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Three Golden Rules of Search and Seizure

These three golden rules come from reading thousands of court cases over the last 20 years and seeing a theme regarding what the courts are looking for. The First Golden Rule, and the most important one, is: The more you articulate why you did something, the more likely it will be upheld in court.  The […]

Reasonable Suspicion Vs Probable Cause

What is the difference between reasonable suspicion and probable cause?  It’s a great question, because even the courts struggle with defining the difference.  There is no one definition that’s in the legal dictionary, so let’s look at them separately. First of all, we have to find a hunch.  Every officer can have a hunch.  Officers […]

Misdemeanor Crimes not Committed in Your Presence

Our next topic is: How do you handle misdemeanor crimes that are not committed in your presence? Many states have a misdemeanor restriction that you cannot make an arrest for a mis-demeanor that was not committed in your presence.  Now, all of those states that have this restriction also have some exceptions.  For example: DUI, […]

What is Plain View?

What is plain view? Plain view is nothing more than right to be, right to see.  That’s the simplicity of it: right to be, right to see, hear and smell. So basically, the idea here is that if you are lawfully present, there is no search under the Fourth Amendment if you are simply using […]

The Stale Misdemeanor Rule

What is the stale misdemeanor rule? The stale misdemeanor rule is a common law doctrine.  It essentially means that a crime was committed within the officer’s presence, and he or she could arrest that person right then and there, but waits, and doesn’t arrest yet.  If he then arrests sometime down the road, let’s say […]

Seizing Cellphone of O.D. Victim

Anthony Bandiero here, bringing you another question and answer. This one is from an officer in New York.  The question is, when officers respond to an OD, and the person is revived, can you take their cell phone as evidence? You want to see who the dealer is, because that’s the person who could potentially […]

Manipulation Rule Relaxed?

This question comes from an officer in Florida. And he asks,  “Have courts relaxed the manipulation rule under Terry patdowns?”  What the officer’s talking about here is a case that’s called Minnesota versus Dickerson, US Supreme Court. Basically what happened there was that officers patted down Dickerson and they felt an item in his pocket […]

Binoculars in Public Areas

This question comes from an officer in Alabama.  And basically, the question is: Can cops use binoculars to view suspects in a public area? They want to see, for example, sales of narcotics, and so forth.  Now, does the officer need probable cause to do that?  Does the cop need probable cause to make contact […]

S.W.A.T. In a Neighbor’s Backyard

Anthony Bandiero here to bring you another chat.  We’ve got an excellent question here from an officer in California.  The officer is basically asking, “Can police go into a neighbor’s backyard during a SWAT operation?” Excellent question.  So let me give you a little feedback about the scenario here.  During a SWAT operation, let’s say […]

Police Duty to Protect

Do police have a duty to protect others from harm?  This question comes from an officer who says, “Hey, I took some training a while ago, and the presenters talked about how police do not have a duty to protect others, right?  They have discretion.  I’m trying to figure out where that case is.” Let’s […]

Losing Qualified Immunity

Today’s question is so important.  It’s important to every single officer watching my videos and reading my blog.  The question is, What happens if we lose qualified immunity? It’s on your mind, I know it is.  And if you’ve already lost qualified immunity in some of the states like Colorado, New York and New Mexico, […]

Evacuation Centers and The Fourth Amendment

How does the Fourth Amendment apply to evacuation shelters?  My name is Anthony Bandiero.  I’m an attorney and senior legal instructor for Blue to Gold Law Enforcement Training.  So let’s go through this.  The question comes from an officer in Florida.  After a hurricane or other natural disaster, hundreds of people are displaced temporarily, to […]

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