1. Why do you suppose the Fourth Amendment was written?
2. What are the steps in obtaining a search warrant?
3. Many court decisions regarding police involve the question of legal searches. What factors are considered in the legal search of a person, a private dwelling, abandoned property, a business building, a car or corporate offices?
4. Should there be legal provisions for an officer to seize evidence without a warrant if the evidence may be destroyed or removed before a warrant can be obtained?
5. Imagine you are assigned to search a tavern at 10 a.m. for illegal gambling devices. Twenty patrons plus the bartender are in the tavern, but the owner is not present. How would you execute the search warrant?
6. What kind of physical evidence would you expect to find at the scene of an armed robbery? Why does this differ from your response to Question 1?
7. What legal rule requires the submission of original evidence, and when is this rule followed? When is it permissible to substitute evidence that is not original?
8. Explain how you would mark for identification the following items of evidence: a broken window pane; a damaged bullet; dried blood scraped from a wood floor; a shotgun shell casing; a piece of clothing with semen stains.
9. What two types of DNA evidence exist? What are the differences between the two?
10. How does your police department dispose of evidence after it is no longer of value or has been released by the court?
11. What do you consider to be the essential steps in developing information about a crime?
12. Emphasis is often placed on obtaining a confession, or at least an admission, from a suspect in a criminal inquiry. Under what conditions is a confession of greatest value? of no value?
13. Do you believe that use of the Miranda warning has increased or decreased the number of confessions obtained in criminal cases?
14. What categories are included in your police department's sources-of-information file?
15. Criminals or others who give the police information about a crime that eventually leads to an arrest or a conviction are sometimes paid for the information. Is this a legitimate use of tax funds, or should private donations be used?
16. Suppose you have obtained information concerning a suspect in a rape case. Two witnesses saw someone near the rape scene at about the time of the offense, and the victim was able to describe her assailant. How should identification be made?
17. How are people selected for a lineup? How should a lineup be conducted according to legal requirements? What is done if the suspect refuses to participate?
18. Under what conditions should a police raid be considered?
19. What type of "tail" would you use for each of the following: Checking the loyalty of an informant? A suspected bank robber planning to "case" a bank? A burglar known to meet frequently with another burglar? Someone suspected of being an organized crime leader?
20. When do outside agencies participate in surveillances, undercover assignments and raids?