©2011 Jack Ryan, Attorney, PATC Legal & Liability Risk Management Institute (www.llrmi.com)Barnes v. State of Indiana A recent case from the Indiana Supreme Court has stirred some controversy and has been heralded by some as a major defeat for the Fourth Amendment sanctity of a person’s home.  In reality, the case has little to do with the Fourth Amendment and actually focuses on the right of a citizen to physically resist law enforcement action which the citizen believes to be improper. The Indiana Supreme Court outlined the facts in Barnes v. State of Indiana, as follows: On November 18, 2007, Richard Barnes [...]

©2011 Jack Ryan, Attorney, PATC Legal & Liability Risk Management Institute (www.llrmi.com) Kentucky v. King, U.S. Supreme Court, May 16, 2011 Law Enforcement does not violate the Fourth Amendment simply by creating exigency. Exigency which violates the Fourth Amendment occurs only when the conduct creating the exigency also violates the Constitution. Kentucky v. King, slip op. 09-1272, 2011 U.S. LEXIS 3541 (May 16, 2011) In Kentucky v. King, the United States Supreme Court considered the task often faced by law enforcement officers as to when it is proper under the Fourth Amendment for officers to make a warrantless entry into a home [...]

©2011 Stephen Campbell, Providence, RI, Police Department, Major (Retired), Legal & Liability Risk Management Institute (LLRMI.com). Managing a police department is a lot like managing your health. Experts in the fields of health care and law enforcement both agree that regular check-ups and preventive measures are best for overall health and success.  Regular auditing and inspecting can detect potential problems before they affect you and your agency.   This article discusses some of the proactive steps an agency can take to manage just one of the high risks critical tasks in law enforcement and reduce potential liability exposure. Any law enforcement [...]

©2011 Chuck Washburn, Attorney, Legal Counsel, Instructor, PATCtech Digital Forensics (PATCtech.com) People v. Schutter, Supreme Court of Colorado 2011 One of the exceptions to the search warrant requirement is commonly called the “community caretaking” search.  This search, as the name implies, is not conducted to collect evidence of a crime, but rather to assist members of the community.  For example, an officer can search a lost purse to discover the name of the owner so that the purse can be returned.  Of course, if evidence of a crime is discovered during a typical “community caretaking” type search, the evidence is normally [...]

©2011 Chuck Washburn, Attorney, Legal Counsel, Instructor, PATCtech Digital Forensics (PATCtech.com) A Judge may require a search warrant for cell site location information IN THE MATTER OF THE APPLICATION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA FOR AN ORDER DIRECTING A PROVIDER OF ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION SERVICE TO DISCLOSE RECORDS TO THE GOVERNMENT, United States of America, Appellant, 620 F.3d 304, (2010) The United States Government applied for a court order pursuant to 18 U.S.C. §2703(d) of the Stored Communication Act, to compel an unnamed cell phone provider to produce a customer’s historical cellular tower data (cell site locations). When the Government brought this order [...]

©2011 Public Agency Training Council Dr. Robert J. Cipriano Jr., Florida Licensed Psychologist Steven Rothlein, Expert Witness, Legal & Liability Risk Management Institute Stigma is a significant factor that the general public experiences whenever the words “psychological treatment” is introduced.   Unfortunately, psychological treatment is even more stigmatized within the law enforcement culture predominately because it infers the police officer cannot perform his/her job duties.  This issue may become more complex if the police officer is experiencing any mental health symptomatology upon his/her return from military duty.  Each police department within our country handles this issue differently.  Some departments elect a [...]