NCJ Number
152114
Journal
Crime to Court: Police Officer's Handbook Dated: (October 1994) Pages: complete issue
Date Published
1994
Length
26 pages
Annotation
This legal commentary analyzes a case involving probable cause to search a vehicle based on a citizen's tip; the defendant appealed a district court's order denying his motion to suppress evidence seized during a motor vehicle search and his subsequent guilty plea to and conviction for possessing cocaine with the intent to distribute and carrying a firearm during a drug-related crime.
Abstract
In 1993, an informant telephoned the police department in Monteagle, Tennessee, stating that he observed a man attempting to sell cocaine at a truck stop off Interstate Highway 24. A police officer responded and asked the defendant for his vehicle registration and driver's license. Although the defendant refused to consent to a search of his vehicle, the vehicle was searched based on probable cause. A two-count indictment was subsequently returned against the defendant, for possessing cocaine with intent to distribute and for carrying a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking offense. The defendant argued that his van was searched without probable cause and without a warrant and that the search was not incident to arrest. The legal analysis of the case concludes that probable cause was evident; the police officer was given a detailed account by another police officer that an informant saw an individual attempting to sell drugs. Other court decisions are noted that show information provided to the police must be more than a casual rumor, that an unidentified citizen's tip alone is not sufficient grounds for probable cause, and that the collective knowledge of police may be used to establish probable cause. The legal commentary discusses the automobile exception to the warrant rule and the search of vehicle containers for drugs.