According to a recent Supreme Court decision, the police cannot search your cell phone without a warrant.

In a strong defense of digital age privacy, a unanimous Supreme Court ruled June 21, 2014 that police may not generally search the cellphones of people they arrest without first getting search warrants, according to an article in the Associated Press.

Cellphones are powerful devices unlike anything else police may find on someone they arrest, Chief Justice John Roberts said for the court. Because the phones contain so much information, police must get a warrant before looking through them, Roberts said.

“Modern cellphones are not just another technological convenience. With all they contain and all they may reveal, they hold for many Americans the privacies of life,” Roberts said.

The message to police about what they should do before rummaging through a cellphone’s contents following an arrest is simple. “Get a warrant,” Roberts said.

The chief justice acknowledged that barring searches would affect law enforcement, but said: “Privacy comes at a cost.”

The court chose not to extend earlier rulings that allow police to empty a suspect’s pockets and examine whatever they find to ensure officers’ safety and prevent the destruction of evidence.

The Obama administration and the state of California, defending the cellphone searches, said cellphones should have no greater protection from a search than anything else police find.

But the defendants in these cases, backed by civil libertarians, librarians and news media groups, argued that cellphones, especially smartphones, are increasingly powerful computers that can store troves of sensitive personal information.

“By recognizing that the digital revolution has transformed our expectations of privacy, today’s decision is itself revolutionary and will help to protect the privacy rights of all Americans,” American Civil Liberties Union legal director Steven Shapiro said.

In the cases decided Wednesday, one defendant carried a smartphone, while the other carried an older flip phone.

If you have a been arrested, are facing a DUI, or just a traffic ticket, perhaps you should consult with Alexander Truluck. Alexander Truluck focuses his practice as a criminal defense attorney in Clearwater, Palm Harbor, Largo, Dunedin and the Tampa Bay area.

For more information, visit our website at http://www.criminallawyerclearwaterflorida.com
or call (727) 799-3550.