ABSTRACT
The Law Officer’s Pocket Manual is a handy, pocket-sized, spiral-bound manual that highlights basic legal rules for quick reference and offers examples showing how those rules are applied. The manual provides concise guidance based on U.S. Supreme Court rulings on constitutional law issues and other legal developments, covering arrest, search, surveillance, and other routine as well as sensitive areas of law enforcement. It includes more than 100 examples drawn from leading cases to provide guidance on how to act in a wide variety of situations.
Some new material in the 2022 Edition:
- In a unanimous ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court curbed warrantless home entries. The court said that police can’t automatically pursue fleeing misdemeanor suspects into a residence without a warrant. Whether exigent circumstances exist depends on the particular facts of each case.
- In another case, the high court ruled that when a police officer applies force to a suspect’s body with intent to restrain, this is a seizure under the Fourth Amendment.
- The Supreme Court, in a unanimous ruling, bolstered home protections. It ruled that the community caretaking exception to the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement doesn’t extend to the home.
- The U.S. Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision, untangled some jurisdictional issues involving Native American, state, and federal enforcement officials. The court bolstered the authority of tribal police over non-American Indians traveling on public roads through reservations.
- In a pair of cases, the Court reinforced the court-made doctrine of qualified immunity. In both cases the high court said the law was not so "clearly established" as to allow litigation against the officers to move forward.
- In a civil rights case, the court sent the case back to the circuit court to determine if the suit can move forward.
