NCJ Number
174298
Journal
Prosecutor Volume: 32 Issue: 1 Dated: January/February 1998 Pages: 16-21
Date Published
1998
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This article examines general constitutional principles that apply to searches, and case law on whether thermal imagery is a search necessitating a warrant.
Abstract
The Fourth Amendment protects individuals and their property from unreasonable searches and seizures by requiring that government agents get a warrant based on probable cause before engaging in such activity. However, the question of what constitutes a search under the Fourth Amendment is open-ended, as law enforcement authorities develop and use new weapons in the war against crime. A thermal imager measures heat emitted from objects within its field of view. Law enforcement authorities find thermal surveillance helpful in locating heat lamps used to grow marijuana indoors. Information obtained through thermal imagery is never relied on alone to secure a search warrant; without other data it is not sufficient to establish probable cause. The courts have scrutinized numerous investigative techniques, including thermal imagers, with varying results. However, until the Supreme Court addresses the matter directly, the question of whether thermal imagery is a search under the Fourth Amendment will remain unsettled. Notes