Crime to Court: Police Officer's Handbook July/August 2001

• NCJ Number: 189597
• Author(s): Joseph C. Coleman
• Date Published: 2001
• Length: 19 pages
• Sale Source: South Carolina Educational Television Network
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Policy/Procedure Handbook/Manual
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This police officer’s handbook offered a legal examination of the State of South Carolina’s Constitution versus the Fourth Amendment with regards to a suspect’s protection rights under search and seizure, the South Carolina Supreme Court’s decision, and procedural guidelines in the investigation of environmental crimes.

Abstract

This police officer’s handbook examined both the legal implications of a suspect’s protection of search and seizure under the South Carolina State Constitution and the Fourth Amendment and procedural information regarding environmental crimes. First, the case of the State of South Carolina versus Forrester for the trafficking of crack cocaine (found within her purse) was reviewed under the issue of illegal/legal search and seizure. The action took place in Florence County, South Carolina involving the County Police Department’s Drug and Weapon Interdiction Team. The trial judge was faced with the defendant’s claim that the South Carolina State Constitution gave her more protection from police search of her purse than the Fourth Amendment. The State Constitution expressed a provision to the right to privacy in an article prohibiting unreasonable searches and seizures favoring an interpretation offering a higher level of privacy protection than the Fourth Amendment. The issue in this case before the State Supreme Court was whether this privacy provision goes so far as to require informed consent to government searches. Under the State Constitution, suspects are free to limit the scope of the searches to which they consent. The decision of the Court of Appeals was reversed and it was found that the crack cocaine should have been excluded at trial. In the second section of the handbook, procedural guidelines in the investigation of environmental crimes are discussed. Standard investigative techniques include never jeopardize your safety or the public’s safety, secure the crime scene, look for physical evidence, interview nearby residents as potential witnesses, take photographs of the scene, identify and interview all suspects, and seize any paperwork or other items from vehicles involved in the activity.