The Fourth Amendment as it was written in the Bill of Rights protects citizens from unlawful search and seizure, yet many don’t see the challenges local law enforcement face as they investigate crimes.
Waldoboro Police Detective Lance Mitchell spoke with residents about police work as it pertains to search and seizure, crime scene investigation and evidence gathering during the sixth installment of the Citizen’s Police Academy Monday night.
“You’ve got to be specific when you’re writing out a warrant,” Mitchell said, using an example of stolen candy bars to illustrate points on preparing to search a residence. “You can’t search for a snowmobile in a dresser drawer.”
Resident Andy Kennedy, who hails from the United Kingdom, said he is used to law enforcement in Europe not having to obtain specific search warrants. Where the Fourth Amendment doesn’t exist, law enforcement can search a home on a hunch instead of a signed warrant from a judge.
Were it not for the Fourth Amendment, Waldoboro would have no drug problem, Mitchell said, but added the law is there to protect the rights of citizens. Bound within the wording of the law, police officers conduct their work and make arrests after evidence has been legally gathered.
Careful police work equates to legal cases not being thrown out due to technicalities, such as evidence that has been unlawfully obtained. The people who work in law enforcement call unlawfully obtained evidence, “fruit of the poisoned tree.”
Mitchell covered various search parameters officers must adhere to in order to obtain legal evidence. Officers must be in a legal position to view unlawful conduct or contraband in order to use it in a case.
The police detective referenced an instance in which he heard about a couple that was shooting up (using drugs) with small children present. When he knocked on the door and the man answered, Mitchell saw through the crack in the door the woman in the midst of sticking a needle in her arm while one of the children was sitting in front of a computer a few feet away.
Police routinely hear stories from residents about fellow neighbors and part of their work involves separating truth from rumor. As Mitchell explained, officers can’t simply arrest people based on hearsay, but instead must build a case.
Detective Mitchell and Waldoboro Police Chief Bill Labombarde talked about various kinds of searches and the boundaries where citizens’ expectation of privacy begins and ends. They also talked about citizens giving police consent for searches, and the rules associated with consent.
A so-called, “Terry Stop” refers to a case involving a group of armed men who were stopped by a Cleveland police detective. As Chief Labombarde explained, the police officer saw a man standing outside an in-town business with a bulge the officer suspected was a gun. The officer searched the men and found weapons.
Attorneys on the defense argued the officer’s search for the gun was obtained illegally. The state of Ohio determined the officer’s search was legal.
A Terry Stop or Traffic Search described online, is when an officer must have a reasonable suspicion the person who is to be searched is somehow involved in a crime. The suspicion must be based on the officer’s articulation of specific facts (probable cause) and not simply a hunch.
Participants glanced at a search warrant while the detective explained some of the wording officers must use. He answered some questions pertaining to broken or found stolen property that has been linked to other cases and the involvement of children in cases.
Mitchell and Labombarde dispelled some of the illusions of how police work is portrayed on television shows. They talked with participants about crime scene investigation and offered an overview of the process.
“Safety is number one,” Mitchell said, adding officers need to make sure all people involved are okay and that the area is sealed off.
Officers working at a crime scene must talk with all the parties involved, get their stories while keeping those not directly involved (the general public, the press) outside of the crime scene in order to protect any evidence from getting compromised.
Participants listened quietly as the detective pulled out an ultra-violet light and other instruments at officers’ disposal while working at a crime scene. Labombarde showed the residents how officers dust for fingerprints and explained the process by which they get results from the state police crime lab.
Mitchell used cotton swabs to extract a DNA sample from a participant’s soda bottle. The crime lab analyzes the samples and sends results back to the department. Mitchell said even though print results take the lab considerably longer than DNA samples, they still take prints at crime scenes. Fingerprint results from a violent crime scene take less time, they said, as these prints run higher in priority than prints from other crimes.
Photographs are important in police work, too. Mitchell said he takes a lot of photographs at a crime scene. He uses a measuring device, such as a dollar bill or ruler so that those looking at the photographs have something with which to compare the size of the evidence.
Labombarde said the crime scene investigation course at the Maine Criminal Justice Academy takes an entire day.
The next installment of the Waldoboro Citizen’s Academy takes place at the Waldoboro town office on Mon., Nov. 9. Participants will learn about the Use of Force law.
