How do police get search warrants? Here's what you should know

The Fourth Amendment guarantees American citizens the right to security against illegal search and seizure. Without probable cause, issued in an official search warrant with specific evidential details, persons, places and things cannot be searched or seized.

What is a search warrant?

Getting a search warrant is a process that begins in a police department with an application and ends with a specific and restricted list of items allowed to be seized at a given premises. With the help of the district court and district attorney, detectives can successfully apply for and execute a warrant.

More: Key decision in lawsuit by Cape Air employee fired from Provincetown airport duty

Warrants are a part of police investigations. If officers determine that they believe more information is needed and is somewhere on the premises under investigation, then a warrant comes into play.

Search warrant application, affidavit

To apply for a search warrant, the application itself has to show that the detective has probable cause to a) believe a crime has been committed and b) believe evidence of the crime will be found at the scene.

“Probable cause,” as explained by Lt. Andy McLaughlin of the Orleans Police Department, “is an officer’s reasonable belief based on circumstances that a crime has occurred or is about to occur.”

“Probable cause is not proof beyond a reasonable doubt, it’s an officer’s reasonable belief,” McLaughlin said. “The way sometimes it’s worded in layman’s terms, is it’s basically 51 percent — do you feel, as an officer, that yes, based on the information I'm provided or I have in front of me, I do believe that a crime has been committed.”

More: Former Cape Cod Community College dispatcher found guilty of making false statements to buy firearms

If a detective has probable cause, and hence is working to file a request for a warrant, two forms are involved: an application and an affidavit. The application describes exactly what the officer is looking for and the affidavit seconds that.

“I have to establish what I am looking to search, what I’m searching for,” McLaughlin said.

A detective would list the person, the vehicle, the residence — everything to be searched on the application.

More: 'Not just substances, but people too': Drug-trafficking raids in Harwich and Yarmouth

In addition to the application, an affidavit is required. The detective seeking the warrant must appear before a clerk or judge and give them that affidavit, which is a signed form with facts, information and circumstances establishing grounds for obtaining the warrant. The affidavit is a promise on behalf of the detective that the information being presented is true and reliable to their personal knowledge.

“They have to sign an affidavit in detail about why they think there is probable cause to believe there is evidence of a crime that would be received from executing the search warrant,” Orleans Clerk-Magistrate Marion E. Broidrick said.

District court overview, approval of search warrants

Once the investigation report, the application and affidavit have been filled out by the detective, they are brought to the district court where either the clerk-magistrate or a judge will review the request.

“We look at it and go through the four corners to make sure there is probable cause stated to believe a crime has been committed, and that the actual place to be searched is specific enough to obtain the information that they’ve outlined they’re looking for,” Broidrick said.

More: What do Republican candidates for Cape district attorney say are top issues?

The district court official looks for specific information that the detective has already obtained to back up why they think a crime has been committed. Then, once that is determined, the court approves it and puts the court seal on it.

Executing a search warrant

A search cannot be conducted until the warrant is physically on the premises being searched, and the warrant must be shown to the person in control of the premises if possible. Detectives are searching for only the items on the warrant — they legally cannot touch anything else.

There are many different situations that can happen once law enforcement enters a premises, and whether they find what they’re looking for or not determines their next moves. The team could find more than what they’re looking for, McLaughlin said, and so will have to request another search warrant on top of the initial one that got them in the door in the first place.

That process, of getting another search warrant approved, is a somewhat immediate procedure.

“I get called at all times of the night,” Broidrick said. “They need a warrant and we’re there to help them.”

If a team of officers does a lockdown of a house, for example, within the time that they continue searching and securing the area, there can be a member of the team out getting their second warrant.

Protecting privacy

The recent increase of IT and tech-related warrants also increases the potential need for additional warrants, Broidrick said. If a team finds a laptop on a property that was not listed on the list of items they put in their warrant, then they will have to file another warrant to even pick up the laptop — and potentially another one in order to look into files they may not have expected to be on it once it’s open.

More: Sheriff's boat at star-studded Cape Cod wedding raises questions. What to know

“The whole basis of it is to make sure people’s rights to privacy are protected,” Broidrick said.

If a detective does not follow the specificities of the process, and executes a search that goes beyond what’s in the warrant, then that evidence can be suppressed in court and not considered legal evidence.

“It’s a checks and balances situation, between prosecuting a crime and coming up with evidence of a crime and protecting people’s rights to privacy,” Broidrick said.

Once the warrant has been executed, it has to be delivered back to the district court in the town or city where the crime was committed within three days. Once the documents are returned, they become public record.

This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: How do police get search warrants: Things to know