Stephanie Vosk reports: Police are allowed to secretly place Global Positioning System devices inside the cars of suspects they want to monitor — as long as they have a warrant to do so, the state Supreme Judicial Court ruled yesterday. The decision stems from a case involving Harwich resident Everett Connolly, who was convicted of…
Tag: Fourth Amendment
Do police need warrants to search cell phones?
James Nash reports: Police may be able to take cell phones from people they arrest, but that doesn’t give them the right to scroll through call logs in search of incriminating information without a warrant, a defense attorney told the Ohio Supreme Court yesterday. Justices questioned the lawyer on whether it was necessary for police…
Officers’ New Tool Against D.W.I.: Syringe
Associated Press reports: When Officer Darryll Dowell of the Nampa Police Department is on patrol, he will pull up at a stoplight and start casing the vehicle next to him. Nowadays, his eyes will also focus on the driver’s arms, searching for a plump, bouncy vein. […] The thought stems from training he and a…
Fourth Amendment cases: forcible catheterization, DNA swabbing
A newly filed lawsuit and an appellate decision involve Fourth Amendment rights protecting against forcible and warrantless taking of biological samples…. Courthouse News summarizes the background of a lawsuit (pdf) filed by a man who says police had him forcibly catheterized when he couldn’t produce a urine sample. A man claims a Lawrenceburg police officer…