Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs -> Fourth Amendment

Criminal Law

: Fourth Amendment

DE: Probation officers must independently evaluate information from police before residence search

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

When probation officers receive information from police about a probation violation, they must independently assess whether there is cause for a residence search; they cannot defer that judgment to the police. Culver v. State, 2008 Del. LEXIS 357 (August 5, 2008): A majority agree that 7.19 requires probation officers to assess any "tip" relayed to them and independently determine if a reasonable suspicion exists that would, in the ordinary course of their duties, prompt a search of a probationer's dwelling. In this case, the probation officers accepted, without conducting any independent analysis, and relied on information police received from an anonymous caller whose "tip" made it clear the caller had no personal information about Culver consistent with illicit drug activity...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on August 10, 2008 (boomark / email).