2008 Woodie Awards
The Fourth Amendment is your friend
Kristi Relaz
Issue date: 4/16/08 Section: Opinion
It is extremely important for students to know their legal rights before a police officer intimidates someone into giving consent. It is necessary for all people to know their rights, but many police officers in college towns rely heavily on taking advantage of students' naiveté.
And other police departments en route to and from college towns seize the opportunity to pull over students on major travel days: winter vacation, Spring Break, the Havana PD on the weekend of U of I's "Unofficial," etc ...
If you haven't recently taken a course that covers the Constitution, familiarize yourself with the Bill of Rights, particularly the Fourth Amendment. The Fourth Amendment is intended to defend against the abuse of police powers and guarantees "the right of the people to be secure … against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause."
Dr. Richard Hardy, chairman of the political science department, says "it is a very uncertain area of the law … those words have incited many lawsuits."
The problem lies within the phrase "probable cause," because there is no explicit definition and it varies from person to person. Hardy defines "probable cause" as "anything between a hunch and absolute certainty," and that is why it is imperative to know how to protect yourself the best you can against abuse of police authority.
Remember that no one has the right to enter your home, search your car, purse or pockets without a warrant or reasonable suspicion.
Also, a warrant must be specific to the search, meaning if the police come over with a warrant to find a stolen TV and find something else illegal, they cannot prosecute you for the findings outside of what the warrant allowed. However, many police officers wrongly abuse their authority to get what they want - the arrest.
If you are pulled over for speeding and the officer asks to search your car, you can say, "No, you don't have that right." Every person I know that has been stopped and did not give the officer consent has been allowed to go.
And other police departments en route to and from college towns seize the opportunity to pull over students on major travel days: winter vacation, Spring Break, the Havana PD on the weekend of U of I's "Unofficial," etc ...
If you haven't recently taken a course that covers the Constitution, familiarize yourself with the Bill of Rights, particularly the Fourth Amendment. The Fourth Amendment is intended to defend against the abuse of police powers and guarantees "the right of the people to be secure … against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause."
Dr. Richard Hardy, chairman of the political science department, says "it is a very uncertain area of the law … those words have incited many lawsuits."
The problem lies within the phrase "probable cause," because there is no explicit definition and it varies from person to person. Hardy defines "probable cause" as "anything between a hunch and absolute certainty," and that is why it is imperative to know how to protect yourself the best you can against abuse of police authority.
Remember that no one has the right to enter your home, search your car, purse or pockets without a warrant or reasonable suspicion.
Also, a warrant must be specific to the search, meaning if the police come over with a warrant to find a stolen TV and find something else illegal, they cannot prosecute you for the findings outside of what the warrant allowed. However, many police officers wrongly abuse their authority to get what they want - the arrest.
If you are pulled over for speeding and the officer asks to search your car, you can say, "No, you don't have that right." Every person I know that has been stopped and did not give the officer consent has been allowed to go.
Viewing Comments 1 - 5 of 6
Kathleen
posted 4/30/08 @ 2:22 PM CST
First of all you have some gutts entering this article in a university newspaper, let alone WIU which is one of the top universities in the US for law enforcement. (Continued…)
bee
posted 4/30/08 @ 6:48 PM CST
No matter what, even if you are guilty, say nothing, because more often than not your attorney will get you a 'not guilty'... I learned this the hard way. (Continued…)
easy boy
posted 4/30/08 @ 8:07 PM CST
Matt...I mean Andy...I mean Matt,
Actually Kathleen is correct. Most of this article is completely fallacious. This kind of thing needs to be left to the lawyers not an opinion columnist who doesn't know what the hell she is talking about. (Continued…)
AngelD
posted 5/03/08 @ 1:44 AM CST
You know the easiest way to make the "information" (which as Kathleen and easy boy pointed out is false and misleading and may prove to get people in MORE trouble than had they not followed it) in this article really a moot point? Don't do things that are illegal. (Continued…)
AngelD
posted 5/03/08 @ 1:49 AM CST
I forgot to add...when pieces like this are published, it would be nice if the managing editor would require some kind of reliable documentation for what the author's claiming and publish that with the story. (Continued…)
Post a Comment