Search and seizure

The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution protects citizens against unreasonable searches and seizures. No search of a person s home or personal effects may be conducted without a written search warrant issued on probable cause. This means that a neutral judge must approve the factual basis justifying a search before it can be conducted. 

Explosives and Dangerous Chemicals Constitutional Aspects of Search AND Seizure... 

Technical Security Administration - Administrative Searches and Seizures... 

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. 

This chapter will focus on (1) basic principles of search and seizure law (2) the balance between law enforcement s use of science and technological advances to the Fourth Amendment (3) when exploitation of technology should be governed by the Fourth Amendment constraints of unreasonable searches as it pertains to explosives and dangerous chemicals and (4) effect of the USA Patriot Act and related legislation on the Fourth Amendment. The question of what constitutionally determines a reasonable search is simple, its answer and application are not. 

A right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures is declared by the Fourth Amendment, but how this right translates into substantive actual terms is not specified. Traditional constitutional and statutory legal analyses of the Fourth Amendment are heavily affected by rapidly changing societal values, fears, and security interests after the World Trade Center and Pentagon terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. 

The Fourth Amendment is 54 words long. It is divided into two general parts. The first 24 words are important. It pertains to what the amendment prohibits. It states who is covered ( the people ), what is covered ( persons, houses, papers, and effects ) and nature of protection ( to be secure... against unreasonable searches and seizures ). This part of the Fourth Amendment is usually described as the Reasonableness Clause or reasonableness requirement. 

The relationship, if any, between these two clauses is a syntactical mystery and matter of continual controversy. The Supreme Court s jurisprudence is between a categorical warrant requirement and looking to reasonableness alone. The late twentieth century trend in Fourth Amendment law is toward the Reasonableness Clause [2]. Only unreasonable search and seizures are prohibited, but unreasonableness cannot be stated in rigid and absolute terms. However, the clarity of the language of the Fourth Amendment suggests it has wide spread appHcation. An examination of jurisprudence will show it does not. 

A basic understanding of search and seizure is necessary before it can be appHed to explosives and dangerous chemicals. Accordingly, elemental parts of the Fourth Amendment are presented and then the apphcable law. 

The people refers to a class of persons who are part of a national community or who have otherwise developed sufficient connection with the United States to be considered part of that community [8]. The Fourth Amendment does not apply to the search and seizure of property by US agents that is owned by a nonresident ahen and located in a foreign country. The class of protected people includes US citizens... 

Probable cause is integral to Warrant Clause. It is required to keep the state out of constitutionaUy protected areas. Probable cause is the standard which must be met in order for there to be a valid search and seizure or arrest. It includes the showing of facts and circumstances reasonably sufficient and credible to permit the police to obtain a warrant within the officer s personal knowledge. This is an objective standard [29]. As a guiding principal, the doctrine has evolved with police... 

Most of Fourth Amendment jurisprudence is fact orientated. Even subtle factual differences may affect application of the search and seizure doctrine in an infinite variety of circumstances. The preservation of civil Hberties and protections is largely determined by the courts. 

Search and seizure is generally defined as the search by law enforcement officials, or their agents, of a person or place to seize evidence to be used in the investigation and prosecution of a crime. The security of one s privacy against arbitrary intrusion by the poHce, which is the core of the Fourth Amendment, is basic to a free society, and therefore, implicit in the concept of ordered liberty [36]. 

Motor vehicles are subject to the Fourth Amendment prohibition against unreasonable search and seizure. The Supreme Court, has, however, created the... 

Inland or roving border patrol search and seizures are subject to traditional Fourth Amendment standards. A person, however, appearing only to have foreign ancestry, is not reasonable suspicion for the intrusion. Other factors must exist [78]. 

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