Also known as: law-enforcement personnel · law enforcement officers · peace officers
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
Personnel authorized by law to execute searches, seize evidence, or make arrests for violations of federal or state law. The category includes state and local officers as well as federal agents who perform investigative or enforcement functions.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
State trooper Lance Lee received a directive from a federal agency ordering him to run background checks on all handgun purchasers using state resources and time. Lee refused, citing limits on federal authority over state officers. The directive was invalidated because it conscripted state law enforcement personnel into administering a federal program.
Officer Layla Lane prepared a report describing her observation of a robbery while on duty. At trial the prosecution offered the report to prove the events observed. The court excluded the report because it contained a matter observed by law enforcement personnel and therefore fell outside the public records hearsay exception in a criminal case.
Detective Lola Langley arrested Leo Lynch without probable cause and obtained a confession and physical evidence. The statements and evidence were suppressed as fruits of the unlawful arrest by law enforcement personnel. The exclusion applied even though later questioning occurred at a different location.
Officer Lillian Locke gave Miranda warnings to Laura Lewis during questioning about a theft. Lewis invoked her right to counsel. Another officer later reinitiated questioning without counsel present. The statements were suppressed because law enforcement personnel may not resume custodial interrogation after a clear request for counsel.
Detective Leo Lynch obtained a warrant later found to lack probable cause. Officers executed the warrant in objective good faith reliance on the issuing judge. Evidence seized by the law enforcement personnel was admitted under the good faith exception to the exclusionary rule.
Prosecutors granted use and derivative use immunity to Lillian Locke before a grand jury. Law enforcement personnel later sought to prosecute her using evidence derived from her testimony. The prosecution was barred because the immunity prevented any use of the compelled statements or their fruits.
Yes. The Supreme Court held that the federal government may not command state officers to administer or enforce a federal regulatory program. This principle protects state sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment and invalidates federal attempts to conscript state law enforcement personnel into federal service without their consent.
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Rule 803(8)(A)(ii) excludes matters observed by law enforcement personnel from the public records exception when offered against a defendant in a criminal case. The exclusion prevents the government from using its own investigative reports as substantive evidence while denying the defendant the opportunity to cross-examine the observer.
…effective to secure the privilege against self-incrimination. By custodial interrogation, we mean questioning initiated by law enforcement officers after a person has been taken into custody or otherwise deprived of his freedom of action in any significant way. As for the procedural safeguards to be employed, unless other fully…
…its aims, and magnify its exposure to the public. Moreover, grand juries characteristically conduct secret proceedings, and law enforcement officers are themselves experienced in dealing with informers, and have their own methods for protecting them without interference with the effective administration of justice. There is little…
…a proper jury question was presented. There, one of the issues was whether there was a conspiracy between private persons and law enforcement officers. The District Court granted summary judgment for the defendants, stating that there was no evidence from which reasonably minded jurors might draw an inference of conspiracy. We reversed,…
…detainees in the ADMAX SHU due to their race, religion, or national origin. All it plausibly suggests is that the Nation’s top law enforcement officers, in the aftermath of a devastating terrorist attack, sought to keep suspected terrorists in the most secure conditions available until the suspects could be cleared of terrorist activity.…
…The Fourth Amendment was designed to protect people against unrestrained searches and seizures by sheriffs, policemen and other law enforcement officers
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The term covers any officer of the United States empowered by law to execute searches, seize evidence, or make arrests for violations of federal law. This definition determines when the Federal Tort Claims Act waiver applies to claims arising from assault, battery, false imprisonment, or malicious prosecution by such officers.
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Yes. Model Rule 3.8(f) requires prosecutors to exercise reasonable care to prevent investigators, law enforcement personnel, and others assisting the prosecutor from making extrajudicial statements that the prosecutor would be prohibited from making. Violation can result in professional discipline even if the prosecutor did not personally make the statement.
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