ABSTRACT
Law enforcement o¦cers may be required to execute search warrants to obtain evidence. Subjects of an investigation will usually keep some culpatory evidence in their possession, either at their residence or business premises. A search warrant authorizes limited intrusion into an area where there is reasonable expectation of privacy to search and seize certain specišed evidence of a crime based on probable cause. A judge or magistrate is usually willing to issue a search warrant when information is provided by a reliable source. Fraud examiners can be used as a reliable source when they uncover evidence that other šnancial records are available at some identišed location. Generally, evidence obtained by a defective search warrant is no longer suppressed if the law enforcement o¦cers relied on those defective warrants and have acted in good faith. However, search warrants may cause many motions to be šled, which can tie up a case. Also, they can trigger Fourth Amendment considerations such as staleness, overbreadth, and other issues.
