Law enforcement officers with probable cause to search a motor vehicle may inspect
passengers’ belongings found in the vehicle that are capable of concealing the object of
the search.
a. True
b. False
In the Federal system, the codified procedures and rules relating to search and seizure
are found _____.
a. scattered throughout the codes of the U.S. code
b. scattered throughout the various court cases related to criminal procedure
c. in the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, Rule 41
d. in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Rule 21
Prisoners in state custody who allege that certain errors of a constitutional magnitude
were not corrected on appeal may file a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in federal
district court.
a. True
b. False
Some courts require additional information to establish the veracity/truthfulness of an
ordinary citizen informant if the citizen merely provides an anonymous tip. Which issue
is a primary factor, mentioned in the text (State v. White, Ga. App. 1990), used by
Georgia courts to assess the veracity/truthfulness of an anonymous tip?
a. the testimony of the officer receiving the tip as to its credibility
b. whether the information is from a “concerned citizen”
c. whether the citizen had provided valid tips in the past
d. whether the tipster had firsthand or secondhand knowledge
Police and fire officials are investigating a fire. Assume that a reasonable expectation of
privacy remains in the premise and that no exception to the warrant requirement
applies. Officials want to search the premises after the fire has been fully extinguished.
The only purpose of the search is to determine the cause and origin of a recent fire.
Which statement is true?
a. Officials need an administrative search warrant.
b. Officials need a criminal search warrant.
c. Officials need neither an administrative nor a criminal search warrant.
d. Officials need both an administrative and a criminal search warrant.
The exclusionary rule _____.
a. does not exclude evidence that could have been later obtained from an independent
source
b. automatically excludes all evidence seized in violation of the U.S. Constitution
c. applies only to federal criminal trials, but not state trials
d. is a rule that is explicitly stated in the Fourth Amendment
An officer who observes a blown taillight, cracked windshield, or failure to signal when
changing lanes may stop a vehicle even if a hypothetical “reasonable officer” would not
have been motivated by a desire to enforce the traffic laws.
a. True
b. False
The cases of Aguilar v. Texas (1964) and Spinelli v. United States (1969) established a
process for evaluating probable cause based on informant information. According to
this test, the informant _____.
a. need not be judged as credible
b. cannot be a criminal
c. must have a ‘sufficient basis” for the knowledge
d. must have personally perceived the information
Under the exigent circumstances exception, a law enforcement officer must apply for an
interception order _____ after the interception has occurred or begins to occur.
a. immediately
b. within forty-eight hours
c. as soon as practicable
d. when prudent as deemed by the officer
The best evidence rule means that to prove the content of a writing, recording, or
photograph, the original is generally required since copies are too easily altered.
a. True
b. False
Officers have a warrant to search a dwelling for three shotguns stolen in a burglary of a
gun store. In executing the warrant, they discover many other firearms not described on
the warrant, some of which they recognize immediately as having been taken in the
same burglary. The officers have legal grounds to seize ______.
a. all the other firearms immediately
b. only the shotguns described on the warrant
c. the shotguns described on the warrant and may examine all the other firearms to
determine if they are stolen property
d. the shotguns described on the warrant and the other firearms they recognize as stolen,
but may not examine or seize the other firearms
During a search, an officer observes, in plain view, an item not covered in the warrant.
The officer believes the item to be evidence in a separate crime other than the offense
currently being investigated by police. In order to seize the item, the officer must have
_____ to believe the item is contraband or evidence of a crime.
a. reasonable suspicion
b. absolute certainty
c. clear and convincing evidence
d. probable cause
Police with probable cause to believe that a warehouse contains marijuana unlawfully
enter the warehouse and observe marijuana. The officers leave and obtain a search
warrant using their original probable cause, not their unlawful observations. The best
chance for the prosecutor to have the evidence be admissible would be under which
exception?
a. the attenuation exception
b. the independent source exception
c. the inevitable discovery exception
d. the good faith exception
For minor crimes unlikely to involve the use of weapons or destructible evidence,
officers are permitted to conduct a full search of the person incident to the arrest.
a. True
b. False
Police want to require a person who is not in custody to appear in a lineup. Which
statement best describes the current state of the law with respect to this situation?
a. Police must issue a summons and allow the individual to be accompanied by his or
her attorney.
b. There are no circumstances under which individuals who are not in custody can be
compelled to participate.
c. Police are permitted to conduct such a lineup only if double-blind procedures are
followed.
d. It is usually accomplished by order of a court or grand jury, although some states
have enacted statutes that create special procedures for doing so.
A police officer has arrested a man for assault. The arrestee is carrying a backpack.
During an immediate search of the person incident to the arrest, how should the officer
treat the backpack?
a. the officer may search the backpack only with a warrant.
b. the officer may search the backpack without a warrant but only if the officer has
additional justification that the backpack contains a weapon.
c. The officer may search the backpack without a warrant or additional justification.
d. The officer may not search the backpack.
The creation or substitution of false memories through later suggestion is called _____.
a. acquisition
b. confabulation
c. unconscious transference
d. retention
Which of the following, standing alone, can serve as the basis for probable cause?
a. an admission
b. presence at a crime scene or a high crime area
c. association with other known criminals
d. past criminal conduct
In which of the following circumstance, may a private citizen arrest a person for
misdemeanors?
a. if the citizen has probable cause to believe the person committed the misdemeanor.
b. if the citizen observed the person commit the offense.
c. if the citizen observed the person commit the offense and it was a breach of the
peace.
d. only if directed by a police officer.
An inventory will be declared an unlawful search if the officer reveals that she
suspected that she would find some contraband.
a. True
b. False
For a vehicle inventory to be constitutional, _____.
a. there must be a written departmental policy
b. there must be an oral departmental policy
c. there must be a departmental policy
d. the officer must have probable cause
Enclosing an area with a sight-obscuring fence will _____.
a. bring it within the curtilage
b. bring it within the curtilage if it is within a posted, wooded area
c. not bring it within the curtilage if it is already outside the curtilage
d. not bring it within the curtilage if it is in proximity to the house
An officer stationed himself in a hidden location about fifty yards from a suspect’s
house and, with the aid of binoculars, watched the activities of the suspect, a known
liquor law violator. The officer observed the defendant place two large cardboard boxes
containing bottles of untaxed whiskey into his car. The officer’s information _____.
a. was lawfully gathered because any aural or visual enhancement is allowed
b. was not lawfully gathered because he could not see the items without the sight
enhancement
c. was lawfully gathered because the suspect’s reasonable expectation of privacy was
not invaded
d. was not lawfully gathered because any aural or visual enhancement is not allowed
Which individual would have standing to challenge a particular search by police that
was conducted based on the automobile exception?
a. an unauthorized, unlicensed driver of a vehicle
b. a person not authorized to drive the car under the rental agreement or by the renter of
the vehicle
c. a person authorized to drive a rental car under a rental contract that has expired
d. a passenger in the vehicle that is not the renter or owner
A federal officer with an arrest warrant goes to a suspect’s home. Having encountered
this suspect previously, the officer knows that there will probably be controlled
substances and related items lying around the apartment. Seizure of any such items as
evidence would be unlawful under plain view because of the inadvertent discovery
requirement.
a. True
b. False
The requirements of the plain view doctrine do not include that the _____.
a. officer, as a result of a prior valid intrusion, be in a position in which he or she has a
legal right to be
b. officer must not unreasonably intrude on any person’s reasonable expectation of
privacy
c. officer must not use any means to enhance her ability to observe
d. The incriminating character of the object to be seized must be immediately apparent
to the officer
Police have corroborated information that a mobile home, the residence of Ernst, was
being used as a distribution point for illicit drugs. The trailer was hooked to utilities and
septic system in a mobile home lot and was elevated on blocks. The truck which towed
the vehicle was parked nearby. If officers immediately knock and announce, enter, and
conduct a warrantless search without consent, how are the courts most likely to view
the search?
a. invalid because they do not have a warrant
b. valid because the mobile home was readily mobile
c. invalid because the officers did not have knowledge that the evidence would be
destroyed if they delayed
d. valid because of exigency
The prosecution is not permitted to introduce additional evidence after the defense has
closed its case-in-chief.
a. True
b. False
In the case of Franks v. Delaware, the Court determined that if a search warrant was
issued based on some inadvertent exaggeration by the applying officer of the factual
basis for the warrant, the seized items must be suppressed as evidence.
a. True
b. False
What is the most significant personal advantage an officer has when making an arrest
with a valid warrant over making that arrest without one?
a. not being civilly liable for false arrest if the arrest was in fact unjustified.
b. not being responsible for the degree of force used to make the arrest.
c. not being likely to arrest the wrong person.
d. being able to arrest outside his or her venue.
What basic element distinguishes formal arrest from seizure tantamount to arrest?
a. Officer’s intent
b. Suspect’s belief
c. Miranda
d. Custody
The statutory-based exclusionary rule in Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and
Safe Streets Act of 1968 applies to _____.
a. wire, oral, and electronic communications
b. electronic and wire communications, but not oral communications
c. electronic and oral communications, but not wire communications
d. wire and oral communications, but not electronic communications
Law made by judicial interpretation of statutes and regulations is called
_____________________ law.
Explain the differences between a criminal search and an administrative search.
Answer:Answers will vary.
The Gates v. Illinois (1983) decision abandoned rigid adherence to the Aguilar-Spinelli
criteria in favor of a __________ approach to determining probable cause.
Katz v. U.S. (1967) held that a person’s Fourth Amendment rights are implicated
wherever the person has an expectation of __________which society is prepared to
recognize as reasonable.
Do you see any changes in how “privacy” was viewed before and after Katz v. U.S.
(1967)? Justify your answer.
Answer:Answers will vary.
Explain how a garage and the immediate area surrounding it pertains to the concept of
curtilage.
Answer:Answers will vary.
Provides examples which illustrate circumstances in which law enforcement authorities
may be legally authorized to make a ‘sneak and peak” covert entry into private property.
Explain the use of ‘sneak and peak” warrants by law enforcement prior to the passing of
the USA PATRIOT Act.
Answer:Answers will vary.
Briefly describe the plain view doctrine.
Answer:Answers will vary.
Explain the limitations on consent to search that pertain to the expressed object of the
search.
Answer:Answers will vary.
Explain what is meant by the term “demonstrative evidence.”
Answer:Answers will vary.
In no less than one paragraph, compare and contrast due process and crime control
values.
Answer:Answer will vary.
What is meant by a show of authority?
Answer:answers will vary
Under the plain view doctrine, an officer must be concerned about the validity of the
entry into a __________ protected area but under open fields doctrine the officer need
not be concerned.
What is the purpose and nature of Rule 41?
Answer:Answers will vary.
Explain the importance of the Fourteenth Amendment and the right to due process.
Answer:Answer will vary.