Private And Public Criminal Investigation

Police : Can investigate/prosecute any crimes that have been committed and secure any evidence, to support victims, raise awareness of crimes.

Police officers use search and seizure as a tool to ensure their safety, gather evidence, and arrest suspects. In police training, a search is defined as an examination of a hidden place, i.e. a person or their property, whose purpose is to find contraband (DOCJT, 2014, p. 10). A seizure is defined as the capture or arrest of a person or the confiscation of property (DOCJT, 2014, p. 10). Depending on the individual situation, a warrant may or may not be required to conduct searches and seizures. The exclusionary rule, which states that illegally seized evidence is inadmissible in court, has guided the definition of search and seizure, specifically as it pertains

In the field of policing there are a couple different paths for an individual to choose from and they include private security and public policing. State government, city government, and towns normally provide the community with a public police force to enforce the laws and protect the citizens. Police officers are very important within a community but sometimes a private security can come in and help out and this frees up time for the public policing. Private security personnel generally work for a private company that handles their own dispatching, training and recruiting. Private security functions include loss-prevention duties or protective services that would not be

There has always been the thought that police can abuse their power especially when it comes to collection of evidence that could incriminate someone for something that was illegally obtained. The exclusionary rule was put in place to counteract evidence that may have ben illegally obtained to be inadmissible in a court of law with few exceptions to the rule.

According to Encyclopedia Britannica the exclusionary rule, in American law, states that any evidence seized unlawfully by the police is in violation of the Fourth Amendment (The Editors of The Encyclopedia Britannica). The exclusionary rule was created to exclude any evidence obtained during an illegal search to be used in federal and state courts. The principal behind it is to protect the constitutional rights under the Fourth and Fifth Amendment that may be threatened by police misconduct. Also to secure

The Exclusionary rule requires that any evidence taken into custody be obtained by police using methods that violates an individual constitutional rights must be excluded from use in a criminal prosecution against that individual. This rule is judicially imposed and arose relatively recently in the development of the U.S. legal system. Under the common law, the seizure of evidence by illegal means did not affect its admission in court. Any evidence, however obtained, was admitted as long as it satisfied other evidentiary criteria for admissibility, such as relevance and trustworthiness. The exclusionary rule was developed in 1914 and applied to the case of Weeks v. United States, 232 U.S. 383, and was limited to a prohibition on the use

The exclusionary rule provides extra protections for defendants; however, certain circumstances exist allowing the introduction of gathered evidence that violates the defendant’s Fourth Amendment rights. These exceptions include good faith errors, independent sources, inevitable discovery, and the purged taint exception. The good faith exception allows the introduction of evidence collected by law enforcement that on review violates the defendant’s Fourth Amendment rights. A defective search warrant may taint the collected evidence; however, law enforcement officers acting under good faith a search warrant is valid may present the tainted evidence at trial because the initial error lies with the judge approving the probable cause for the warrant (Del Carmen, 2010). The independent source exception allows the introduction of evidence obtained via the direct result of an illegal search or seizure if the connection between the illegal police conduct and the seizure of the evidence dissipates the taint of illegality. If the police possess an independent source used to obtain entry on a search and discover contraband based on the source in an illegal manner, then the seizure of the evidence is admissible regardless of the illegal entry or search (Del Carmen, 2010). The inevitable discovery doctrine allows the introduction of evidence of a defendant’s guilt that is inadmissible under the exclusionary rule. The doctrine states

"Private security and public law enforcement share many of the same goals: preventing crime and disorder, identifying criminals, and ensuring the security of people and property," ("Private Security and Public Law Enforcement," n.d.). There are many more private security officers than public police officers, making tandem projects and collaboration essential ("Private Security and Public Law Enforcement," n.d.). There may be some overlap between public law enforcement and private security, but generally the latter can be more highly specialized and are therefore useful in situations such as campus security.

The Amendments found in the United States Constitution contain several provisions to protect citizens from various infringements from the government. These provisions have greatly influenced what law enforcement is today. Due to the power of a law enforcement official, the public expects officers to be held to a higher ethical standard. Part of that expectation entails that officers will follow in the law and lead by example. Unfortunately, no one is perfect and departments will always have those law enforcement officers who stray from what is right and act questionably on and off duty. To ensure that officers are being held accountable for their actions, departments will employ their own Internal Investigation division to help identify, discipline, and/or remove employees found guilty of misconduct. Therefore, it is important that administrators develop safeguards to ensure that internal investigations are conducted fairly and ethically, demonstrating the best interest of both the

When we think about rights, we also must think about the safety of the officer and everyone else around at the time. If a person is a suspect in a serious crime such as murder, then I don’t feel that individual’s rights should outweigh the rights of the officer. I believe in most cases we must think about individual’s rights per the Constitution, which protects individuals from certain things like illegal searches, but at the same time the officers who are dealing with these individuals concerns are valid as well especially in an

QUESTION 6 (6 points): Explain the Exclusionary Rule: How and why was it created? What was its development? When and how does a defendant invoke it? Exclusionary rule is in place to protect anyone that has been the victim unreasonable search and seizure. The exclusionary rule states that any evidence collected or obtain during an unreasonable search and seizure can not be used against a defendant in order to convict said defendant. The exclusionary rule took affect in federal case only in 1914 in the case of Weeks v. United States but there was one main clause; if evidence was collected illegally by state and local officer’s and then handed over to federal officer’s can be used. This clause is known as the silver platter doctrine. It wasn’t

Public policing stands for more in society than private security because of the funding provided. Most private security agencies have to acquire more public access to obtain society’s opinion and to get customers to represent the company. The more information gathered about the two companies and compared for society to view the better outcome for the final result for each company to experience in

The police are termed as the gatekeepers of the criminal justice system. The police are at the first point of contact between an individual and the criminal justice system. The police will first appear on the scene when an individual is deemed to have run afoul of the law. This could be via a minor infraction of the law, legally termed as a misdemeanor or a major infraction of the law that could be anything from a white collar crime to a capital offense. Regardless of the infraction in question, it is not the job of the police to determine the guilt or innocence of the individual. That is the work of the second component of the criminal justice system, the

There is a public and governmental cost that is imposed by the exclusionary rule on the public when it frees the guilty and sidetracks the court on its mandate to obtain the truth. The fabric of the law is also tainted. There are professional costs also incurred by individuals within the system of criminal justice. The rigidity of the law causes the concerned parties like the police, magistrates and lawyers to allow double standards in order to proceed with a case. In an effort to conclude a case, they ignore certain violations of this draconian rule so as to allow the use of evidence. When the exclusionary rule is upheld, there administrative costs imposed on the government

A private investigator should not look at the case he is handling subjectively and personally to avoid being biased. He should always be objective in doing his work so that he will be able to look at the two sides of the coin while investigating the case handed to him.