This year, the U.S. Supreme Court made a number of key decisions regarding your individual liberties and rights under the Constitution. None of these decisions is more important, or more egregious, than the court’s decision in Herring v. United States. In Herring, the court determined that the exclusionary rule (a prophylactic method of making inadmissible any evidence in a criminal trial that is gathered or analyzed in violation of a defendant’s constitutional rights) does not apply when the illegal search was based on “good faith” police reliance on erroneous information from another jurisdiction.
Good faith reliance: what a fucking joke. The most damaging result of this ruling is that it will encourage police departments to overlook obvious mistakes in a criminal suspect’s record and later claim that the subsequent search was based on that erroneous information. Example: it is commonplace for police records to show that a suspect with a prior criminal record is currently on probation – either informal or formal – even after the probationary period has expired. Often, the terms of probation include search and seizure without the necessity of a warrant. A smart cop, upon seeing that the record reflects a suspect is on probation, even when the suspect informs them otherwise or the cop suspects this is the case, will simply ignore this information and move forward with the illegal search of the suspects person, or even worse, home.
The problem with the reasoning behind Herring is that it assumes that the police never lie, much less purposely blind themselves to the truth. In the experience of the author, it is more common than not that the police will fabricate evidence, lie, distort the truth and abuse their power whenever they see fit. The ultimate effect of this ruling is that there will be more illegal searches and seizures of our homes and persons, more bogus warrants issued and more victimless “criminals” crowding our already packed jails and prisons.
So get ready, America. The cops are coming to your door with yet another new weapon in their arsenal: good faith reliance.
Good faith reliance: what a fucking joke. The most damaging result of this ruling is that it will encourage police departments to overlook obvious mistakes in a criminal suspect’s record and later claim that the subsequent search was based on that erroneous information. Example: it is commonplace for police records to show that a suspect with a prior criminal record is currently on probation – either informal or formal – even after the probationary period has expired. Often, the terms of probation include search and seizure without the necessity of a warrant. A smart cop, upon seeing that the record reflects a suspect is on probation, even when the suspect informs them otherwise or the cop suspects this is the case, will simply ignore this information and move forward with the illegal search of the suspects person, or even worse, home.
The problem with the reasoning behind Herring is that it assumes that the police never lie, much less purposely blind themselves to the truth. In the experience of the author, it is more common than not that the police will fabricate evidence, lie, distort the truth and abuse their power whenever they see fit. The ultimate effect of this ruling is that there will be more illegal searches and seizures of our homes and persons, more bogus warrants issued and more victimless “criminals” crowding our already packed jails and prisons.
So get ready, America. The cops are coming to your door with yet another new weapon in their arsenal: good faith reliance.
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