Demonstrate a critical thought process: SCOTUS has repeatedly said that the Fourth Amendment expresses a strong preference for search warrants in the privacy/community safety ideal, permitting only a few well-defined exceptions. That's the law, but whafs the practice? The vast majority of searches are made without warrants, because the exceptions are interpreted broadly to satisfy the strong preference oflaw enforcement officers and the clear practical need for searches without warrants (Haddad 1977, 198-225; Sutton 1986, 411 ). One former Washington, D.C., assistant U.S. attorney said of this practical element in searches without warrants: 11 As anyone who has worked in the criminal justice system knows, searches conducted pursuant to these exceptions, particularly searches incident to arrest, automobile and 1 stop and frisk' searches, far exceed searches performed pursu- ant to warrants 11 (Bradley 1985, 1475). Why is this so? According to this same attorney, the reason 11 is simple: the clear rule that warrants are required is unworkable and to enforce it would lead to exclusion of evidence in many cases where the police activity was essentially reasonable" (1475). Law enforcement officers frequently express frustration with the delay in getting search warrants. One police officer said it takes four hours from the time he decides he wants a warrant until the time he has one in his hand: And that1s if everything goes right. You find people and get 1 em typed and you can find the judges when they are sitting at the bench-because a lot of judges won 1 t see people in their offices. If you miss them there, they leave and go to lunch and you have to wait until they come back for the afternoon dockets, and if they are already into the afternoon dockets, they are not going to interrupt the procedures for a warrant. So you sit and wait through three or four docket sessions. It can take all day. (Sutton 1986, 411) Frustration tempts officers to 11 get around" the Fourth Amendment. One way around is by "shamming" consent. One detective put it this way: You tell the guy, 11 Let me come in and take a look at your house." And he says, 11 No, I don't want to." And then you tell him, 11 Then I1m going to leave Sam here, and he's going to live with you until we come back. Now we can do it either way." And very rarely do the people say, 11 Go get your search warrant, then. 11 (Sutton 1986, 415) Let's look at the five major exceptions to the warrant requirement that SCOTUS has interrogated and approved: 1. Searches incident to (at the time of) arrest, listed roughly in order of frequency: 2. Consent searches 3. Vehicle searches 4. Container searches 5. Emergency searches (also called "exigent circumstances searches")