want to know, you know, does and while we're evicting people other questions, the COP is asking, you know, do we have to? Does the manager have to give the notice to evict? Can we do it for the manager? Can we walk right into the door? Can we just use the master key and just walk right in? Alright, so hopefully, this video is not too long. But I'm telling you, this video is going to help you because this issue comes up all the time. Okay, let's first start with the premise of dealing with true hotels that are your stereotypical, you know, one night to night type of scenarios. So the law is pretty clear on this one. Hotels and motels have a common law, right? to evict people for cause these are what the courts refer to as transient lodging, right? The person knows that they're not going to be staying there forever. And that if they break the rules, it's not unreasonable to expect to get the boot. So the law is pretty clear. If the management calls you and says, Hey, we need help the victim this person because of partying, drugs, smoking, you know, whatever breaking stuff, then the laws pretty clear that they got to leave. But what about them if they pay for the next week? Anthony, that's a civil issue...

    Can an intoxicated owner of a vehicle give consent to search?

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 1, 2022 5:07


    The following is a computer-generated transcription, some grammar and spelling errors may be inherent Hey guys, it's Anthony Bandiero. Here, attorney and senior legal instructor with Blue to Gold law enforcement training bringing the roadside chat from the studio. This question, let's see, look on my computer here. This question comes from an officer in the great state of Texas, right? Maybe it's the maybe it's the Great Republic of Texas. I don't know, technically, if it's, you know, what they call it down there. Alright. So this officer has a great scenario. And basically the question is, is Can an intoxicated owner of a vehicle give consent to search? Right despite being intoxicated. So the scenario here, the officer says that they stopped a vehicle with three occupants, the owner of the vehicle is in the rear seat due to be intoxicated, so they have a designated driver, that's always nice. And they see some old containers in the vehicle. So they're gonna get into the vehicle based on that alone. But that's not a very comprehensive search by any means. Because you can only look in places where open containers are likely to be so you don't get the trunk. You don't get the hood. You don't get tiny little places. Usually. I know what you're gonna say. But Anthony, there's little shooters can be in there. Okay, if the court buys it, then that's fine. But while doing there, they while in the car, retrieving the open containers, the officer see some Swisher Sweets, which is, you know, very commonly associated with marijuana cigarettes. So that's where we're at. Okay. So, and those are under the seat. And that's another telltale sign that they're probably marijuana cigarettes, right. But the cop then goes to the owner, again, this owner is intoxicated, would have been arrested that behind the wheel and says, Can we search your car? And he or she says yes. Is that consent valid? Based off of these facts? Absolutely. Absolutely. Voluntary intoxication is not going to get you out of consent to search, right? Voluntary intoxication, doesn't get it person out of there consensus search, basically, the role is this. Under the totality of the circumstances, do you reasonably believe that the person has the capacity to know that it's it's a, you know, they have a choice, right? It's a yes or no, they have the capacity understand that they have a choice. That's it. That's really all it takes. And the burden of proof for the court is usually pretty low. In most states, it's preponderance of the evidence...1

    Can police officers seize an OD victim's cell phone as evidence?

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 1, 2022 5:31


    The following is a computer-generated transcription, some grammar and spelling errors may be inherent Hey guys, it's Anthony Bandiero Here, attorney and senior legal instructor for Blue to Gold law enforcement training, bringing you another roadside chat from the road. Right. So a lot of these I make are from the studio because of travel restrictions. Or just as more convenient to be honest with you, sometimes I make them because I get so many of these, but I'm here in Greenville, Tennessee, trying to catch up on these, these questions. And the next one is going to be from an officer in New York, right, just north of New York City. And basically, the officer is give me a scenario here, where under the lights kind of coming into the car, but it is what it is, hopefully that's not too distracting. Alright, so the question is, when officers respond to an OD, right, and the person is is revived, they're going to go to the hospital? Can you take their cell phone as evidence and to see, you know, who the dealer is, you know, because that's that person could potentially be charged for contributing to the, to the overdose? What if the, the person, you know, ends up dying? Can you searches, you know, basically seize any cell phones and the circumstances? Here's, here's my, my feedback. Number one, obviously, without any question, taking a person's cell phone is a fourth amendment issue, right? It's a seizure on the Fourth Amendment, especially if they're alive, right? Because they're alive, and they have a possessory interest in their cell phone. Therefore, you know, the seizure has to be reasonable. Now, if it's a, if the person is being transported to the hospital, and you're going to conduct a criminal investigation to determine, you know, who sold the narcotics to the person and so forth, and seizing the phone in order to get a warrant. It's reasonable, that's, that's, you know, that's, that's gonna be reasonable, they're, you know, likely, you're gonna have probable cause. But the problem is going to be seizing it as a matter of routine, and then keeping it in the evidence locker, whatever,

    What is plain view?

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 1, 2022 4:56


    The following is a computer-generated transcription, some grammar and spelling errors may be inherent Hey guys, it's Anthony Bandiero Here attorney and senior legal instructor for Blue to Gold Law enforcement training, bringing you the roadside chat from the studio. Let's get started. So today's question is, what is plain view? Alright, what is plain view? So, plain view is nothing more than right to be right to see. Right. That's how I train it right to be right to see, hear and smell. So basically the idea here is that if you are lawfully present, there is no search under the Fourth Amendment, by using your God given senses, there is no search, if you are lawfully in somebody's home, investigating a domestic violence. And you're looking around the home, even if you had the intent to find something, right. You know, let's say that the husband is a suspected drug dealer, and you are lawfully present because of that. Because of the investigation in your mind like Well, hey, since I'm here, let me see if I can find plain view evidence. And you look over, and you see drugs, stuff behind a book in the bookcase, you're like, well, that's a little, you know, cellophane package, you know, sticking out a little bit, he tried to hide it before you guys came in and didn't do a good job. That's plain view. Right? That's plain view, you have a right to be where you're at. You're using your God given senses. And the evidence is immediately apparent. So that's another thing that courts will throw in there, they'll say not only do you have to be lawfully present, the evidence has to be immediately apparent as evidence, contraband and so forth. All that means it's not that, you know, you look at it in instantly, you know what it is, right? You know, it's evidence. You don't you can look at and be like, Wait, is that what am I seeing what I'm seeing here, you know, so forth. But immediately apparent, basically means that you have probable cause without manipulation. So if you manipulate something that's not playing view, let me give you an example. You're in a home,///

    Can you compel somebody to give their fingerprint in order to unlock their cell phone?

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 1, 2022 5:08


    The following is a computer-generated transcription, some grammar and spelling errors may be inherent Hey guys, it's Anthony Bandiero Here Attorney and senior legal instructor with Blue to Gold Law enforcement training, bringing you to the roadside chat from Greenville, Tennessee, where I'm out here for the week teaching. Alright, so this question comes from an officer in South Carolina. And he's asking about, can you compel somebody to provide their fingerprints and or facial recognition to unlock their cell phone? And the answer is yes, the answer is yes. Because fingerprints and facial ID is not testimonial, there is no recognized privacy interests, you know, in your fingerprints in your in your face. So that's generally the case and other, you know, with my legal brain, I'm also thinking of mass facial recognition software, you know, that you're, you're putting downtown, and you're identifying everybody who's downtown, implicates a different constitutional principle, but that's not relevant here. So the point is, is that if you got a court order to basically compel a person to unlock their phone with their fingerprint or facial ID, that would be lawful, that's not a Miranda violation, because it's not testimonial, however, just to get a little more, you know, in depth here, having them provide their password, or even, you know, let's say those like those, the Android type of unlock right, the pattern, that would be a Miranda issue, because the person has to think about their answer. Right. And that's testimonial, and they could incriminate themselves. Now with that, one, you're not going to be able to compel them to provide their password or pattern, unless it's a foregone conclusion. So that's what the doctrine is called. foregone conclusion, a foregone conclusion essentially says this, if you can prove to the court that you know it's on the phone, right, it's not, it's not that you don't know what's on the phone, so that you need the evidence to bolster your case and to prove your elements, then, most likely, they're going to give you a a warrant to basically compel the person to provide their, their password. Now, let me give an example. Let's say a friend of the defendants saw child porn on his phone, he knows his child porn, the guy, the defendant was bragging about it, and so forth...

    Do police officers need a warrant for death investigations?

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 31, 2022 6:50


    The following is a computer-generated transcription, some grammar and spelling errors may be inherent Hey guys, it's Anthony Bandiero Here attorney and senior legal instructor for blue to gold law enforcement training, bringing you another roadside chat from the studio. Alright, today's question comes from an officer in Utah, and the officer basically asked, do we need a warrant for a death investigation? Okay, well, let's, let's kind of go through this. So the officer says, Look, we get into the house because we have exigency. You know that there's somebody the SES in the home, you know, you know, let's say that the cleaning person comes, and they call and the homeowners dead, and so forth. Alright. So they said that they cannot get a hold of anybody with standing in order to continue the death investigation, right. So I guess, like the cleaning person be a good example, like the cleaning person, generally speaking, cannot let you just search around the home, you know, during the decimal because they don't have a privacy interest in the home enough needed to allow you to have free rein of the house. So. So they want to, you know, they want to look to see if you know, if the depth is suspicious, if the suspect it natural causes, location prescription bottles, or a doctor's information to try to see what the health is, you know, if the person has been to a doctor within the last 30 days, and so forth. So the question is, does this require a warrant? And the general answer is no. Okay. So death investigations, if they're, if there's no foul play, and you're trying to determine the cause of death, and you are in your in the home lawfully, you know, generally speaking, these are not criminal investigations, you're basically playing corner, right, you're, you're basically playing corner, you know, you're trying to find out just like you said, medical issues prescription, you're trying to find the cause you're trying to help find the cause of death. And because that is not a criminal investigation, the US Supreme Court case in Mincy, versus Arizona has and apply. So Mincy is a stands for the proposition that if you are in a murder scene, right inside of a home, the murder itself, obviously a very serious crime, in and of itself is not going to allow you to search the residents for for evidence of the of the murder, without either a consent, or be a warrant, right? There is no murder scene exception to the search warrant requirement. But we don't have that here, you know, officers are in the home, and they're just trying to find the cause of death, there is no murder....

    Can police officers enter a neighbor's backyard during a SWAT operation?

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 26, 2022 5:30


    The following is a computer-generated transcription, some grammar and spelling errors may be inherent Hey guys, it's Anthony Bandiero. Here attorney and senior legal instructor for Blue to Gold Law Enforcement Training bring you another roadside chat from the studio got an excellent question. I'm looking at my computer here from an officer in California. Okay, so the officer basically is asking, Can police go into a neighbor's backyard during a SWAT operation? Excellent question. So let me just kind of give you a little feedback about the scenario here. So during a SWAT operation, let's say a search warrant, SWAT operators are attempting to establish containment next to the house, right to the residence, the target. Now they ask permission to go into somebody's backyard, but they are denied. Can the officers still enter the neighbor's backyard for containment purposes only? or would this be a violation of the Fourth Amendment? Excellent question. And here's your answer. Do you have agency? Right? Do you have actions the agency just to get you into people's backyards? Now? I need to know more facts. Right? I didn't know more facts, why do you believe that? That there's no time to go get additional pre-approval to be in these neighbor's backyard. By the time you get that approval? Whatever, something bad could happen. I need to know what I know. Now, first of all, we're pretty close there logically because this cop is telling me that they got SWAT deployed, you know, on this house, right? In 2021, we're not dusting off Swat, unless it's pretty serious is my impression out there because of the liability that comes with SWAT operations. So we're getting our operators out. And we're gearing up. It's, it's for a serious situation, right? People have guns, and so forth. That could be, you know, a menace and so forth. So I want to know that though. So I guess that goes along with what the operation is about? If this is a, I mean, Wahby does not SWAT for a child porn investigation? I don't know. You're gonna have to sell me on it. But you get my point. So the answer is Look, do you have exigency? Do you have some kind of public safety issue that if you are not in that backyard, this guy could escape and hurt other people? Right? Is this is his this neighbor's house, the only yard that you could have put is the only yard that you could actually potentially have a container like contain this person, there's no alley, there's, there's a huge retaining wall. On the other side. In other words, this neighbor, like it or not, has the best place for us to to be in case this guy comes out. So stuff like that will help. But as a matter if we go into that backyard, and we go to court, and we get sued, now, these, these neighbors are already denying entry. So you know what's going to happen. If the cops go back there anyway, they're likely to get sued, right?..

    Can police officers search cars on curtilage with exigency?

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 26, 2022 5:01


    The following is a computer-generated transcription, some grammar and spelling errors may be inherent Hey guys, it's Anthony Bandiero Here attorney and senior legal instructor with Blue to Gold law enforcement training, bringing you another roadside chat from the studio. Alright, so we got a great question here today from an officer in Texas, the great state of Texas. Alright, so the question is, is can you search a vehicle on curtilage with exigency. And let's go to the scenario, okay, I'm looking at my computer here. Alright. The officer is called to a noise complaint. Upon arrival at a house, right, Upon arrival, he sees a car in the driveway with probably music blaring. He smells the odor of marijuana emanating from the vehicle. And this one is actually unique in the sense that the car had two tires, you know, to the rear tires on the sidewalk, which violates a city ordinance. But it's, it's safe to say that the other half of the car is on curtilage. Okay, we go to the car, we make contact, right? And can we search the car? The answer is yes. Here's why. Number one is the case Collins v. Virginia, which is the US Supreme Court case that held that police cannot search a car that's on curtilage under the motor vehicle exception alone, alone. And that is for good reason. Because when you're on someone's curtilage, it's like being in their home. I mean, the curtilage is treated like the home itself, according to the US Supreme Court in a case called Florida versus guardians. So if you're going to be on some of these curtilage, you've got to have a damn good reason to why you're there. I mean, knockin talks work. But if you're doing criminal enforcement, on people's curtilage, you better have some exigency, emergency urgency, or you better have their consent. But if you don't have that, you've got to go get a warrant. And the motor vehicle exception, remember, there is no underlying exigency in the car when it's unoccupied, and nobody's near it, and so forth. Right. Some states court cases, we'll talk about that, that the motor vehicle exception is based off of the exigency of the inherently mobile vehicle. But come on. I mean, that's, that is, that may be one way to describe it. And that may be another reason why we allow these searches as far as is making it just this it's kind of bogus, there is no exigency. When you stop a car for speeding, you have probable cause that there's evidence in there, the guy is under arrest in the backseat, you have the car keys. Nobody else is around you, and you're in the boonies, and there is no exigency there. Right? We know that. Okay. So that's why Cosby, Virginia said, look, the motor vehicle exception will not work. However, exigency will now this case is kind of unique, because half the car is on open fields, the sidewalk, and the other half is on curtilage. Remember, you know, called Virginia the car was 100% within the curtilage it was in a carport. So, this one is a little weird. But even if it was actually fully on the driveway, I still think we win because law noise complaint brings us lawfully into view and next to the car we can we can absolutely go to the to the car and address the issue...

    Can cops use binoculars to view suspects in a public area?

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 26, 2022 4:29


    The following is a computer-generated transcription, some grammar and spelling errors may be inherent Hey guys, it's Anthony Bandiero. Here, attorney and senior legal instructor at Blue to Gold law enforcement training, bring you the roadside chat. All right, this question comes from an officer in Alabama. So I'm looking at my email here. And basically, the question is, Can cops use binoculars to view suspects in a public area?These they want to see, for example, you know, salesman, narcotics,you know, and so forth. Now, does the officer need probable cause? To do that? Does the cop need probable cause to make contact and so forth? And I have your answer. The answer is very easy. Cops can absolutely use binoculars to see anything that would be open to view, they do not have to, let's say the, the people are in a park.And cops want to be 500 yards away. With ultra powerful binoculars. They don't want to burn their position, right? They can absolutely be five yards away, not visible to these people to the naked eye use binoculars to see what they're doing. There is no expectation of privacy when the people are in a public place from being surveilled. So that's by binoculars to say the least right? You start bringing in drones and you start bringing in pole cameras, you know, maybe sometimes the answers get a little murky, but absolutely when it comes to binoculars, so basically, binoculars are free game, except when you point them towards windows of a house, right? Or backyards, can golf get a little tricky. But especially into Windows, if you are looking into Windows, and you are seeing something that is not visible with the naked eye from a lawful vantage point, then that is a search under the Fourth Amendment. Let me give you an example.Cops could stand on the sidewalk in front of a home and with the naked eye, see cocaine on the kitchen table. But they don't want to be on the sidewalk looking, you know this guy's house because they're going to get burned. So instead they go 200 yards backand use binoculars and see the same thing would that be lawful? If the court believes and you're going to convince the court of this, that you could have seen the same thing with the naked eye from the sidewalk, you will win.

    Can cops automatically tow a rental car, if the driver is not on the rental agreement?

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 26, 2022 4:37


    The following is a computer-generated transcription, some grammar and spelling errors may be inherent Hello, everyone, it's Anthony Bandiero. Here, attorney and legal instructor for blue to gold law enforcement training. And here's today's question. Can cops automatically tow a car or rental car? If the driver is not on the rental agreement? Well, the answer, we don't really have a lot of case on this very issue. Because really, it's not gonna be necessarily a search or seizure issue. It may come up if drugs are found and so forth. But fundamentally, it's a it's a tort claim. So here's my advice. I would not tell it not automatically because it's a civil issue. You are a criminal investigator, you investigate crimes. Is there a crime being committed in your presence? By a non authorized driver driving the hertz or Enterprise rental car? I don't see it. Do you have a law that says they can't do it? If you do, that's a different story. But if they have a valid license, and the car is not reported, stolen, embezzled, and so forth, it's not your fight. Right? That's between them and Hertz. If hertz has a problem with what they're doing, and they find out about it, then you know, they can call a lawyer. Now, does this prevent you from calling the rental company and letting them know what's going on with their car? No, I don't see a problem with that. That's that would fund the fall under committee caretaking? Do you reasonably believe that hertz may want to recover their car if they find out that a non authorized driver is driving it because that person may not have insurance may not have a license, and therefore their vehicle may be damaged? And they have little to no recourse? Absolutely. Go? Go ahead and call the rental company and ask them what they want to do. But don't forget that. A couple things. Number one, it's the rental car cars choice, the rental companies choice, it's not your choice. It's not your car. If they don't want to, if you say hey, I really think you should tow it Don't say stuff like that. Just say hey, look, this is what I got a monitor traffic stop. What do you want to do? The other thing that cops ask while we're talking about rental cars is Anthony, can hertz give me consent? Search that car? Absolutely not. Not until the point that they recover it. Now, if they recover it because of a vile, you know, they're violating the contract, then hertz can give you consent to search the car, you may search it anyway under inventory. But that doesn't answer the one burning question is okay...

    Can police officers break a car's window in order to retrieve a firearm?

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 26, 2022 8:58


    The following is a computer-generated transcription, some grammar and spelling errors may be inherentHello, everyone, it's Anthony Bandiero. Here, attorney and senior legal instructor for blue to gold law enforcement training, bringing the roadside chat. All right. This one is a good one. I like this one. This one is Ken cops break a car's window to retrieve a firearm, that the firearm is evidence. Alright, this comes from an officer from California from Southern California. Alright, so let me give you the background here. Okay. I'm reading from a computer call for service. The victim says that she was assaulted with a gun. The suspect pointed the gun at her, didn't shoot her. But pointed at her. We obviously have assault with a deadly weapon. The victim knows the suspect knows where they were likely the person lives and gives it an accurate description of the vehicle, including plate and so forth. The deputies arrive at that address. And what did they see parked on the street? The vehicle? A neighbor is standing outside the cop say, Hey, neighbor, do you know who drives this car? And they're like, yeah, the guy and they described the suspect. And they're like, did you just go into this house? And he's like, yeah, he was he just came home, you know, maybe no more than five minutes ago. Now, the deputies look in the car. And what do they see in plain view? The gun, this guy did not even hide the gun from being observed from plain view. Right? Now the question is, what can we do? Can we go into that car and retrieve that gun? And hear the deputies specific want to know, if they try to open up the door in the door and the car is locked? Right? No doors are open? Can they make a four century into the vehicle? Can they smash the windows? Well, I have your answer my friends. I have your answer. And maybe you're gonna be surprised at this. But the answer is yes, they could. Now before I get in to the legal reasoning, I want you to know that not all states follow the federal motor vehicle exception, right? Mobile conveyance exception. They don't, they don't, not all states are going to have these rules. Some states like Washington, New Mexico, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, are going to have more restrictive rules. But the vast majority of states apply the standard motor vehicle exception that was based off of Carroll in cases after that. Okay. So in order to retrieve that gun, we gotta have four things. If these four things are in place at the exact same time, cops can smash the window. Number one probable cause? Clearly, I think we are slam dunk probable cause that That gun is evidence. Right? That gun is and also we're talking about California here too. It's going to be the guns not gonna be legal anyway, under these conditions. I mean, I don't you know, from my knowledge of California law, you cannot transport that gun like that in California. Now, this was, you know, another state, that's pro gun, you know, maybe different story, but the gun itself is also evidence of a different crime, which is, you know, some kind of illegal transportation firearm, but certainly it's also evidence of the assault with a deadly weapon. So check probable cause, next factor is is the vehicle and curtilage the vehicle cannot be on curtilage under the motor vehicle exception. And let if it is on curtilage, you cannot retrieve the evidence unless you have either consent by some even give it or you have exigency or a warrant here, the cop made it clear to me that the car is on the street in front of the house. That is not curtilage. So we don't have that issue. By the way...

    What are the rules of hot pursuit?

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 26, 2022 9:51


    The following is a computer-generated transcription, some grammar and spelling errors may be inherent Hey guys, it's Anthony Bandiero Here attorney, Senior Legal instructor,for Blue to Gold Law enforcement training, bringing a roadside chat now this one is gonna be a little long. But I think worth it enhances this is great real life stuff here. So the officer from it's an officer from Missouri, basically, the question revolves around Hot Pursuit. So what are the Hot Pursuit requirements, but let me read to you what's going on with this case. So you have some context. Again, I think it's gonna be worth your time here. Okay, this is great for like roll call training, and so forth. So this is, this is excellent. So an officer observes a male about to exit a house, but upon seeing the officer, he steps back in pretty common, you know, suspicious behavior, not necessary reasonable suspicion, but suspicious. Now the officer knows that this location has a history of drugs, right? It's it's an it's a known drug house. So he goes down the street, he parks, he then sees that same male, exit the house, cross the street at an angle against city ordinance, right, you gotta be 90 degrees, thus committing an infraction in the officers present presence, okay? The mailman enters a property of another person who the cop knows has complained about people crossing their lawn. Now, we have probably costs for the the cross country violation. And now we have reasonable suspicion that they're violating the trespassing, even though we don't have a victim at this point. But we at least have reasonable suspicion that the person the owner of the house would not want this and they would want to file a complaint. Okay. The officer drives down the road, he's gonna try to make contact with this guy. And the male upon seeing the mark patrol vehicle, that we're not, we're not chasing him, there's no lights on. He takes off running, unprovoked flight into an address where a woman was standing at the open door. So he runs into the house, okay, slams the door. The officer gets out quickly approaches the door knocks and announces, Hey, police, and the lady answered the door. And he says the cop says where'd he go? And he replies who can you picture this, the officer pushes the door open past her. No resistance buyer, she doesn't resist but opens the door pushes past and goes into the house and observes the male exiting out the back window. The cop does not follow because he's too big for that window. So he goes around to you know, out to the front and then into the back to pursue him. Now he doesn't see the male. But when it gets back around to the house, he hears the woman talking to a male inside. He believes that that male is the one that he was chasing. So he re enters the house...

    What is the difference between an inventory and a search?

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 26, 2022 5:15


    The following is a computer-generated transcription, some grammar and spelling errors may be inherent Hey guys, it's Anthony Bandiero here with Blue Gold law enforcement training. And our question comes today from an officer in Tennessee. And actually a very common question is, what is the difference when in inventory? And they search? Alright, let's dive into this. As also Tatum would say, let's get into this. So they're both searches. Okay, I hear time and time again, officers say, hey, inventories are not searches. Well, yes, they are. I know what they mean. But I'm just trying to be specific here. If it wasn't a search, then it wouldn't be controlled by the Fourth Amendment, because the fourth man only controls two things, it controls searches, or seizures. So it has to be a search. Otherwise, it would not fall under the gambit of under the Fourth Amendment. But what the COP is trying to say is in when the cops say this, and you're absolutely correct, that what they mean or not, what they mean is, they're not searches for evidence. Inventory searches are force for safekeeping, right? For looking for dangerous items, for listing out items of value. That's what their searches for their searches for the for the Toshiba and so forth. A search when we say hey, we are searching for something, we normally imply that we are searching for evidence. Okay, so that's the difference. Inventory searches are for to fill out the toe sheet and to protect the person's property and against false claims, dangerous items, and then searches for evidence or for things for criminal investigations. Now, the officer says, what are the common pitfalls that officers tend to fall into with these inventories and so forth, I'm gonna tell you that the common pitfalls is when we use inventory searches for criminal investigations. And what I mean by that is, sometimes cops will be on a traffic stop, they will have a hunch that there's something or reasonable suspicion that there's something in the car, they cannot get consent, because the person will not give it. They have no drug dog available. They also have no probable cause. But the person's registration is expired by two weeks. And per their law, their state law or their policy, they have discretion to tow that car. And so they say to themselves, they say, You know what, let me just tow the car and see what's inside of it. Because the law says I can that is a pitfall that is unconstitutional, in my view, right. And I have support by the US Supreme Court in this. But you should never use these inventory exceptions. As a short circuit, the Fourth Amendment probable cause requirement. So don't do it. Now. At the same time, if cops have this hunch that there's something in the car, but they have to tow it, because the law requires it. It's a DUI, their car smashed up, it's in the intersection, the car is blocking somebody's driveway, and they still have a hunch that something is in it. I say, don't worry about it. Because the end result will be the same as long as your inventory search looks like an inventory search and doesn't look like a rummaging of just a general rummaging for evidence. It looks it complies with your policy, that it should not matter what you're thinking...

    Major Case!!! Caniglia v. Strom: Community Caretaking and Red Flag Laws

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 26, 2022 9:42


    The following is a computer-generated transcription, some grammar and spelling errors may be inherent Alright guys, we got to talk about Caniglia V. Strong, US Supreme Court. May 17 2021. I've been talking about this case for months. You know, my students have asked me my opinion on it. I've given my opinion. And let me just share a little bit of background about it. But it's a very massive, hugely important case on two fronts. Number one, firearm confiscation and the red flag laws. And number two, a little more guidance on the so called Community caretaking doctrine as it applies to homes. Let me give you just some quick facts. Okay, I know you're busy. I'm busy. I'm in justly No, I'm in the great state of Tennessee. Teaching just out of outside of Nashville, love teaching here. And if you want me to come to your agency, or you want a fellow instructors come to your agency like the great and Kelleher and so forth to come your agency and teaching folks search and seizure, give us a call. Okay. So the background what happened was cops were called to a house because a husband the night before threatened to, you know, he kind of threatened suicide in an indirect way he told his wife that he was tired of fighting tarda arguing, why don't you shoot him, you know, shoot, shoot me right and get it all over with that was kind of like his, his tone. The wife then went to a hotel for the night. She called the husband the next morning, no answer. She feared that he actually did commit suicide, he called the police to do a welfare check on him. They ended up contacting him and he basically assured the cops that it was not a danger to himself. However, he did agree this is in Rhode Island, by the way, he did agree to go to the hospital voluntarily to do a mental, you know, Psych psychiatric evaluation. So why he was gone. The cops then spoke to the wife, right, the wife returned to the home. And I believe this is several hours later, up to four hours later. And the officer then they knew that he had a gun, right or guns, they then entered the home without a warrant without consent, and no exigency to go seize the husband's firearms, why community caretaking? If we can, if we don't seize these guns, maybe he comes back after the hospital and kills his wife kills himself and so forth. So this is, you know, something like best practice, right? Well, the husband then sues to get his guns back, he has a lot of problems getting his guns back, and so forth. Finally, he gets him back. But he Sue's over this whole entry to begin with. He's saying, hey, look, you should have never even gone into my house under those conditions. And then he filed a federal district in a federal lawsuit, and he loses. And then he appeals to the First Circuit and loses...

    Are homeless people allowed to sleep in parks after hours?

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 26, 2022 7:52


    The following is a computer-generated transcription, some grammar and spelling errors may be inherent Hello, everyone, it's Anthony Bandiero Here, Attorney senior instructor for blue to gold law enforcement training. Bring the roadside chat This question comes from an officer in Idaho. And so basically, the officer asks, basically, about are homeless people allowed to sleep in parks after hours. And the reason that this is coming up is because of a case called Martin versus Boise, which is a case of the Ninth Circuit, right, which the US Supreme Court refused to hear. So basically, it's good law in the ninth circuit. So here's a scenario. The officers aware that enforcing laws against homeless people is very problematic, after this case, the Martin case, because basically what the Supreme Court or the Ninth Circuit said is that if you're going to enforce anti camping ordinances against homeless people, the question before you enforce it, and you arrest them? Or you cite them is, where can they go? Do they have a place an alternative place to go? Is there a shelter? There's a bit available? Is there another place? A park in town where or a place where you want campers to go? Is that place close enough? Or are you trying to say that the next available camping ground that you can go to for free, is 100 miles down the highway, right? So these are all great questions. And I'm telling you right now that you need to be very, very careful. Before you start running around enforcing all various laws against homeless people. I am not saying that you're not going to enforce the being in the street, or you can enforce it being in the street blocking traffic, blocking sidewalks. But when it comes to these, these anti camping enforcement actions, just be careful. I have a whole webinar on dealing with homeless people and RVs tents and so forth. But just be careful. I personally would not want to see these decisions made at the sergeant or line level, I just wouldn't I would like them to be made at the command level. I want lieutenants and above and especially my chiefs, talking to their legal counsel, I want them talking to their attorney, so the prosecutors to their state's attorney, because you are potentially getting yourself wrapped up into a very expensive lawsuit. Homeless people have a lot of advocates, they may not have a lot of money, but they have a lot of attorneys willing to give their time to fight their cases. Okay, so they pull on the heartstrings. And I understand I mean..

    Can cops transport a D.U.I. suspect somewhere else for field sobriety tests?

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 26, 2022 4:43


    Hey guys, it's Anthony Bandiero. Here, attorney and legal instructor for Blue to gold law enforcement training, bring it to the roadside chat from the studio. All right. Let's start here. So the question comes from an officer in Illinois. And she's she asks, Can you transport a DUI suspect somewhere else? For field sobriety tests? And I have your answer. The answer is, if you do not have consent, and you just do it, and you order the person to go somewhere else, and you drive them somewhere else, that is going to likely be considered an arrest. Now, if it's an arrest, okay, the first question is, is do you have probable cause? If you move this person, you have probable cause, then it's not an invalid arrest. It's called a de facto arrest and arrest in fact, but then the next issue is going to come up for you is Miranda issues? Because if you did arrest them, because most courts will believe that involuntary transportation equals in arrest, because most people think that they're have been formally arrested. Now, if you bring them let's say, to the station house, because it's snowing outside, and you start asking questions, again, about, okay, confirm how much you had to drink? Well, I know I told you to, but really, it was four. And all these other things in any other testimonial type answers will likely be suppressed unless you have Miranda, but most cops are not reading Miranda, while they're doing field interviews, and so forth. And so that's the answer. Now, the way around this is to seek the person's consent. If you have a good reason, let's say that it's snowing out, and you don't want to or you're on an incline decline. It's not. There's no flat surface and area to do field sobriety tests. So you want to ask them, Hey, do you want to go to the station? Or do you want to go to the firehouse and on a flat surface and have a better opportunity to perform these tests satisfactory? Do you want to do that? And if they say, yes, then argue that, you know, articulate that the person gave you free and voluntary consent to move the traffic stop, essentially, to the fire station or the police department. But if they say, No, they do not want to move, then, basically, I would treat that as a refusal to do the tests and go from there. And the question would be okay, if you can't do the test on the location where you're at, then I would try to figure out what matter had probable cause? If you have probable cause, then if it was me, I'll just make the arrest and go from there. If I don't have probable cause, then I'm at to look, look at some other options. Right. But that's the deal here.

    Can cops make entry into a third party residence for a warrant, if they see the suspect?

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 25, 2022 6:03


    The following is a computer-generated transcription, some grammar and spelling errors may be inherent Hello, everyone, it's Anthony Bandiero Here, attorney and senior legal instructor for Blue to gold law enforcement training. Bring it on the roadside chat from the studio. Alright, this question comes from an officer in Idaho. My future home state, by the way, bought some property in Idaho can't wait to build. Alright. So the question look at my computer here, the question is, can you make entry into a third party residence for a warrant? If you visually see the suspect? I definitely have your answer. Let's give you some context. So the COP is doing a knock and talk at a third party residence, let's say the cousin's house due to a tip or see that the subject sub-subject is at the location, and also has a warrant for his arrest. When you arrive at the location, and you see the subject through window, you see the subject through window, and he looked through you and he, and he sees you. Right. So can you enter the home and arrest the suspect? Right. Also, the homeowner answers the door and tells you the suspect is inside know, he says yeah, he's uh, he's here. And do you have to get a search warrant? Consent? Or can you just go in with the arrest warrant? Guys, I definitely, definitely have your answer with 100% certainty because there is a US Supreme Court case directly on this issue is called us versus steagle. And the answer is no, and cops can not go in. So the reason why is because cops aren't not or are not necessarily violating the suspects rights, the ones they have an arrest warrant for. But they are certainly violating the homeowners rights. See, the homeowner has a right to keep police out of his or her home, unless they have judicial authority. Right. So just because they have a friend who's hanging out, that happens to have a warrant for their arrest, that does not mean that police can barge into that person's home, invade their privacy interest in order to effectuate that search warrant, I'm sorry, arrest warrant. So you're violating that person's rights. So you would need either consent, the homeowner can certainly give you consent to come in. Even if the the wanted the fugitive says how man You can't come in here. That's going to be a rare circumstance, indeed, where that guests can override the homeowners consent because they have greater authority of their home. So consent will work exigency will work if you have agency, you know, for example, if you do not get this person in custody right now, do you believe that he will be long gone before you come back? You better have specific facts, not just a. It could be possible? No, you're gonna need the guy's been running from police. And I don't have any people I can put on the house, I can't surround it. I can't stay here until I come, you know, come back with a warrant. You're going to legitimate agency. Okay. Do you have probable cause, that the suspect has evidence on their person, like DNA evidence, let's say that they're also suspected in a violent crime. And they also happen to have a warrant for the rest, but they're suspected about a crime that just occurred, you know, recently, like within that within a couple hours or so forth, and they may have gunshot residue on their hands, DNA evidence on their genital area, you know, evidence on their fingernails, that's something that will get you into the home and take them into custody? Or do you have a search warrant for him for that residence? That's what you'll need. If you don't have that you can't go in. And this question comes up a lot, because cops are like, But Anthony, I can see this dude. He's like, he's in the window or the the the homeowner opens the door, and I can see him sitting on the couch. ..

    Can police officers conduct a surround and callout on a third party's home?

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 25, 2022 8:12


    The following is a computer-generated transcription, some grammar and spelling errors may be inherent Hey guys, it's Anthony Bandiero Here attorney and senior legal instructor with blue to gold along for some training, bringing the roadside chat from the studio. Alright, we got it. We got a doozy here. So my, the question is going to be, can officers conduct a surround and call out on a third party? third party's home. Okay. So when I say third parties home, what I'm talking about here is your surrounding a third party, right, someone who's not directly connected with the case when you are trying to get in custody another person, right, you have a warrant for the person, and they're at a third party's home, you have probable cause for the person, and they're at a third party's home. So that's how I like the idea here, I'll go into more detail about what I mean and so forth. But let me give you this scenario. This is from an officer in in from Indiana. All right. So they conduct surveillance of for wanted suspects, they have an arrest warrant for that person. They will often see them at a third party's home, a friend's house cousin's girlfriends, etc. They'll sometimes see them come out and go back into the home, right? They're grabbing the paper in their slippers. Well, maybe not quite that right. And so they know for sure that the guys there. So the next move is to surround the home and call the person out. If the person refuses to come out, they'll go get the warrant, and enter the home for that. Okay, so the COP is wondering, hey, does this practice? Is this practice flawed? Or is it constitutionally firm? Okay. I think it's flawed. I think we got I think we got a problem on our hands, my friends. And I have some concerns. Now I tried to look up, you know, when I answered these questions, just so you know, I'm a practicing attorney, I got clients that, you know, that need me that pay me that, you know, call me and, you know, I got to focus the vast majority of my of my energy and my time for my clients in my training and so forth. But I do try to find some cases, you know, when I when I do these, these roadside chats, and I found one that supports my position, but I've not found one that really is like on onpoint. So we're kind of making some case law here, but let's walk through it. Okay. So first of all, we know that if police have an arrest warrants, they can serve that arrest warrant at the person's domicile. That rule came from Payton, New York, Payton versus New York, okay. So if police have a warrant, they can serve it at that person's domicile. If the police have a warrant, and the person is at a third person's house, cousin, friend, etc, then they need either consent by the homeowner to come in exigency, or they need a search warrant to go into the third party song. And the reason why this is a supreme court here, right? The Supreme Court said, You know what..

    What are the requirements to ping a suicidal suspect's cell phone?

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 25, 2022 6:12


    The following is a computer-generated transcription, some grammar and spelling errors may be inherent Hello, everyone, it's Anthony Bandiero Here, attorney, Senior Legal instructor for Blue to gold law enforcement training, bringing in a roadside chat. Alright, this question comes from an officer in Utah love teaching in Utah. So the officer is basically saying, what are the requirements to ping a cell phone for a suicidal suspect? Right, or I should say subject. So, here are some of the contexts. Can officers request a cell phone ping based off of a third party's suicidal report? Right, that's something suicidal. Sometimes these reports are hours, if not days old. Is there a reasonable timeframe to get the pain? Does the urgency fade as time passes? I'm seeing this use more and more. And basically, our law enforcement officers overstepping and or infringing on an individual's rights of privacy? So excellent question. And we don't have a lot of clear answers. So number one, I do not give any answer or any my opinion that's based off a state law. The reason why is that I'm a constitutionally, I'm a constitutional expert, not a statutory expert. So my viewers out there that are in Illinois, New York, you know, and so forth. You're going to have statutes on this issue, that you have to research everybody that the research, but I bring up those states because those states are notoriously a little bit more restrictive. Okay. So back to the question, constitutionally, well, the most appropriate case that we have on this issue is Carpenter, right from the US Supreme Court, I think 2018 Don't quote me on that part. But it's a it's a recent case. And carfinder involved getting cell site location information on a suspect, believed to be involved in cell phone robbery stories, actually. So they had about 127 days of data that they got. And based off of that data, they put carpenter at all the right places at the right time for these cell phone robberies. And the Supreme Court found that that was a search under the Fourth Amendment, and therefore required some exception to the Fourth Amendment or a warrant exigency may get you there, but not 427 days, right? exigency for like here, and now type pinging but usually a search warrant. Now one thing that they did say, in the case in a footnote, I think footnote two or three in the carpenter case, was that they gave a bright line rule that certainly seven days or more of location history requires a search warrant. But carpenter didn't really address the here and now, agency arguments for suicidal people, armed and dangerous people, kidnapping suspects and so forth. That's not what carpenter is all about carpenter really focused on historical data. Still, though, it did involve location information. So I'm just saying, you know, as far as the Supreme Court goes, that's our most relevant case where we kind of look for guidance. Now, going back to the question, so constitutionally, if somebody is about to commit suicide or hurt somebody else, but commit suicide..

    How can police officers turn a traffic stop into a consensual encounter?

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 25, 2022 5:02


    Alright, let's talk about a question that I got from a YouTube viewer. And he puts us in a calm, he says, Anthony, can you do a video on how to turn a traffic stop into a consensual encounter? And why? Yes, I can. This is known my friends as the trooper to step or the clean break rule. So let me give you the context here. So you, you have a hunch that something's going on. You know, you don't necessarily have reasonable suspicion, or even if you do have reasonable suspicion, but you don't have a canine available, you know, but you want to see if you can get consent to search, right? What I recommend is if look, if you have a hunch, or reasonable suspicion, but no cane unavailable or no other resources, if they say no to because it's one that just try to transition the traffic stop to a consensual encounter, then talk to the guy, see if you can, you know, seeking, you know, seek consent to search if he says, yes, go from there. If he says no, then probably have a good day. Right. So what courts want to see, and this is the general in all states, right? What courts want to see is that there's a clean break between the traffic stop, and the transition to the consensual encounter a clean break, meaning is it, you know, clear, obvious to the driver, that he is free to go, and that this new conversation is based upon consent? Is it clear, right? What have you done to establish this clean break now? This is where the trooper to step comes in, and your addiction officers are going to be very well trained in this this thing, but any officer can do it. This is what I recommend. What I recommend is once you've decided what enforce Next, you're going to take a warning ticket verbal warning, whatever you're going to do, right?Maybe get the guy out of the car, right if it's safe to do so get the guy out of the car. Talk to him about the enforcement action, Sir, here's your warning, your written warning, and so forth, given back all their paperwork and say something like this, sir. That's all I have for you. Do you have any questions, comments or concerns for me? Before you go? And the guy says, No, I appreciate it. I'm good to go, sir. Have a good day. I like officers to then turn around, start walking back there to their car, and then pause, turn back around and say Hey, sir, you know, before you get going, can I ask you a few more questions.And the guy will usually say Yeah, what's up? That is a consensual encounter. Now this is a little over the top, do you have to do the trooper to step? Absolutely not. There are cases out there where the officer simply said, Sir, you're free to go. But before you go, can I ask you some questions, the courts have upheld it. However, in this day, day and age of high scrutiny by courts against, you know, proactive law enforcement officers. I like officers to just be very clear, and you know about what they're doing and making sure there's no misunderstandings about what's going on. So the two step is a very clean, clear way of letting that guy know, he is free to go. Right. And so that's why I like to see. So that's what I want to see. And you know, in articularly report that you know, based off these Reno's circumstances a reason person will feel free to go therefore I engaged in a consensual encounter...

    If police stop a car with fraudulent plates, can it be searched for documents?

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 25, 2022 5:21


    The following is a computer-generated transcription, some grammar and spelling errors may be inherentAll right, this question comes from an officer in Indiana. And the question is is, so if we have if I stop a car with fraudulent plates, can I search it for the documents, to prove ownership, insurance and so forth. And so here's, you know, here's kind of the context here. So I'm a police officer in Indiana. And we, the officer stopped a car that was being driven around with some paper plates. Now he ran the plates. And he said that it should have returned as just expired, but it didn't, I don't think it returned at all. So some kind of fictitious release result switching that the plates are fictitious, stop the driver stop the vehicle contacted the driver, and she says, I just bought this car off Facebook marketplace, paid cash, no title, no bill of sale, the play came with the car. So the whole thing is a mess. Right. And dispatch also notified that the that plate was expired in in 2020. And it actually because I guess an additional search on it, and it was registered for a different vehicle. So the whole thing is fraudulent. The car is likely, you know, unregistered, uninsured, probably uninsured and so forth. So we have some probable cause for some violations here. Now, the compensation, can I search the vehicle for documents, you know, for ownership, you know, any kind of proof that she's in on it, maybe some other paper tags and so forth? Right? Insurance? You know, stuff that proves that it's her vehicle disproves it, all this kind of stuff? And the answer is absolutely, absolutely. There are two reasons why number one, Yasser kind of mentions one of them, probably cause? So do you have probable cause? Is there a fair probability that more evidence is inside the car that could help you prove or disprove your case? And I think the answer is yes. Right? She's saying that she doesn't have anything else in the car, or, you know, the play came with it, let's see what else is in the car, right? She says she has no bill of sale; maybe if there's a bill of sale, that's, that's to somebody else. Maybe it proves that she sold the car and so forth, right? She has, or she knows that she's not supposed to have the car. But also, there's this other rationale that's also out there by courts, that simply states that when the owner driver of the vehicle is unable or unwilling, right, to provide any documentation for the vehicle, it is reasonable to search those places where those documents are often held. For the paperwork, glove box, center console, above the visor, you know, little areas where the cupholders are, and so forth, you know, in the trunk, if you can justify it, maybe maybe not, you know, but it's much cleaner, if they're in those, especially in those areas where they're under control the driver. But the point is, that's another reason because that's part of, you know, the regulation of vehicles that you're you're supposed to be providing this, this documentation to prove ownership, and legality and so forth. So probably cars plus those other case, the other case law, on the books help justify that I it'd be very, I'd be very surprised that there's a court out there that said that the officer here did not have the right to do a limited search for that paperwork. And in order to move the ball forward now, I also you're probably wondering the same thing. Well, Anthony, what about inventory searches, right? That could work too, but maybe for some reason, the officer does not want to tow the car. Maybe she pulled into her driveway. And there's not really a community caretaking rationale, you know, to tow the car, maybe we'll leave it there. Maybe it's in a private parking lot...

    What happens if police officers lose qualified immunity?

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 25, 2022 11:23


    The following is a computer-generated transcription, some grammar and spelling errors may be inherent Alright, guys, today's questions is so important. It's important to every single officer watching my videos and those that watch my videos. It is what happens if we lose qualified immunity? Right? It's on your mind. I know it is. And if you've already lost qualified immunity in some of the states like Colorado and so forth in New York, New Mexico, right, then what does that mean? Okay, well, first of all, let's get down to it. What is qualified immunity qualified immunity is a judicially created doctrine that protects officers from lawsuits when the issue is not clearly established under the law. In other words, officers oftentime make decisions in the field, constitutional decisions that are not quite black and white, you know that the US Supreme Court has not addressed it, their Circuit Court has not addressed it, their state Supreme Court has not addressed this issue. So what is what are they supposed to do? Say, timeout? Suspect? Look, I'm going to timeout for a second. I'm going to go seek judicial approval. But what I'm going to do, and I'll be back, no, they can't do a timeout. So qualified immunity is there to protect officers except the blainley. Incompetent from lawsuits against for situations that are not clearly established under the law? In summary, to qualify for qualified immunity, right, to get to be immune from a lawsuit. The qualifications are this, number one, did you even violate the constitution? That's one question that the courts can ask and answer, right. Um, maybe they say, Look, I know, it's unclear that this officer, you know, but we actually find that the officer did the right thing. So, boom, we don't need qualified immunity, the officer actually was constitutional. But even if the court found that the officer was conducting or doing something that was unconstitutional, right, the next question is, alright, was the law clearly established at the time because, again, if the laws not clearly established, then it's not fair to hold the officer liable for money damages, when it's not even clear that they would have violated at the time of the act. So clearly established law comes from again, the US Supreme Court, and your circuit court, and your state Supreme Court. So for example, if you're in Texas, and you do something, right, and the Illinois State Supreme Court has found that what you did violates the Constitution, does that apply to you know, that is persuasive, not binding on my Texas officers, so that is not going to eliminate qualified immunity for Texas cops, right?..

    What are the rules regarding a temporary seizure of a firearm during a traffic stop?

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 25, 2022 5:42


    The following is a computer-generated transcription, some grammar and spelling errors may be inherent Hello everyone, Anthony Bandiero. Here, Attorney Senior Legal and started for Blue to gold law enforcement training, bringing to the roadside chat. Today's question is, what are the rules regarding a temporary seizure of a firearm during a traffic stop? Great question by officer comes from North Carolina. So, base a little bit of context here, let me read what he or she wrote at a quick question regarding temporary seizing a firearm during a traffic stop. And so, this officer said, Look, I've watched your video about running the firearm, you know, serial numbers and things like that things to kind of think about, I do have another video about that. Um, you know, so he says, in my experience, besides blatantly obvious officer safety issues, right, there's something about the tropics, aka drive by shooting or a brandishing case. You know, we can seize them. Also, drivers will generally allow you to temporary seize a firearm if you ask for it, right. If you say, Hey, do you have any firearms in a vehicle and say yes, especially in a state like North Carolina, where a lot of people likely have firearms, especially if you explain to them why. But the officer also explains that that's not the only option that they do that he does. And maybe he also separates the firearm from the person maybe brings the guy out of the car. Hey, where's the firearm? Under the seat? Okay, fine. Much has come out and we'll do business outside the car. But push comes to shove. Right. The question is, if there are no other reasons, to be concerned for your safety, can we still separate the firearm and seize the firearm? I guess, right, seize the firearm during the traffic stop, even if we have no other reason to believe that they could use that firearm against us? And the answer is yes. Absolutely. Absolutely. Why? Because the firearm equals armed and dangerous. Right? That's Terry versus Ohio, right. So if you don't know about the firearm, they may or may not be armed and dangerous. You gotta articulate that. But the if you know that they have a firearm or have a reasonably the firearm, then they are automatically considered armed and dangerous to Terry Stop level, which is reasonable suspicion enough to seize that firearm during the traffic stop. That just makes sense. Because, you know, look, if a judge is going to second guess, a cop, and say, Hey, you have to have the firearm plus something else? Well, they're gonna have blood in our hands, right? There's gonna be that one cop out there that just can't have those as a gun inside the car, maybe even on the guy's hip. But can't figure out another reason why that gun could be a danger to the officer, then the person flips out on the cop shoots the cop. And now we have this case where the judge says you can't do it, the cop, the judge, is gonna have blood on his hands. Right or her hands. That's just not the way it works. So I've never seen a court case require something more than just a firearm if I mean, if you know the firearms there that is armed dangerous. So at the same time, look, I was a cop in a pro gun, state, Nevada. Everybody had guns. Right. So while well West, and the way I did business was, you know, oftentimes if they said they had a gun, and they were concealed carry permit, and there's nothing shady about them. They're on the up and up...

    Transporting a suspect back to a police station for an interview lawful?

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 25, 2022 12:37


    Alright, so today's questions is a little complex. So you got to bear with me on this one, I might need to take a little bit of your time to get through it. But the question is, is our orders to detain and transport the suspect back to the station for a formal interview? lawful. All right. So, alright, so not all states may have this, but there's still an interesting situation. So an officer from Missouri says that it is a common practice in Kansas City, Missouri, where the process the state prosecutor's issue in order A, it's called a stop order, or a PLI a person of interest order that's entered into the computer system. And when the person is found, they are then handcuffed, transported back to the station for a formal interview. Okay, so common practice. Now, it's this is not a fresh arrest, right? This is not, you know, where somebody got arrested and transported and, you know, we're gonna interview them. These are based off of these orders issued by the State prosecutors. Some of the officers feel that this is an unlawful practice. Right, that this is basically an unlawful arrest. And that you would have to have either an arrest warrant, probable cause or consent. Okay, so let's go through this. So first of all, let me say that if you have probable cause, to arrest the person, and, you know, the stop order is based on probable cause. We don't have an issue, I don't see the issue, because we can just call that an arrest, and just arrest the person. You see my point here. The only issue is going to be if the stop orders or P allies are based on reasonable suspicion or anything less than probable cause. So let me assume that that's what's going on. Again, now, it also talks about fresh PC, we don't have fresh PVC. I don't think it's gonna matter. I don't see the issue there. As long as you have probable cause, whether it's stale or fresh, if it's still probably caused, and there is a right to arrest the person. We can just call this stop order or poi an arrest warrant. Right. It may be it may be called it's not called an arrest warrant. But I think we just call it that, constitutionally, because it looks the same. That's what kind of looks like right. So if it's if these if these stoppers appeal wise or not based on probable cause, Houston, we have a problem. So let me just go through some I'm getting my source here from the great Wayne Lafave if you know, you've been in my classes, you know that Wayne Lafave is a God in in search and seizure, you know, history, and he's most cited and Prudential search and seizure expert, according to the US Supreme Court and so forth. And he has a treatise called the search and seizure treatise, right. So, here is a case where you see what this is a case in US versus Brignone. Ponce, for to to us. 873 1975. So, here's what the Supreme Court said about something like bringing bring the guy back to the police station, right. The detention of the petitioner was in important respects indistinguishable from a traditional arrest. Petitioner was not questioned briefly, where he was found. Instead, he was taken from a neighbor's home to a police car, transported to a police station and placed in an interrogation room sound familiar?...

    Can police officers search an OD victim's cell phone?

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 25, 2022 5:22


    Alright. Today's question is, can we search a deceased victim's cell phone? Right? Okay, so comes from an officer in Alabama, let me ask, let me give you the context here recently, and, you know, at overdoses, our narcotics Units unit has been wanting to seize the cell phones for the purpose of searching them. The goal is to charge a drug dealer with the death of the individual, right? As well as general information gathering, maybe they can point to the right finger in the direction of local dealers in the in the city and so forth. Now, the cop says My understanding is that since the person is deceased, they no longer have a fourth human rights in the deceased has no more issue, privacy interest in the phone, and they can perform the search without a warrant. Now, the only hiccup the officer is seeing here is that what if the family member says no, you cannot take our son's cell phone? You cannot take our daughter cell phone? We want it that's going to be ours, because we're going to inherit his property? Do they now have to get a warrant? If they do not get consent? All right? Well, look, I kind of talked about cell phones before. But let me just re address it because it's a very important issue. Generally speaking, there is no privacy interest that the drug dealer has in the phone. So even if the cops search the phone with nobodies without the famous consent, even though they may get the property in probate or whatever, right. They don't, there's the family doesn't have a most likely a privacy interest in the phone. It's the son's phone, it's his phone. Now, even if they got the phone after the death, it's not, they still have no privacy interest in the information. So we're not going to really have an issue there. Even if they had a privacy interest, even if they're the only time the Fourth Amendment is going to be implicated as if they're being charged. So if the mom, for example, says you cannot have my, my, my phone, my son's cell phone, and we find out later that she paid the bill, she has common authority over the phone, she often uses it because the sun allows you to use it, and blah, blah, blah, that's not going to come up. And that's not going to be an issue of the criminal case against the drug dealer. Unless the drug dealer is mom, right. So even if mom has a privacy interest, it's not going to come into court because the drug dealer, if it's not mom at some third party, who's dealing drugs in the in the city is not going to be able to use go through mom to try to claim that he has some privacy insure. So again, it's at the end of the day, the result is probably the same. So just a wrap up. If somebody dies, and they have a cell phone, and police, you know, then the guy has the disease no longer has a privacy interest. He's not going to complain, right, obviously. And even if they somebody else, like the family member that has some tied to the phone complains, their denial, even for warrantless search is not going to be effective, as long as they're not a defendant. Right, because but if somehow, that family member who happens to have a privacy interest in a phone, which can be rare, but they happen to have a privacy interest phone, if they start becoming a person of interest, Houston, we have a problem. They can complain if they do have a legitimate privacy, interest and phone, they can complain about a warrantless search..

    Can police officers search a person for evidence without an arrest?

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 25, 2022 6:03


    Hey guys, it's Anthony Bandiero here with blue to gold law enforcement training, bringing to the roadside chat from Knoxville, Tennessee. I got a question from an officer in Las Vegas, Nevada, Las Vegas Metro. So here's the question. Can you search a person for evidence if you have probable cause? Okay, so, you know, in other words, do you have to make the arrest? Right. Okay. Let's go through some a couple scenarios at the officer. I got my little laptop here that I'm reading from the car. Alright, so one is basically the officer had a consensual encounter with a suspect that he knows from the past prior arrests, you know, he's your neighborhood felon, get type deal, right? You know who he is. And the cop asked them hey, Johnny, you got meth on you. And this guy mitts? Yeah, I got meth on me. And so that can be a site and release type of situation. You don't have to arrest them, right? Otherwise, we don't have the problem. We can do a search incident to arrest the COP is asking, Can I retrieve that evidence? Without the arrest? And he's getting conflicting answers. But I have your answer. The answer is yes. The answer is yes. Under two, and under two rationales. Number one is exigency. You don't have time to go chase down a warrant, while this guy is standing on the street, even if he's in handcuffs, he can manipulate the evidence, he can, you know, if he has a, let's say, some kind of paraphernalia, he can, he can break it, he can land on it, you know, he can try to escape. The point is, you know, there's this exigency there, there's this, there's this urgency just to get the evidence off of his person to cure it, and then go from there. So there is usually exigency. And you know, the vast majority of courts have held the same. The other one is that the intrusion is less than what you could have done, which is arrest the guy. I mean, think about it. If it's an arrestable offense, it's it's a, it's a, it's a crime committed in your presence, you know, even if it's a misdemeanor, it's a crime being committed your presence, he is telling you that he has meth on his person. That is probable cause, right? I mean, why would he lie about that? So is there a fair probability he's telling the truth and add that also with his prior histories? And so, you know, how is he going to complain? When he goes to court and say, Your Honor, they should have retrieved that evidence. But isn't it true defendant that they could have also arrested you and did a full search incident to arrest including potentially a visual cavity search at jail if you're going to be put into general population? So the cop you're saying that the cops can do that, but they can't do a lesser intrusion? Which is just to retrieve the evidence cite you and have you go on your way? Is that what you're saying? Defendant? It doesn't. It's not reasonable, right? It's more reasonable just to do the lesser intrusion, and kick the guy loose. Okay, so and so now, the other scenario that the cop says, Okay, so there's the drug scenario, here's the nurse scenario. A person is detained by loss prevention. The loss prevention does not retrieve the evidence from the person, but they have him in custody, right. They're just basically doing a citizen's arrest. But they're not searching. So the cops show up, and they watch the, you know, security cam, and what did they see on a security cam, this guy stuffing stuff down his pants, you know, in his backpack, whatever. And now, can we retrieve that evidence without arresting him? Well, we know that this is not a misdemeanor coming your presence, by the way, you know, just because you watch a film of a past event is not come in your presence..

    Can a government housing project waive a person's 4th Amendment rights?

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 25, 2022 9:34


    The following is a computer-generated transcription, some grammar and spelling errors may be inherent Hello, everyone, it's Anthony Bandiero here with blue to gold law enforcement training, bringing to the roadside chat. All right. So our question today comes from an officer in the great state of Tennessee. I Love Tennessee. All right. So here's the question. Can a tenant in a government housing project waive their Fourth Amendment protections of the home by lease agreement? Okay. Let me give some context. So the officer sharing here that in our local housing authority, it is my understanding that the manager can enter and search a tenants apartment anytime, under the lease agreement. On occasion, they have asked that we stand by while they do so. And have even asked for Kane for canine to sniff the apartment. Does this violate the Fourth Amendment? Or does the lease agreement act as it as act as consent? Alright, so the, the quick answer is, can the government housing project waive a person's fourth amendment rights?And the answer is no. Because no government agency can basically tell a person you have no more fourth amendment rights, right? If you're going to take if you're going to subscribe to this or, you know, accept these government benefits, you have no fourth amendment rights, that's not the way to look at it instead. The question is, okay, are they asking for something that is reasonable? Right, if it's reasonable, it likely complies with the fourth time, it's not like the government, government housing projects have no have no authority to inspect their property to make sure that people are not abusing the property. And, you know, if they get a tip that something's manufacturing drugs or so forth, that they can't do anything about it. But the point is, still, is that is that a waiver of the Fourth Amendment? No. Is it potentially reasonable under the Fourth Amendment? Maybe? So let's go through it. So number one, apparently, right, or allegedly, the lease agreement says that we can come into your apartment anytime and inspect. I doubt that's the case. Right? If that if it truly said that we can come into your apartment anytime and you know, without notice, or without any kind of just cause I doubt a court would uphold that. Because that is not reasonable. Right? You are the government and you're in you're offering these benefits. And you're saying as a stipulation to accepting the benefit, I have to allow the government's right, you know, aka the Housing Authority, the law, the government to come into my home and just rummage through my stuff or just inspect my property? No. So I doubt that that's the case...

    Can you trespass someone sleeping in a rented storage unit?

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 25, 2022 3:24


    Alright guys, today's question comes from an officer in Texas and asked me, Can you trespass? Someone sleeping in a rented storage unit, I am sure that all of you have run into something similar. So Now, usually I don't touch statute issues. I'm a search and seizure guy. But I think I can address this when I see them being pretty straightforward. And the answer is, yes. I think that this ties in with search and seizure, because we have a lot of debates today about, you know, when Pete When homeless people have nowhere to go, you know, police options are sometimes limited. But we're when we're talking about those cases, Martin versus Boise, for example, out of the Ninth Circuit, we're talking about situations of public property, right? There is a debate going on around the country, where if homeless people do not have a place to go, and they're sleeping in parks, and so forth, and under bridges, and cops want to trespass them and move them along. The question for the courts becomes where, right, okay, you want to move them from here to there? Or move them? And then where, right? Where can they go? Is there a shelter available, if there's not a shelter available is another place that they can go like a designated urban camping spot. So that's kind of where I think the flavor is coming from. But normally, we don't have those issues when it comes to private property. Now, the storage unit is not a hotel, it's not sanitary, there's no bathrooms. It's just, you know, the it's not safe, frankly, for safe and sanitary, sanitary, for people to be sleeping in storage units. So this the, if the rental storage unit, you know, manager wants to kick these people out for improper use of the storage unit, I see no problem at all, for criminal trespass, for my understanding of Texas law, but you know, even a lot of places, it's just not going to be a lawful use of the premises. So therefore, they can be trespassed, I think it's a pretty straightforward question. I understand. I'm going to also again, give a little spin about how to look at it through the eyes of maybe some search and seizure issues because of the homelessness problems pervasive around the country. But again, I don't think that's going to change the outcome here. I think that the storage unit absolutely has the right to keep people out of their storage unit living in there, and they can be trespassed for it. Alright, so pretty straightforward answer, hopefully move the ball forward a little bit before you guys go. Do me a favor, hit like, please hit subscribe, and tell your friends about us. Alright, until next time, my friends stay safe.When it comes to law enforcement training, we are the gold standard visit blue to gold.com or call 888-579-7796 to learn more about our training books and free webinars. Also, don't forget to like, subscribe and share this channel.

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