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Example research essay topic: Law Enforcement Officials Law Enforcement Agencies - 1,907 words

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Next Five Years & Principle of Inquiry in Police Force The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution states that people have the right to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, but the issue at hand here is whether this also applies to the searches of open fields and of objects in plain view and whether the fourth amendment provides protection over these as well. In order to reaffirm the courts decision on this matter I will be relating their decisions in the cases of Oliver v. United States (1984), and California v. Greenwood (1988) which deal directly with the question of whether a person can have reasonable expectations of privacy as provided for in the fourth amendment with regards to objects in an open field or in plain view. The differentiation between open fields and private property must be made before one can proceed to form an opinion regarding the constitutionality of a warrantless search of an open field. Oliver v.

United States is a case in which police officers, acting on reports from neighbors that a patch of marijuana was being cultivated on the Oliver farm, entered on to private property ignoring No Trespassing signs, and on to a secluded open portion of the Oliver property without a warrant, discovered the marijuana patch and then arrested Oliver without an arrest warrant. The Maine Judicial Court held that No Trespassing signs posted around the Oliver property evinced a reasonable expectation of privacy, and therefore the court held that the open fields doctrine was not applicable to the Oliver case. Upon hearing the case, the Supreme Court argues that the special protections accorded by the fourth amendment do not extend to open fields. Open fields do not provide the setting for those intimate activities that the Amendment is intended to shelter from government interference or surveillance. The court refers to the case of Hester v. United States (1924) which set the precedent for open field cases and interprets that case to imply that an individual may not legitimately demand privacy for activities conducted out of doors in fields, except in the area immediately surrounding the home.

The patch of marijuana being no where near the Oliver home, and in an open field, regardless of its visibility from public access, left the court affirming Oliver v. United States, and reversing the case of Thornton v. Maine, and in essence reaffirming that warrantless searches of open fields are not violations of an individuals constitutional rights, but are simply acts of common-law trespassing, which the court finds does not exceed the governments need to protect the public from illegal activity which may occur on privately owned open fields, and any expectation of privacy to mask these illegal activities are most definitely not provided for under the constitution. California v. Greenwood deals with the issue of whether or not the Fourth Amendment prohibits the warrantless search and seizure of garbage left for collection outside the curtilage of a home. California v.

Greenwood is a case in which police received reports that Greenwood was involved in narcotics trafficking. A warrantless search of the respondents trash developed evidence which corroborated this and led to Greenwood's arrest, bail, future arrest, and conviction. In this case, the lower courts and the Supreme Court agree that the Fourth Amendment does not prohibit the warrantless search and seizure of garbage outside a private residence. The court states that the respondent could have had no reasonable expectation of privacy in the inculpatory items they discarded. The court states that Furthermore... the police cannot reasonably be expected to avert their eyes from evidence of criminal activity that could have been observed by any member of the public.

Therefore, objects in plain view can not be accorded for under the Fourth Amendment for any reasonable expectation of privacy simply because of the fact that their former owner would discard these items or expose them to public view without any attempt to maintain the privacy of their discarded personal effects. The court argues that the only way in which the Fourth Amendment could provide protection over discarded personal effects would be if the respondent was able to manifest some expectation of privacy that society could find objectively reasonable, and while the petitioner and respondent agree, they could not manifest such an expectation. These exceptions are indeed consistent with the Fourth Amendments prohibition against unreasonable search and seizure for the previously stated reasons. With regards to open field searches the court finds that the Fourth Amendment only protects the privacy of the individual and their property within a close proximity to the curtilage of their home, and warrantless search of an open field amounts to little more than trespassing rather than a violation of a constitutional right. With regards to the search of objects in plain view, the court has held that objects in plain view have lost any reasonable expectation of privacy simply, and clearly because of the fact that the owner of these personal effects has not afforded the kind of privacy over these effects as society would expect. In California v.

Greenwood the Justices clearly states that unless the respondent could manifest some reasonable expectation of privacy for discarded effects that society would find objectively reasonable, than the Fourth Amendment can not and will not protect the privacy of the individual with regards to objects in plain view. In the future, one can expect to see an increase in these types of cases simply because with the advancement of technology it is becoming increasingly easier for law enforcement and government to perform more in-depth and thorough types of surveillance without the knowledge of the private citizen. While the same constitutional rights exist for the individual citizen, those rights will be infringed upon at a greater frequency with the advancement of surveillance technologies, and knew precedents will inevitably have to be set by the Supreme Court as these cases are heard, one by one. The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution states that people have the right to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, but the issue at hand here is whether this also applies to the searches of open fields and of objects in plain view and whether the fourth amendment provides protection over these as well. The issue of telephone privacy becomes bigger and bigger every day as our telephone technology becomes more advanced. Wire taps are devices that are being used more often by law enforcement agencies to capture criminals, but there does come time when the actions of law enforcement agencies aren't only protecting the public, they are overstepping their boundaries and intruding into people's private lives.

In the technological world that we live in today, there is no question that wiretaps are a necessary tool for law enforcement officers in capturing criminals of the twenty-first century. Today, law enforcement officials are trying to keep up with new advances in the phone service industry. In fact, the director of the FBI, Louis Freeh has testified in hearings for passing new bills, "that court authorized electronic surveillance is a critical law enforcement and public safety tool." As everyone knows, there have been many changes in phone services in the past few years, and there will be many to come in the future. These are phone services that criminals utilize to help them organize criminal tasks.

According to Don Edwards, former representative of California and Rick Boucher, Virginia Representative, there are a wide variety of services that law enforcement officials want to monitor to use against criminals. These include things such as cellular phones, personal communication networks, the newer generation of cordless phones, wireless modems, wireless local area networks, and electronic mail and messaging. The government has made a statement concerning their goals for such electronic monitoring. Government officials said that they want the ability to intercept communications involving advanced technologies such as digital or wireless transmission modes, or features and services such as call forwarding, speed dialing, and conference calling, while protecting the privacy of communications and without impeding the introduction of new technologies, features, and services. A committee made up the General Accounting office, the FBI, and the telecommunications industry has all reached a conclusion about a need for wiretaps in law enforcement.

What's more, Chris Stamper, writer for ABCNews. com says that supporters of such laws maintain that such a change is necessary to keep up with exploding technology. These wiretap supporters said that there is sufficient evidence justifying legislative action that new and emerging telecommunications technologies pose problems for law enforcement. Chris Stamper says that supporters of such bills say this will help the cops keep up with cell-phone wielding crooks. However, critics contend that it opens up the door forever more invasions of privacy.

There are at least two sides to every controversy, and the issue of wiretaps definitely brings more than two sides to mind. However, the two main arguments that have to do with wiretaps have to do with protection and privacy. The privacy issue has been escalating more and more in the past few years. "The government has been asking for more wiretapping authority than it ever has before, " explained Shari Steele, director of legal services for the EEF ("electronic privacy"). Steele states, "Just as more of our communications are becoming digital, law enforcement is getting even greater access. Whatever privacy balance we may have achieved in the past is completely decimated due to the interpretation of new legislation. " Wiretaps have been used in the past to catch criminals, but now the government is pushing for legislation to be able to tap any phone that they think is being used in criminal activity.

They call this method a roving wiretap. According to Chris Stamper, Greg Nojeim, member of the American Civil Liberty Union council, argues that since roving wiretaps will be easier to obtain, citizens' Fourth Amendment rights protecting against illegal searches will erode. "We are now at a historic crossroad, " says Barry Steinhardt, Associate Director of the American Civil Liberties Union, "we can use emerging technologies to protect our personal privacy, or we can succumb to scare tactics and to exaggerated claims about the law enforcement value of electronic surveillance and give up our cherished rights, perhaps forever. Wiretap issues have posed a threat to privacy since 1968 due to technological advances. Congress even made a statement about privacy back then. According to the 1968 report, "the tremendous scientific and technological developments that have taken place in the last century have made it possible for widespread use and abuse of electronic surveillance techniques. As a result of these developments, privacy of communication is seriously jeopardized by the techniques of surveillance.

Since there was so much controversy about the subject in 1968, you can only imagine the concern that people have about their privacy today. One huge privacy issue is based in the tracking of cell phones. Today's surveillance technology now allows the tracking of cell-phone locations when the phones are turned on. Will Rodger, writer for Interactive Week, says that the Telephone Industry Association has rejected FBI proposals, which would give them access to the location information gleaned form cellular phone calls. Rodger also says that the tracking information gathered from cellular phones would turn the phones into "homing beacons" whenever they are turned on and that gathering such information while calls were...


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