Police powers-Weapon Research Essay

According to the newspaper story, a man was charged on April 3 for shooting in a bar called Woodbridge Hookah. Early that morning, when the officers arrived at the scene of the shooting, they discovered three victims of gunshot wounds. The probe reportedly started on July 23 and resulted in the arrest of a suspect. The suspect had a handgun with a 17-round capacity magazine in his hands. The subject was then taken into custody, “without incident.” The suspect already has twelve charges connected to firearms and other drug offenses.(Allana,2017).

The legislation permits searches to be carried out by the police, whether they are authorized or not. The police officers may make an application to obtain a warrant to search the building or the place of incidence for any prohibited devices or substances( Worrall,2014 ).Additionally, the police can also conduct an unwarranted search only under some circumstances such as in hot pursuit or in exigent circumstances(Dressler and Thomas 2016).

In the scenario, if the police conducted an unwarranted search, the case would be different in that, the weapon would be seized immediately and there would be an assurance of public safety. Despite the Fourth Amendment on warranted searches which protect the citizens, the delay to investigate makes the investigation more difficult ( Joh et al.,2016 ).In some scenario, the damage caused by the crime may be fatal which could otherwise have been prevented. Additionally, the gathering of evidence becomes difficult when following a warranted search(Press,2014).However, if the police searched without a warrant, they would have to give an explanation of how the exigent circumstances do apply to that particular situation. Therefore, an unwarranted search is important for public safety and ease of investigation as well as minimizing damages.

References

Allana (2017, July 25). Toronto man charged in April shooting at hookah lounge. Retrieved August 4, 2017, from https://www.thestar.com/news/crime/2017/07/25/toronto-man-charged-in-April-shooting-at-hookah-lounge.html

Dressler, J., & Thomas, G. C. (2016). Criminal Procedure: Principles, Policies, and Perspectives. West Academic Publishing.

Joh, Avio, K. L., & Clark, C. S. (2016). Property crime in Canada: an econometric study. University of Toronto

Press.E. E. (2014). Policing by numbers: big data and the Fourth Amendment.

Worrall, J. L. (2014). Criminal procedure: from first contact to appeal. Pearson Higher Ed.