Public Policy and Criminal Procedure

Why do we have warrants? Why not simply allow police to search and or arrest persons or property without going through the steps of obtaining a warrant?
Imagine you are sitting in your house with a friend. You hear a knock at the door and rush to open. You find two police officers standing with their police car parked at the gate. Before you ask what is wrong, they push the door and start searching the house. They find a packet of marijuana hidden under the couch. They take you with them to the police station to be charged with marijuana possession. However, upon asking one of your lawyer friends, he informs you that the police cannot do that. They must have a search and arrest warrant to enter your house or arrest you. The question, therefore, is why do they need a warrant to perform all this?This paper answers this question.
The Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution provides that “entry into a home to conduct a search or an arrest is per se unreasonable unless done pursuant to a warrant” (U.S. Constitution Sec 3). It means that the police must have a warrant to make arrests and search a person’s premises. The basis of this law is to protect citizens from the actions of overzealous and malicious police officers who act unreasonably (Peterson 46). Every individual has rights, and is protected by the constitution from violations that result from malicious acts of police officers. In this regard, it is only fair and legal to make arrests and do searches based on a probable and reasonable cause.

This probable cause is determined by a detached and neutral magistrate, who weighs on the legality of the search and arrests. This procedure eliminates any possibility of malice because the police must prove to the magistrate why they need the search and arrest warrants. Therefore, the warrants are necessary to protect citizens from overzealous police officers.
Conclusively, not all police officers respect the rule of law. There are those that are notorious for violations of rights of people. With this in mind, the warrants validate the intentions of the police officers by giving them the legal power to search and make arrests. Hence, warrants are significant for both the police officers and citizens.
Works Cited
Peterson, Virgil W. “Law and Police Practice: Restrictions in the Law of Search and Seizure.” Nw. UL Rev. 52 (1957): 46.
“The Constitution of the United States,” Amendment 4.