1. Why do you suppose the Fourth Amendment was
written?
2. What are the steps in obtaining a search warrant?
3. Many court decisions regarding police involve the
question of legal searches. What factors are considered in the legal search of a person, a private dwelling, abandoned property, a business building, a car
or corporate offices?
4. Should there be legal provisions for an officer to
seize evidence without a warrant if the evidence
may be destroyed or removed before a warrant can
be obtained?
5. Imagine you are assigned to search a tavern at
10 a.m. for illegal gambling devices. Twenty patrons
plus the bartender are in the tavern, but the owner
is not present. How would you execute the search
warrant?
6. What kind of physical evidence would you expect
to find at the scene of an armed robbery? Why does
this differ from your response to Question 1?
7. What legal rule requires the submission of original
evidence, and when is this rule followed? When
is it permissible to substitute evidence that is not
original?
8. Explain how you would mark for identification the
following items of evidence: a broken window pane;
a damaged bullet; dried blood scraped from a wood
floor; a shotgun shell casing; a piece of clothing with
semen stains.
9. What two types of DNA evidence exist? What are the
differences between the two?
10. How does your police department dispose of evidence after it is no longer of value or has been released by the court?
11. What do you consider to be the essential steps in
developing information about a crime?
12. Emphasis is often placed on obtaining a confession,
or at least an admission, from a suspect in a criminal inquiry. Under what conditions is a confession of
greatest value? of no value?
13. Do you believe that use of the Miranda warning has
increased or decreased the number of confessions
obtained in criminal cases?
14. What categories are included in your police department’s sources-of-information file?
15. Criminals or others who give the police information
about a crime that eventually leads to an arrest or a
conviction are sometimes paid for the information.
Is this a legitimate use of tax funds, or should private donations be used?
16. Suppose you have obtained information concerning
a suspect in a rape case. Two witnesses saw someone near the rape scene at about the time of the
offense, and the victim was able to describe her assailant. How should identification be made?
17. How are people selected for a lineup? How should
a lineup be conducted according to legal requirements? What is done if the suspect refuses to
participate?
18. Under what conditions should a police raid be
considered?
19. What type of “tail” would you use for each of the
following: Checking the loyalty of an informant? A suspected bank robber planning to “case” a bank?
A burglar known to meet frequently with another
burglar? Someone suspected of being an organized
crime leader?
20. When do outside agencies participate in surveillances, undercover assignments and raids?
