Warrantless Seizures and Your Fourth Amendment Rights

Under the Fourth Amendment, you have legal protections against searches, seizure of property, and arrest by law enforcement officers or government officials, including a requirement for officers to obtain warrants. However, police can conduct warrantless searches and seizures under specific circumstances. 

Your Protections Under the Fourth Amendment

The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution grants citizens two critical rights. These rights include the privilege against unreasonable searches and seizures by government officials and the requirement that courts must find probable cause, supported by the affidavit of law enforcement, to issue a warrant describing the place(s) to search and the items or persons that law enforcement will seize. 

The Warrant Requirement

The Fourth Amendment typically requires law enforcement and government agents to apply for a warrant before searching or arresting someone. To obtain a warrant, the police must provide sufficient facts and evidence to convince a judge that probable cause exists to support a search or arrest. The warrant requirement ensures that a neutral judicial officer, rather than a law enforcement officer engaged in investigating crime, determines that probable cause exists to intrude upon a person's privacy and freedom with a search or seizure. 

Exceptions Authorizing Warrantless Searches and Seizures

However, courts have recognized that not every search and seizure requires law enforcement to apply for a warrant. Various legal exceptions permit warrantless searches. Some of the most common examples of these exceptions include:

• Consent search: Police do not need a warrant to search a container, vehicle, or home if they obtain consent to a search from the owner or an adult lawfully residing in the home. 
• Plain view: When officers notice contraband or apparent evidence of criminal activity in plain view in a vehicle or home while the officer stands at a lawful place (such as outside a motorist’s car window or from the public sidewalk adjacent to a residence), they may have probable cause to search the vehicle or home. 
• Search incident to arrest: After police arrest someone, they can search that individual to secure items, such as evidence the individual may attempt to destroy or weapons the individual might use to harm officers or facilitate an escape.
• Community caretaker doctrine: Officers can perform public functions other than their criminal investigation and law enforcement roles, such as rendering first aid, providing counseling, or ensuring public safety. Any searches or seizures that occur while the police are acting outside their law enforcement function may not run afoul of the limitations of the Fourth Amendment.
• Vehicle exception: Officers may search vehicles without a warrant if they have probable cause to believe a vehicle may contain contraband or evidence of a crime because the mobile nature of a vehicle means such evidence may disappear or get destroyed before the police can secure a warrant. 
• Stop and frisk: The police can briefly detain a person they reasonably suspect has engaged in criminal conduct to question the individual or perform a brief investigation. Officers may pat down or frisk the individual to check for weapons that may pose a threat to the officers’ safety. 

Contact a Criminal Defense Attorney Today

When the police have subjected you to an unreasonable warrantless search and seizure, you have options for vindicating your Fourth Amendment rights. Call Cohen Law Offices today at (715) 514-5051 for a confidential consultation with an experienced Wisconsin criminal defense lawyer to discuss your charges and learn more about your rights under the criminal justice system.