Can the Police Search Your Cell Phone When You’re Arrested?
There are general rules for when police can take and search your belongings. These rules come from the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution. According to the Fourth Amendment, the police can’t take or search your property without having a good reason to think that you’ve committed a crime. In most cases, they can’t take or search your property without a document called a warrant, and getting a warrant also requires having a good reason to think that you’ve committed a crime. The difference between these two requirements is that a judge has to approve and issue a warrant, while searches that don’t require warrants can happen on the spot. If you consent to a search, though, the police can always search your belongings right away.
Cell Phone Searches Require Warrants
Usually, when you’re arrested, the police don’t need a warrant to search belongings that are in your immediate reach. The Supreme Court decided, however, that the police must always get a search warrant before searching your cell phone without your consent. This applies even if the police want to search the phone when you’re arrested (although cell phone searches without warrants may still be allowed in some rare circumstances). The important thing to note is that the Court’s decision to require a warrant to search your cell phone, even when you’re arrested, is an exception to the usual rule. This exception stems from the fact that cell phones are special – or unique – belongings.
Why Cell Phones Are Special
What makes cell phones so special? The Court focused primarily on how your cell phone contains so much information about you. Someone can learn almost anything about you by looking through your smartphone. The Court worried that searches of cell phones – particularly smartphones – would reveal private data about their owners: your smartphone can reveal things like your political affiliations, medical issues, religious beliefs, pregnancies, budget, hobbies, and romantic life. Call logs and text messages can reveal intimate information about your relationships with others.
The Court has also determined that searches of location data from cell phones require warrants. In terms of privacy concerns, saying that searches of items like wallets and purses are the same as searches of cell phones “is like saying a ride on horseback is . . . [the same as] a flight to the moon.”
Searching Versus Taking
One thing to be aware of, though, is that searching your property and taking your property are two different things. The Fourth Amendment doesn’t just prohibit searching your property without a good reason – it also prohibits taking your property without a good reason. As long as the police have a good reason to believe that you’ve committed a crime, they can take your cell phone without a warrant or your consent, even though they won’t be able to search it. One justification for this practice is to prevent you from deleting incriminating things before the police can take your phone away and eventually seek a warrant to search it.
What You Need to Know
If you’re arrested and you don’t consent to a search of your cell phone, then the police can take your cell phone away from you, but they can’t search the data on it before they have a warrant. Evidence found by searching your cell phone without a warrant in this circumstance can’t be used against you in court. Other evidence found later because of information from that search also can’t be used against you in court.
Contact a Western Massachusetts Criminal Defense Lawyer
If the police search your cell phone without a warrant or consent and you’re then charged with a crime, you should contact an experienced criminal defense attorney to find out more about your rights. A skilled criminal defense attorney will be able to make sure that evidence obtained illegally won’t be used against you in court. Contact the Massachusetts criminal law attorneys at the Law Offices of Johnson, Sclafani & Moriarty today. 413-732-8356
