We recently reviewed a drug case in the Jacksonville, Florida area with the following facts. The police received a general tip of illegal drug and other criminal activity occurring in the suspect’s home. That certainly was not a sufficient basis to obtain a search warrant so the police decided to…
Police officers in Jacksonville, Florida or other areas of Florida may search a person’s house after an arrest based on the idea that someone else may still be in the house who poses a threat to the police officers. This kind of search is known as a protective sweep. For…
When police want to search a person’s house for illegal drugs or other evidence of criminal activity, the general rule is that they need to have probable cause and a search warrant signed by a judge to do so. However, there are circumstances where a police officer may be able…
A new proposed law is going to the Governor that would allow police officers in Florida to pull drivers over for failing to wear their seat belts. Of course, it is already a violation of the traffic laws for a person to drive without wearing his/her seat belt. However, it…
As residents in the U.S., we have the Constitutional right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. That protection from intrusion from police officers and other government officials is greatest in our homes. Normally, if a police officer wants to enter your house to look for evidence of a…
It is not uncommon in Jacksonville, Florida or other areas in Florida for police to make a drug arrest based on a tip from someone commonly referred to as a Confidential Informant (CI). These tips can come from a variety of different people and can be anywhere from very general…
A new camera that is mounted onto the police cars of various city and county police departments in South Florida can take a picture of thousands of license tags per shift, according to an article on www.Sun-sentinel.com. The camera records the information on the license tag as well as where…
As the number of people laid off and otherwise unemployed in Florida grows, one Florida legislator has proposed to require people to pass a drug test before they can receive unemployment benefits, according to an article at Rawstory.com. The Florida legislator claimed that he is concerned that the unemployment compensation…
All residents of Florida, and the United States as a whole, are protected by the Fourth Amendment which protects people from unreasonable searches and seizures by police. One aspect of the law on searches and seizures generally requires police to obtain a search warrant before entering someone’s home to look…
The United States Supreme Court (USSC) recently decided a case dealing with when police officers can search the vehicle of a person who has recently been arrested. The USSC’s ruling seems to pretty significantly limit a police officer’s right to search a person’s vehicle incident to an arrest when compared…