Read each situation and decide whether or not it was a legal search based on your understanding of students' privacy rights. Explain your answer. Situation School administrators receive a report that a member of the cheerleading squad is selling drugs. They confront her and tell her they are going to check her locker. Then they do so. Concerned over recent school shootings, the school board installs metal detectors in all local high schools and requires that all students walk through them in order to enter the building. After one second-grader complains of having lost the $5.00 she got from the tooth fairy, teachers ask all of the students in her class to go into the locker room and remove their clothing so they may be strip-searched. Administrators receive a tip that members of two rival gangs plan to fight after school and that many of the members have brought knives and other weapons to school. The principal calls the police, who conduct a search of the suspicious students. Concerned about alcohol use at the school dance, school officials search the vehicles of all students who attend the prom. After receiving a report that a student has brought a gun to school, the principal and security guard bring the student to the office, frisk him, and ask to search his locker. Legal or Illegal? Explanation Introduction When Is a Search Warrant Not Necessary? Most Americans understand that police officers sometimes need a warrant to search for information believed to be related to criminal activity. They may also be aware that, according to the exclusionary rule, evidence gained in an illegal search cannot be used to convict someone of a crime. However, in many circumstances the police do not need a warrant for a search, or for the evidence gained from a search, to be legal and used in court. In each of the situations below, a police officer does not need a search warrant to conduct a search. 1. If an individual voluntarily consents (agrees to) a search, no warrant is needed. The key question in this kind of search is what counts as a voluntary agreement? In order for a consent search to be legal, the individual must be in control of the area to be searched and cannot have been pressured or tricked into agreeing to the search. 2. A police officer that spots something in plain view does not need a search warrant to seize the object. In order for a plain view search to be legal, the officer must be in a place he has the right to be in and the object he seizes must be plainly visible in this location. 3. If a suspect has been legally arrested, the police may search the defendant and the area within the defendant's immediate control. In a search incident to arrest no warrant is necessary as long as a spatial relationship exists between the defendant and the object. 4. Following an arrest, the police may make a protective sweep search if they reasonably believe that a dangerous accomplice may be hiding in an area near where the defendant was arrested. To do so, police are allowed to walk through a residence and complete a "cursory visual inspection" without a warrant. If evidence of or related to criminal activity is in plain view during the search, the evidence may be legally seized. 5. If the police stop a car based on probable cause, they can search for objects related to the reason for the stop without obtaining a warrant. During a car search, the police are also allowed to frisk the subject for weapons, even without a warrant if they have reasonable suspicion that the suspects may be involved in illegal activities. Scenario At the local shopping mall, an undercover detective notices a group of teenagers shopping together. Following them, he observes no illegal behavior. However, once they exit the mall he stops them and orders them to turn over their purses, wallets, and jackets. Is this search legal or illegal? Legal or Illegal? If it's legal, cite the reason using the underlined words from items 1-5 above. If it's illegal, explain. Using a valid arrest warrant, police arrest a woman for running a drug ring out of her house. Believing that her boss, one of the biggest drug dealers in the country, may be hiding inside the house, they walk through the house looking for him. Is this search legal or illegal? Officer Jones is trying to find a convict who escaped from a nearby jail. Going door-to-door in the neighborhood surrounding the jail, he asks permission to enter each house and search it. The Rosano's allow him to enter their house. Once in the house, the officer sees and seizes an unregistered firearm that is on a bookshelf. Is this search legal or illegal? In a neighborhood well known for producing methamphetamines, the police have a warrant to search the basement of one home to find a production lab. Finding nothing in the basement, they perform a protective sweep search on the rest of the house. Is this search legal or illegal? While chaperoning a high-school football game, police see a gun on the front seat of a parked car. Opening the car door, they discover not only the gun but also bullets and a knife. Is this search legal or illegal? Jody and Chandra attend a keg party where all of those drinking were under age. The police break up the party without arresting anyone. They seize Jody's purse. Inside, they find marijuana and arrest Jody for possession. Is this search legal or illegal? Late for work, Diego was driving five miles over the speed limit when pulled over by the police. Ordering Diego out of the car, the police proceed to frisk him and find a small weapon in his jacket pocket. Is this search legal or illegal?