The Privacy Police: Sense-Enhancing Technology and the Future of Intelligence-Led Policing

摘要

In 2001, when the Supreme Court wrestled with law enforcement's use of sense-enhancing technology in a 1992 arrest, the domestic war was focused on drugs, not terrorism. In a five to four vote, the Court ruled that the warrantless use of a thermal-imaging device to detect heat emissions from a home violated Fourth Amendment privacy protections. Under the exclusionary rule, or the "fruits of the poisonous tree" doctrine, a cache of weapons, 100 marijuana plants, and drug paraphernalia were inadmissible and the defendant's conviction was overturned. Why did this case languish through appeal after appeal regarding evidential suppression, probable cause criteria, and officer integrity issues when it appeared to be an open and shut case? Analyzing these questions can provide guidance for the challenges law enforcement faces today regarding privacy issues, intelligence-led policing (ILP) philosophies, and the public's trust and support in the ongoing war against terrorism.