Week 13: Warrantless cell phone searches

Recently, law enforcement was able to search a suspect’s cell phone without a warrant. Many people want to know how this is possible. The “abandonment doctrine” in the Fourth Amendment gives the police the ability to search a suspect’s cell phone is they believe it to be abandoned. The problem is what makes a cell phone abandoned? Unfortunately, this is unclear, and who determines whether the device is abandoned? The law enforcement agency. This seems quite conflicting, if a law enforcement agency wants information from a suspect’s cell phone, they will likely do what they can to deem the phone as “abandoned” to search it if they are unable to acquire a warrant. This came to light in a recent court case, Small v. United States where the suspect’s cell phone was found “abandoned” 100ft from their car after a police chase. It was then later used to locate the suspect. Should these warrantless cell phone searches be allowed? There is not doubt that they are an invasion of privacy, always secure your personal electronic devices and keep them on your person, even if you are not a suspect. Do what you can to protect your privacy.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/03/eff-supreme-court-losing-your-phone-shouldnt-mean-you-lose-your-fourth-amendment