srothstein wrote:
Not your fault that the article is wrong, but the facts make a big difference. Police cannot search anything on your person when you are detained. They may frisk you for weapons only. This was the results of the Terry v. Ohio decision. It has been added to in one small respect where an officer who is doing a frisk and finds other evidence than a weapon may use it (plain feel doctrine). I think that is the weakest link possible, but SCOTUS bought it.
Thanks for the correction. I was looking for an article that supported the fact that LEOs are searching unlocked cell phones.
There are also indications on various LEO forums and conservative forums that cell phones should be considered weapons. They can be used by the bad guys to call buddies is one concern.
A bit of interesting discussion on it by LEOs, including an indication that there are guns that look like cell phones:
http://forums.officer.com/t44827-2/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I don't know if that's true or not, but certainly I can understand taking a phone away if a thug is using it to call for backup.
References to traffic stops (California of course) and associated cell phone searches not incident to arrest:
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2011/10 ... fic-stops/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Michigan appears to do it too:
http://www.infosecisland.com/blogview/1 ... Stops.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The general case law currently seems to indicate that it's much more common when incident to an arrest.. That is, they arrest you, it's OK to search your cell phone.
The traffic stop.. Cell phone in hand, it's pretty easy to flip through an unlocked phone.