Lanterna Rally

Author: Joseph D. Schloss

Publisher:

Published: 1980

Total Pages: 90

ISBN-13:

Most of us value privacy. Yet many times there is no choice except to invade the privacy of an individual. A murderer has to he jailed. If there are good reasons for believing important evidence of guilt is in his house, a suspect's right of privacy may have to bow to the People's need to search. The rules we will examine attempt to trace when privacy must give way to the government's need to intrude, and also when the rights of privacy are permitted to stand. This process basically involves weighing the police officer's reasons and balancing them against the degree of intrusion. When the officer has enough reason to arrest a person or to make a search, we say he has probable cause. We must keep in mind that it is impossible to determine probable cause by some scientific test. Rather, evidence must be presented in a court where a judge evaluates the case and makes a ruling. Judges have varying views and attitudes and it is difficult to predict whether it will be valid when presented to a judge. The lessons for a police officer are apparent. He must be careful about evaluating his probable cause. He can best achieve a favorable judicial ruling on the validity of his arrest or search by familiarizing himself with the rules so as to build the strongest possible case.