June 26, 2014
Zaina Kahuk
News Writer
Headlines
Officials from Los Angeles, New York,San Diego, Chicago and Houston all met to discuss an unanimous ruling that will make it harder for officers to quickly find incriminating evidence. The ruling prohibits officers from searching a cellphone without a warrant unless a person’s safety or life may be in danger. Cell phones hold vital information such as personal documents, photos and emails, so it makes an investigator’s job much easier. This new ruling will take way all that important information, if a warrant is not present. “It’s going to be more cumbersome, it’s going to take more work, it’s going to take more time,” said Los Angeles County sheriff’s Lt. Kent Wegener, of the Major Crimes Bureau, prosecutors in Houston are already treating cellphones as personal property with privacy rights and telling police officers that if they weren’t given permission, they would need a warrant. The decision focuses on the fact that information may be erased remotely, allowing police to seize the cellphone and turn it off or remove its battery.
