No warrant required?

[E.Marquez]

The likened Diaz's cell phone to personal effects like clothing, which can be searched by arresting officers without warrant.

That is without a doubt a decision and mindset behind the times. 15 years ago, perhaps true... a Cell phone was just an object used to receive or make a phone call. Has not been that way in many years. I would love to have one of those court officers be arrested for....whatever,, suspicion of DUI, disorderly conduct, any number of things that a reasonable person can run afoul of.. And have their PDA, smart phone, etc etc searched...
My uneducated guess is.. this will be tossed on appeal, once challenged.. but until then, you can bet, LEO's are going to take advantage of it.. most professionally, IOT to find ADDITIONAL evidence of a person already under arrest for a crime committed. But Some will push it past that line… Humans after all…do these things.

[RPB]

Wreckers want an inventory too ... for when the drunk bails out the next day, come pick up there car (always in the best of moods when they hear the price) and asks

"What about the $400.00 I had in there?"
Where'd my rifle go?
Where's my TOOLBOX?
etc etc etc.

[gigag04]

Wreckers want an inventory too ... for when the drunk bails out the next day, come pick up there car (always in the best of moods when they hear the price) and asks

"What about the $400.00 I had in there?"
Where'd my rifle go?
Where's my TOOLBOX?
etc etc etc.

And it protects the arrestee from sticky fingered tow truck drivers. Good add RPB, thank you!

[RPB]

It's for EVERYONE'S protection ... especially if something in inventory actually IS missing when the drunk picks up the car, then they have proof and can get reimbursed.

I lived next door to a Storage/Salvage/Wrecker yard ... saw both sides of it.

[b322da]

I'm not a law breaker, but I will fight like one who is. If you want to search my cell phone, you'll have to know the PIN to even access the thing. You won't get it from me. Once those metal bracelets go on, I forget the PIN. Plus, MobileMe Remote Erase can work wonders. Now, I am sure the PD can get info from AT&T, but I surely won't make it easy for them....

Obstruction of justice does not make one a law breaker??

Just an idle hypothetical (or should I say, rhetorical?) question.

Elmo

[pbwalker]

I'm not a law breaker, but I will fight like one who is. If you want to search my cell phone, you'll have to know the PIN to even access the thing. You won't get it from me. Once those metal bracelets go on, I forget the PIN. Plus, MobileMe Remote Erase can work wonders. Now, I am sure the PD can get info from AT&T, but I surely won't make it easy for them....

Obstruction of justice does not make one a law breaker??

Just an idle hypothetical (or should I say, rhetorical?) question.

Elmo

I should have specified that I would only do this *if* they did not have a warrant.

But yes, this is all hypothetical because I don't plan on doing anything to get me arrested.

[b322da]

I'm not a law breaker, but I will fight like one who is. If you want to search my cell phone, you'll have to know the PIN to even access the thing. You won't get it from me. Once those metal bracelets go on, I forget the PIN. Plus, MobileMe Remote Erase can work wonders. Now, I am sure the PD can get info from AT&T, but I surely won't make it easy for them....

Obstruction of justice does not make one a law breaker??

Just an idle hypothetical (or should I say, rhetorical?) question.

Elmo

I should have specified that I would only do this *if* they did not have a warrant.

But yes, this is all hypothetical because I don't plan on doing anything to get me arrested.

Does the absence of a warrant make any difference, when the law, according to the highest court of the state, does not require a warrant? (Which is exactly what has generated this thread).

Elmo

[pbwalker]

I'm not a law breaker, but I will fight like one who is. If you want to search my cell phone, you'll have to know the PIN to even access the thing. You won't get it from me. Once those metal bracelets go on, I forget the PIN. Plus, MobileMe Remote Erase can work wonders. Now, I am sure the PD can get info from AT&T, but I surely won't make it easy for them....

Obstruction of justice does not make one a law breaker??

Just an idle hypothetical (or should I say, rhetorical?) question.

Elmo

I should have specified that I would only do this *if* they did not have a warrant.

But yes, this is all hypothetical because I don't plan on doing anything to get me arrested.

Does the absence of a warrant make any difference, when the law, according to the highest court of the state, does not require a warrant? (Which is exactly what has generated this thread).

Elmo

I don't live in California...

[b322da]

I'm not a law breaker, but I will fight like one who is. If you want to search my cell phone, you'll have to know the PIN to even access the thing. You won't get it from me. Once those metal bracelets go on, I forget the PIN. Plus, MobileMe Remote Erase can work wonders. Now, I am sure the PD can get info from AT&T, but I surely won't make it easy for them....

Obstruction of justice does not make one a law breaker??

Just an idle hypothetical (or should I say, rhetorical?) question.

Elmo

I should have specified that I would only do this *if* they did not have a warrant.

But yes, this is all hypothetical because I don't plan on doing anything to get me arrested.

Does the absence of a warrant make any difference, when the law, according to the highest court of the state, does not require a warrant? (Which is exactly what has generated this thread).

Elmo

I don't live in California...

Can't beat that, pb.

At least not until Roberts, Scalia, Alito and Thomas, the Screaming Liberals on the Supreme Court, get a crack at this case.

Eventually the Supreme Court is going to focus again on the important word in the 4th Amendment: "unreasonable." And a case like this one, about a drug dealer, is a prime opportunity for them to do so. "Bad facts make bad law" may be relevant here.

Elmo

[pbwalker]

At least not until Roberts, Scalia, Alito and Thomas, the Screaming Liberals on the Supreme Court, get a crack at this case.

Man, I hope not...

[mctowalot]

Wreckers want an inventory too ... for when the drunk bails out the next day, come pick up there car (always in the best of moods when they hear the price) and asks

"What about the $400.00 I had in there?"
Where'd my rifle go?
Where's my TOOLBOX?
etc etc etc.

And it protects the arrestee from sticky fingered tow truck drivers. Good add RPB, thank you!

Sometimes they will even accuse the officer of being the one with sticky fingers. Go figure.

[SwimFan85]

Eh... kinda sorta yeah but not really. An inventory might just have "guitar case, backpack, and laptop case," whereas a search would certainly list what was in those containers. It's a pretty fine between them, and I fully expect to see it blurred until the wrong lawyer gets his or her stuff "inventoried" during a traffic stop.

Or a follower of The Blind Sheikh has a briefcase bomb, and it goes off when police inventory his car.

And then the ACLU gets all charges dropped because the bomber's rights were violated, and everybody would have been safe if the cops did an inventory instead of an illegal search.

[pbwalker]

Eh... kinda sorta yeah but not really. An inventory might just have "guitar case, backpack, and laptop case," whereas a search would certainly list what was in those containers. It's a pretty fine between them, and I fully expect to see it blurred until the wrong lawyer gets his or her stuff "inventoried" during a traffic stop.

Or a follower of The Blind Sheikh has a briefcase bomb, and it goes off when police inventory his car.

And then the ACLU gets all charges dropped because the bomber's rights were violated, and everybody would have been safe if the cops did an inventory instead of an illegal search.

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.
-Ben Franklin

[mctowalot]

I'm sure they're producing those truck mounted TSA body scanners as fast as they can.

[McKnife]

I'm intersted in Gigag04's response on this:

Whenever I get out of my vehicle for any reason (Traffic Stop, Checkpoint, etc...) I always lock my truck with the keys inside on the floormat. I have an electronic combonation lock on the outside which will unlock the doors when I enter the code.

If my truck was to be towed, how will anyone inventory my truck if the doors are locked, keys inside and no one can get in assuming I won't provide the code?