The Bill of Rights

• Search warrants and the preliminary conditions necessary for obtaining them are found in the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights is the common name for the first 10 amendments to the United States Constitution. The Fourth Amendment provides that a person may not be subject to "unreasonable searches and seizures." In order for a search to be reasonable, in most cases, a search warrant must be issued that is based on probable cause from an officer's affidavit and the warrant must state the place that is going to be searched and the items for which the police are searching.
  
  

When Search Warrants Are Necessary

• Search warrants are necessary to protect an individual's privacy, and because of this, if a person does not have a privacy interest in the area to be searched, a warrant will not be necessary. Generally, people have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their homes, safety deposit boxes, the trunk of a car, and lockers; and a search warrant would be required to search these areas.
  
  

Probable Cause

• Probable cause is a necessary condition to obtain a search warrant. Probable cause is an objective standard for determining whether sufficient facts exist indicating that an event occurred. In the case of a search warrant, there must be sufficient facts to indicate that what is being searched for will be located in the place to be searched. An officer must swear under oath through an affidavit (a written declaration) that probable cause exists, and if the judge believes that probable cause exists, he or she will issue a search warrant.
  
  

Exceptions to the Warrant Requirement

• Search warrants are not always necessary. If a search is considered reasonable by the court, then a warrant is not necessary--in most instances, this will be in a place where a person does not have an expectation of privacy. For instance, a person cannot object to a police search of a park bench where he was sitting because he does not have an expectation of privacy there, and therefore the search is reasonable. Other exceptions to the warrant requirement have been recognized by the courts, such as searches pursuant to an arrest, searches based on a person's consent, searches of houses or other places in the event of an emergency (when the police think that a person may be hurt in a location, that evidence is being destroyed, or an officer is chasing a suspect), or of places that are visible.
  
  

Conditions for Executing a Search Warrant

• Even after the warrant has been issued, there are still other conditions that must be followed in executing the warrant. To execute a search warrant is to perform the search. In most cases, and unless specifically requested for a compelling reason, search warrants can only be executed during the day and not at night. The search warrant must be shown the person whose privacy is being interrupted for the search. Further, the police may not exceed the scope of the warrant by looking for objects that are not specified in the warrant or searching places that are not named in the warrant.