Q&A Hero

Q: How would you organize a search for a murder weapon in an open field?

Q: Describe the "plain feel/touch" exception to the exclusionary rule.

Q: How would you proceed with the search of a dead body at a crime scene? What issues must be considered?

Q: Describe limits on using thermal imaging in searches.

Q: What are the limits on a "dog-sniff" search for narcotics at a traffic stop?

Q: When is trash subject to search?

Q: What is the plain-view doctrine?

Q: The search team leader is primarily responsible for which tasks?

Q: The courts have upheld the right of an officer to inventory a vehicle for what reasons?

Q: Describe the "fruit-of-the-poisonous-tree" doctrine.

Q: Define curtilage.

Q: When asking for consent to search, it is good practice to get a(n) ____________ answer before conducting a search, and even better practice to obtain a written consent to search.

Q: A search conducted with a warrant must be limited to the specific area and specific items named in the warrant, in accordance with the ____________________ requirement.

Q: _________ __________ determines the extent of a search scene.

Q: In a unanimous ruling in United States v. Banks (2003), the Supreme Court upheld the ___________ entry into a suspected drug dealer's apartment 15 to 20 seconds after police knocked and announced themselves.

Q: The Supreme Court has ruled that probable cause should be based on a totality-of-the-___________________ test.

Q: In order to obtain a valid search warrant, officers must appear before a judge and establish probable cause to believe that the location contains evidence of a crime, and they must __________________ describe that evidence.

Q: The landmark decision in Terry v. Ohio established police officers' right to pat down or frisk a person they have stopped to question if they have reasonable suspicion that the person might be ________ and ___________.

Q: The Carroll decision established that automobiles may be searched without a warrant, largely based on the __________________ of vehicles.

Q: When probable cause exists but there is no time to obtain a search warrant, the officer may conduct a search. This is an example of an emergency, or ________________ circumstances.

Q: ________________ searches are prohibited by the Fourth Amendment.

Q: The Fourth Amendment protects both people and places.

Q: Illinois v. McArthur (2001) ruled that officers may detain residents outside their homes until a search warrant can be obtained if necessary.

Q: Property owners can consent to police entry or search even though a tenant or guest has lawful right of possession of the premises.

Q: One of the reasons that the courts allow an inventory of vehicles and property is to protect the owner's property.

Q: During a stop of a moving vehicle, officers may search the vehicle and any closed containers in it without probable cause or consent.

Q: Every lawful arrest is accompanied by a search of the arrested person to protect the arresting officers and others and to prevent destruction of evidence.

Q: The consent to search must not be in response to an officer's claim of lawful authority or in response to a command or threat by an officer.

Q: A search warrant can be issued to search for and seize property designed or intended for use in committing a crime.

Q: A search with consent must be voluntary.

Q: In Georgia v. Randolph (2006), the Supreme Court said, "If any party who is present and has authority to object to the search does object to the search, the police may not conduct the search on the authority of that party who gave consent."

Q: Under the consent once removed exception, officers can make a warrantless entry to arrest a suspect if consent to enter was given earlier to an undercover officer or informant.

Q: In Wyoming v. Houghton, the court ruled that an officer may search the belongings of an automobile passenger simply because the officer suspects the driver has done something wrong.

Q: There are some instances in which evidence may not exist at the crime scene.

Q: The common denominator of all search patterns is that they are designed to systematically locate any evidence at a crime scene or any other area where evidence might be found.

Q: Officers may use heat-sensing (thermal-scanning) devices without a warrant.

Q: Officers may not seize contraband they discover during a legal search, but must ask consent.

Q: Plain-view evidence is admissible in court, no matter what the circumstances.

Q: Discuss the difference between inculpatory and exculpatory evidence and the role of the police report toward both.

Q: Describe the difference between connotative and denotative language.

Q: How would the writing of a report be different if a box-style format was used instead of the traditional narrative report?

Q: How might a report be used to plan for future law enforcement services?

Q: Give a one-sentence example of an opinion, and then rewrite the statement as a fact.

Q: How might a report be used to refresh a witness's memory?

Q: What is the difference between an officer's notes and a report?

Q: Briefly describe how citizen online reporting works.

Q: What types of abbreviations should you avoid using in a report?

Q: Give a one-sentence example of an inference, and then rewrite the statement as a fact.

Q: Do you think form or content is more important in a police report?

Q: List four benefits of citizen online reporting.

Q: Describe how the report narrative should be structured and what to include in each part of the narrative.

Q: List the characteristics of effective reports.

Q: Explain why it is necessary for officers to write clear reports.

Q: A way to increase clarity in reports is to include sketches and ____________.

Q: CARE stands for ____________.

Q: Being ____________ means making every word count, without leaving out important facts.

Q: Once you have written your report, you should always take the following three steps: ____________, ____________ and ____________ it.

Q: Verbs in the ____________ tense refer to events that have already occurred.

Q: In the ____________ voice, the subject of the sentence performs the actions.

Q: An effective report uses the ____________ tense, the ____________ person and the ____________ voice.

Q: When organizing notes for a report, list the facts of the investigation in ____________ order.

Q: Inferences are also referred to as ____________ language.

Q: A good report can make an excessive-force ___________ less likely to be filed in the first place, and if it does go to court, less likely to be successful.

Q: Officers should feel free to use police jargon in their notes, but should not use police jargon in their reports.

Q: The first person to evaluate your written report should be your supervisor.

Q: It doesn"t matter whether a report is typed, written or printedas long as others can read it easily.

Q: One component of writing a report is to remember that many people will be reading the report and it is important to impress the audience with your writing skills.

Q: Uniform Crime Reporting information is automatically aggregated in the CARE system.

Q: An officer may use derogatory, biased terms referring to a person's race, ethnicity, religion or sexual preference in police reports.

Q: Officers should include all the facts in a report, even those that may appear to weaken the case against the charged individual.

Q: The length of a report is the single most important factor in ensuring quality.

Q: Recording or dictating reports is common in some departments.

Q: The statement "he saw what happened" is an objective statement based on fact.

Q: When writing a report, you should start a new paragraph when you change speakers, locations, time or ideas.

Q: An excellent report is more likely to cause the defendant to go to trial.

Q: If an officer did not see who signed a check, the statement "the check was signed, John Doe" is more objective than "the check was signed by John Doe."

Q: Being objective means eliminating those facts from the report that may appear damaging to your case.

Q: An inference is not really true or false; it is sound or unsound.

Q: Good report writing is a learned skill.

Q: Reporters are never permitted to read police reports.