CHAPTER FouR • CiviL LibERTiEs 89
Our civil liberties include numerous provisions,
many of them listed in the Bill of Rights, that pro-
tect persons who are suspected of criminal activ-
ity. Among these are limits on how the police—as
agents of the government—can conduct searches
and seizures.Why Should You Care? You may be the most
law-abiding person in the world, but that does not
guarantee that you will never be stopped, arrested,
or searched by the police. Sooner or later, the great
majority of all citizens will have some kind of interac-
tion with the police. People who do not understand
their rights or how to behave toward law enforce-
ment officers can find themselves in serious trouble.What Are Your Rights? How should you behave
if you are stopped by police officers? Your civil lib-
erties protect you from having to provide informa-
tion other than your name and address. Normally,
even if you have not been placed under arrest, the
officers have the right to frisk you for weapons, and
you must let them proceed. The officers cannot, how-
ever, check your person or your clothing further if,
in their judgment, no weaponlike object is produced.
The officers may search you only if they have a
search warrant or probable cause to believe that a
search will likely produce incriminating evidence.
What if the officers do not have probable cause or
a warrant? Physically resisting their attempt tomaking a difference
YouR CiviL LibERTiEs: sEARCHEs ANd sEizuREs
search you can lead to disastrous results. You can simply
refuse orally to give permission for the search, if possible
in the presence of a witness. Being polite is better than
acting out of anger and making the officers irritable.
If you are in your car and are stopped by the police,
the same fundamental rules apply. Always be ready to
show your driver’s license and car registration. You may
be asked to get out of the car. The officers may use a flash-
light to peer inside if it is too dark to see otherwise. None
of this constitutes a search. A true search requires either
a warrant or a probable cause. No officer has the legal
right to search your car simply to find out if you may
have committed a crime.
If you are in your home and a police officer with a
search warrant appears, you can ask to examine the war-
rant before granting entry. A warrant that is correctly
made out will state the place or persons to be searched,
the object sought, and the date of the warrant (which
should be no more than ten days old). It will also bear
the signature of a judge or magistrate. If you believe the
warrant to be invalid, or if no warrant is produced, you
should make it clear orally that you have not consented
to the search, if possible in the presence of a witness.
Officers who attempt to enter your home without
a search warrant can do so only if they are pursuing a
suspected felon into the house. Rarely is it advisable to
give permission for a warrantless search. You, as the resi-
dent, must be the one to give permission if any evidence
obtained is to be considered legal. A landlord, manager,
or head of a college dormitory cannot give legal permis-
sion. A roommate, however, can give permission for a
search of his or her room, which may allow the police to
search areas where you have belongings.
If you would like to find out more about your rights
and obligations under the laws of searches and seizures,
you might want to contact the American Civil Liberties
Union. You can find its Web site by entering the initials
“aclu” into your favorite search engine.This man was arrested on suspicion of
shooting his estranged wife and his mother-in-law. Can
the police legally search him without a warrant?
(AP Photo/Sharon Cekada/Post-Crescent)9781285436388_04_ch04_066-091.indd 89 10/15/13 8:56 AM
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