Crim Pro Rewired: Why Current Police Practices Require Candor in the Classroom

Abstract

Powerful surveillance tech has completely transformed how law enforcement investigates nearly every type of crime at every level of authority. This Essay explores some of the as-of-yet unresolved legal tensions between digital policing and our cell phone-loving citizenry. The issues include whether the current “reasonable expectation of privacy” test remains a viable measure of Fourth Amendment protection, why geofence warrants aggressively disregard constitutional requirements, and how police can and do bypass the Fourth Amendment entirely by buying the public’s personal information from an unregulated industry of third party data brokers.

Considering that law students are criminal justice stakeholders of the future, it seems appropriate – necessary, really – to encourage classroom conversations about the government’s embrace of and reliance on invasive mass surveillance to combat crime. This Essay posits that the first few weeks of Criminal Procedure are an ideal forum for such vital discussion.

Keywords: Criminal procedure, fourth amendment, geofence, geofence warrant, cell phone, digital policing, data brokers, digital surveillance, police tech, law students, law school, surveillance technology

JEL Classification: K14, K49