DOES THE ACCIDENTAL SHOOTING OF A HOSTAGE VIOLATE THE CONSTITUTION? On November 7, 2025, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decided Hawatmeh v. City of Henderson,[i] in which the court of appeals examined whether officers violated the Fourth or Fourteenth [...]
Flock Safety and Automated License Plate Readers: Balancing Public Safety, Privacy, and the Fourth Amendment: Part Four – Traffic Stops Based on ALPR and Flock Alerts: When Does an Alert Create Reasonable Suspicion? In the previous two articles, we examined [...]
Flock Safety and Automated License Plate Readers: Balancing Public Safety, Privacy, and the Fourth Amendment: Part Three – Lower Courts and ALPRs: Applying the Fourth Amendment Framework In the previous article, we examined the constitutional principles that provide the constitutional [...]
Flock Safety and Automated License Plate Readers: Balancing Public Safety, Privacy, and the Fourth Amendment: Part Two – The Constitutional Framework Related to ALPRs As discussed in Part One of this series, automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) such at Flock [...]
Flock Safety and Automated License Plate Readers: Balancing Public Safety, Privacy, and the Fourth Amendment: Part Five – Best Practices for the Constitutional Use of ALPR and Flock Technology The previous four articles in this series examined automated license plate [...]
SIXTH CIRCUIT EXPLAINS SCOPE OF A TRAFFIC STOP AND QUESTIONING UNRELATED TO THE STOP On September 23, 2025, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals decided United States v. Moffitt,[i] in which the court examined whether an officer exceeded the permissible [...]
TENTH CIRCUIT DISCUSSES INVESTIGATIVE DETENTIONS AND DISSIPATION OF REASONABLE SUSPICION On September 30, 2025, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals decided United States v. Campbell,[i] in which the court examined whether reasonable suspicion to detain Campbell dissipated prior to the [...]
SEVENTH CIRCUIT DISCUSSES QUALIFIED IMMUNITY WHERE OFFICERS MISTAKENLY BELIEVE SUSPECT POINTED A GUN On September 26, 2025, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals decided Pam v. City of Evansville,[i] in which the court of appeals examined whether officers were entitled [...]
SEARCHES OF STUDENTS AND THE FOURTH AMENDMENT On September 30, 2025, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals decided Johnson v. Mount Pleasant Pub. Schs.,[i] in which the court examined whether a school official who conducted two searches of a student, [...]
FIFTH CIRCUIT GRANTS QUALIFIED IMMUNITY FOR POLICE IN SHOOTING OF CHILD BEING USED AS A HUMAN SHIELD WHILE SUSPECT SHOT AT OFFICERS On June 6, 2025, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decided Estate of Parker v. Miss. Dept of [...]