George Costanza
A Friendly Liberal
Search Waiver Condition: "Submit yourself or your property, to search and seizure at any time of the day or night by any peace officer, with or without a warrant or probable cause."
I don't know when the law on this changed. It was somewhere in the 1980's or early 1990's, I think. Under the old rule, if a judge was going to impose a search waiver condition as a condition of probation, it had to appear that the search waiver condition was reasonably related to the crime involved or it could not be imposed. Example: The defendant was operating a hidden meth lab in his garage. Search waiver condition relevant, since the crime showed a propensity for concealing contraband. The defendant got mad at his neighbor and hit him in the mouth. Search waiver condition not relevant, since crime did not involve furtiveness or show a propensity for concealing contraband.
Somewhere along the line, "activist judges" (conservatives, please note) changed the law on this. Today, a search waiver condition is routinely imposed on EVERY person who is placed on probation, regardless of the crime involved.
Today, whenever a person with a search waiver condition has any contact whatsoever with any peach officer, they must inform the officer up front, that they are on probation with a search waiver condition. If they don't say anything, the first question out of the cop's mouth is, "you on probation or parole"? (Parole also imposed search waiver conditions in all cases, regardless of the triggering offense.)
A routine traffic stop for a probationer almost always results in a full car search. Never mind that the guy's only crime was busting his neighbor in the chops while drunk.
This is yet another example of a criminal justice system which seems determined to give the police more and more power to side step the Constitution.
When is it going to end?
I don't know when the law on this changed. It was somewhere in the 1980's or early 1990's, I think. Under the old rule, if a judge was going to impose a search waiver condition as a condition of probation, it had to appear that the search waiver condition was reasonably related to the crime involved or it could not be imposed. Example: The defendant was operating a hidden meth lab in his garage. Search waiver condition relevant, since the crime showed a propensity for concealing contraband. The defendant got mad at his neighbor and hit him in the mouth. Search waiver condition not relevant, since crime did not involve furtiveness or show a propensity for concealing contraband.
Somewhere along the line, "activist judges" (conservatives, please note) changed the law on this. Today, a search waiver condition is routinely imposed on EVERY person who is placed on probation, regardless of the crime involved.
Today, whenever a person with a search waiver condition has any contact whatsoever with any peach officer, they must inform the officer up front, that they are on probation with a search waiver condition. If they don't say anything, the first question out of the cop's mouth is, "you on probation or parole"? (Parole also imposed search waiver conditions in all cases, regardless of the triggering offense.)
A routine traffic stop for a probationer almost always results in a full car search. Never mind that the guy's only crime was busting his neighbor in the chops while drunk.
This is yet another example of a criminal justice system which seems determined to give the police more and more power to side step the Constitution.
When is it going to end?