Constitutional Issues Involved
You are a police officer assigned to a task force that is investigating major drug trafficking operations in your jurisdiction. As part of the investigative process, a judge has issued a wiretap order for a suspect’s phone. You are assigned the responsibility of monitoring phone conversations, and you overhear the suspect as well as other individuals who may or may not be involved in the drug ring. Before obtaining enough evidence to arrest and prosecute the suspect, you hear evidence related to other types of criminal activity.
Assignment Guidelines
- Address the following in 900–1,200 words:
- What constitutional issues are involved in the scenario that dictates what you can and cannot do related to the evidence of other criminal activity outside the scope of the original wiretap order? Explain.
- If you arrest the other individuals for the crimes not associated with the reasons for the wiretap, what happens to any future evidence that might be obtained from the wiretap? Why?
- If you fail to arrest the other individuals, are there any potential risks involved? Explain you answer.
- Be sure to reference all sources using APA style.
Solution Preview
Constitutional Issues Involved
The given scenario refers to a situation where a police officer has been assigned to a task force that is supposed to investigate major drug trafficking operations that could be taking place within the given jurisdiction. During the investigative processes, a judge has directed a wiretap order for one of the suspect’s phone. The order means that the conversations of the individual can be heard by the investigative team so as to help with the investigation processes of drug trafficking. On one occasion, the police officer charged with such responsibility of overhearing these conversations hears the suspect and other individuals discuss other matters that are related to other types of criminal activities in the jurisdiction. The constitutional issue that is involve in the scenario is known as wiretapping.
(881 words)