In order for police and investigators to locate, examine, and preserve evidence that is connected to any criminal behavior, search warrants are essential. Additionally, search orders may be used as a tool for criminally sanctioned activity investigation. Typically, things found during a search are those that are directly related to the crime. For this reason, search warrants are a type of legal approval that allows police to enter homes and perform searches for specific items. (Schwartzbach, 2015). However, there are circumstances that call for application of such warrants, and the process involves an application to the justice who will decide whether or not the issuance of a warrant is necessary. For this reason, police officers are tasked with the responsibility to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the evidence is likely to be obtained in the implicated premises. According to Banks (2013), the supreme court has urged the poice to obtain warrants when personal computers and mobile phones have to be investigated. The areas to be searched include personal effects, fixtures, doors, walls, drawers and locked containers or storage areas. Such a happening is the search warrant executed in a certain home in Oliver where the suspect was implicated in a continuing firearms trafficking investigation. Since the defendant had denied having any firearms, the police saw it relevant to conduct a search in the premises hoping to recover more evidence. The search eventually led to charges of gun smuggling (Patton, 2017).
Apparently, the circumstances that call for search warrants vary from one case to another. However, the guiding principle is that the magistrate must be convinced that issuance is required. As such, police officers are likely to request for search warrants in situations where in their own observations and investigations, there is a belief that criminal activities take place in such an area. Other scenarios that may require the provision of a search warrant include searching homes and private property without the permission of the owners (Nolo, 2017). A good example of such circumstances is the search warrant obtained by Hamilton police, Ottawa who went ahead and conducted a search in an illegal marijuana dispensary. The search saw the confiscation of significant evidence which eventually led to the prosecution of the suspect (Hamilton Police Service, 2017)t. Also when the search is invasive for instance searching for vehicles or computers in private property and there is no cause for urgency, or searching the cellphones of suspects and intrusion into someone’s body. In cases where information from internet service providers has to be obtained, search warrants must be issued. In a Canadian news article, the Supreme Court ruled that police would actually need to have search warrants when dealing with online privacy issues (Blanchfield, 2014).
Keeping in mind that some circumstances may force police officers to conduct searches without warrants, there are elements that must be considered. The first is that the arrest must be legal in any particular situation. Secondly, the search has to be incidental in the sense that there is a reasonable cause for the search for example to protect the police or the public, to preserve relevant evidence and also to obtain further evidence such as other partners in the crime (Tucker, 2014). This means that there are those cases that require police officers to obtain search warrants while there are some circumstances when the police can resume searching as a measure of urgency, safety, evidence preservation and most of all, for further investigations.
References
Banks, T. (2013, November 12). Supreme Court Of Canada To Police: Get A Warrant To Search Computers And Mobile Phones. Retrieved from Mondaq: http://www.mondaq.com/canada/x/274424/Data+Protection+Privacy/Supreme+Court+Of+Canada+To+Police+Get+A+Warrant+To+Search+Computers+And+Mobile+Phones
Blanchfield, M. (2014, June 13). Top court rules search warrant needed to access Internet information. Retrieved from CTV News: http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/top-court-rules-search-warrant-needed-to-access-internet-information-1.1866833
Hamilton Police Service. (2017, February 16). Hamilton Police Vice and Drug Unit execute search warrant at Ottawa St marijuana dispensary. Retrieved from Hamilton Police Service: https://hamiltonpolice.on.ca/community/news/2017/02/news-release-hamilton-police-vice-and-drug-unit-execute-search-warrant-ottawa
Nolo. (2017). Search Warrants: What They Are and When They're Necessary. Retrieved from Criminal Law: http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/search-warrant-basics-29742.html
Patton, K. (2017, February 15). Border services and RCMP execute search warrant. Retrieved from The Review: http://www.keremeosreview.com/news/413871923.html
Schwartzbach, M. (2015, November 12). Search Warrants: How They Work and When Officers Need Them . Retrieved from Criminal Law: http://criminal.lawyers.com/criminal-law-basics/what-is-a-search-warrant-and-when-is-one-needed.html
Tucker, E. (2014, December 11). What rules must police follow to search a cellphone during arrest? Retrieved from Global News: http://globalnews.ca/news/1721307/what-rules-must-police-follow-to-search-a-cellphone-during-arrest/
