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E.D.Pa.: Warrantless “emergency” entry without an emergency violated 4A but no suppression for isolated negligent act

Posted on January 27, 2025 by Hall

Police did a “hit and hold” on defendant’s house without a warrant, a tactic reserved for emergencies. This was not, but it was an isolated act of negligence so the exclusionary rule will not be applied. United States v. Walker, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9855 (E.D. Pa. Jan. 21, 2025):

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Posted in Exclusionary rule | Comments Off

E.D.N.Y.: Anonymous report of man threatening others with a gun didn’t provide RS

Posted on January 27, 2025 by Hall

The anonymous report about a man threatening others in Queens adequately described defendant but it provided nothing to show that there was a crime in the offing. The stop and search was without reasonable suspicion. “On this record, it is clear that the officers lacked an objectively reasonable basis to conclude that Burvick was ‘presently armed and dangerous’ at the moment when, over four minutes into their encounter, Vanzanten finally decided to pat down Burvick’s legs and search inside Burvick’s pockets without his consent. Each of the government’s proffered justifications for the frisk are addressed in turn below.” United States v. Burvick, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9527 (E.D.N.Y. Jan. 17, 2025).

Defendant seeks to preclude admission of a “white binding agent” seized under a warrant from trial, but cites nothing in support. It comes in subject to cross examination. It’s relevant. United States v. Taylor, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9729 (D. Conn. Jan. 20, 2025).*

There was probable cause defendant’s truck was in the District of Delaware when the search warrant for it was issued. The warrant isn’t overbroad, and the good faith exception would apply. United States v. Morrison, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10138 (D. Del. Jan. 21, 2025).*

Posted in Admissibility of evidence, Informant hearsay, Probable cause | Comments Off

MA: Community caretaking transport of juvenile permits patdown for safety

Posted on January 27, 2025 by Hall

A patdown of a juvenile found with gang members being taken to his caregiver was reasonable for safety purposes under the community caretaking function. Commonwealth v. Demos D., 105 Mass. App. Ct. 193 (Jan. 17, 2025).

Reasonable suspicion not required to run a LPN. State v. Miller, 2025-Ohio-141 (3d Dist. Jan. 21, 2025).* [This seems really settled, but it keeps coming up.]

The court of appeals can decide inevitable discovery on a different theory than the district court did, even if the government didn’t argue it. United States v. Perez, 2025 U.S. App. LEXIS 1223 (10th Cir. Jan. 17, 2025).

Posted in Community caretaking function, Inevitable discovery, Reasonable expectation of privacy | Comments Off

E.D.N.Y.: Sec. 702 FISA searches require a warrant for U.S. persons

Posted on January 26, 2025 by Hall

Sec. 702 FISA searches require a warrant for U.S. persons. United States v. Hasbajrami, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 238018 (E.D.N.Y. Dec. 2, 2024), filed with CISO and unsealed Jan. 21, 2025), on remand from United States v. Hasbajrami, 945 F.3d 641 (2d Cir. 2019):

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Posted in FISA, National security | Comments Off

D.C.Cir.: Compelling defendant to unlock his phone was a 5A testimonial act

Posted on January 25, 2025 by Hall

Compelling defendant to unlock his phone was a testimonial act under Hubbell, and it had to be suppressed. (Deciding the Fifth Amendment claim moots need to decide the Fourth Amendment claim.) United States v. Brown, 2025 U.S. App. LEXIS 1219 (D.C. Cir. Jan. 17, 2025):

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Posted in Cell phones, Privileges | Comments Off

ABA CJ: Predictive Policing Algorithms and the Fourth Amendment

Posted on January 24, 2025 by Hall

Dominic A. Weiss, Predictive Policing Algorithms and the Fourth Amendment, ABA Criminal Justice 15 (Winter 2025)

Leveraging Predictive Policing Algorithms to Restore Fourth Amendment Protections in High-Crime Areas in a Post-Wardlow World by Kelly Koss. Abstract:

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Posted in Surveillance technology | Comments Off

M.D.Fla.: Denying knowledge of the car involved was a lack of standing

Posted on January 24, 2025 by Hall

Denying knowledge of the car involved was a lack of standing. United States v. Powers, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 237574 (M.D. Fla. Dec. 18, 2024), adopted, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8322 (M.D. Fla. Jan. 16, 2025).

“The totality of the information in the affidavit provides a substantial basis to find that evidence of drug trafficking would be found at the two residences.” Defendants had standing in their residence that they temporarily vacated while HVAC repairs were being done. United States v. Evans, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 237583 (E.D. Tenn. Nov. 26, 2024),* adopted, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8686 (E.D. Tenn. Jan. 16, 2025).*

The officer had reasonable suspicion to make this stop, and independent reasonable suspicion for continuing it developed. United States v. Smith, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9274 (S.D. Ohio Jan. 17, 2025).*

Posted in Probable cause, Reasonable suspicion, Standing | Comments Off

CA3: Conviction for threats by internet justified supervised release condition of computer monitoring

Posted on January 24, 2025 by Hall

Where defendant was convicted of making threats over the internet to a Congressman, a two year computer monitoring condition was reasonable and did not violate the First and Fourth Amendment. United States v. Hall, 2025 U.S. App. LEXIS 1109 (3d Cir. Jan. 17, 2025).

Fact questions remain whether the officer was justified in shooting a 22 pound dog that was wagging his tail and otherwise seemed friendly during a DV call. Brown v. Burmaster, 2025 U.S. App. LEXIS 1129 (5th Cir. Jan. 17, 2025).*

Plaintiff inmate doesn’t yet state a Fourth Amendment claim for his prison search and strip search. “Allegations of a ‘very aggressive’ pat down do not plausibly state an excessive force claim.” Wilson-Walker v. Gambone, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9041 (E.D. Pa. Jan. 17, 2025).*

This email search warrant was particular as to the account to be searched and limited by time. United States v. Jama, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9102 (D. Minn. Jan. 17, 2025).*

Posted in E-mail, Excessive force, Particularity, Prison and jail searches, Probation / Parole search, Strip search | Comments Off

D.Ariz.: USPO can turn phone seized in supervised release over to FBI

Posted on January 24, 2025 by Hall

It was not improper for the PO to turn defendant’s phone over to the FBI to search it when it was already lawfully seized. “This is not a stalking horse case.” The delay was not unreasonable. United States v. Fuller, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 237560 (D. Ariz. Dec. 30, 2024), adopted, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7662 (D. Ariz. Jan. 14, 2025).

Plaintiff’s false arrest claim for domestic violence against police officers fails because there was probable cause. Shepard v. Does, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8884 (D.N.J. Jan. 16, 2025).*

Petitioner’s CoA request is almost summarily denied under Stone v. Powell. Diaz v. Lumpkin, 2025 U.S. App. LEXIS 1084 (5th Cir. Jan. 16, 2025).*

The officers did not violate the Fourth Amendment in defendant’s arrest, and, even if they did, the specific act wasn’t clearly established at the time. Cantu v. Austin Police Dep’t, 2025 U.S. App. LEXIS 1127 (5th Cir. Jan. 17, 2025).*

Posted in Cell phones, Issue preclusion, Probable cause, Probation / Parole search, Qualified immunity | Comments Off

Reason: “the Supreme Court’s oral argument yesterday in Barnes v. Felix will be noteworthy.”

Posted on January 23, 2025 by Hall

Reason: Prof. Robert Leider on the arguments in Barnes v. Felix by Will Baude:

Professor Robert Leider, who writes in both constitutional law and criminal law, passed along these comments on the Supreme Court’s recent oral argument in an excessive force case and I thought readers might be interested in them:

For scholars of both criminal law and federal courts, the Supreme Court’s oral argument yesterday in Barnes v. Felix will be noteworthy. The Supreme Court appears dangerously close to sleepwalking into a major revision of police self-defense law. For federal courts scholars, meanwhile, yesterday’s oral argument stood as a painful reminder of how the Court has corrupted certiorari review by detaching itself from deciding actual cases.

Posted in Excessive force, SCOTUS | Comments Off

E.D.Mich.: “Imprint” of a gun in the pocket can be RS def is carrying

Posted on January 21, 2025 by Hall

The “imprint” of a gun in the pocket can be reasonable suspicion defendant is carrying. United States v. Morris, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8729 (E.D. Mich. Jan. 16, 2025).

Defendant is charged with six Hobbs Act robberies. His vehicle was stopped for matching the description of a vehicle possibly involved, albeit a day later and in the same area. Running the LPN showed no insurance so that was actual justification for the stop. He made statements that led to search warrants, and they were both with probable cause and the good faith exception applicable. United States v. Hopkins, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8742 (E.D. Mich. Jan. 16, 2025).*

Defendant argues her stop was pretextual but it’s essentially a credibility argument on whether the officer was believable that a traffic offense actually occurred. United States v. Celaya-Rodriguez, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8664 (S.D. Ohio Jan. 16, 2025).*

This traffic stop was unduly prolonged in violation of Rodriguez because it was extended by asking drug dealing related questions and only then running the name. Defendant’s nervousness also didn’t provide independent reasonable suspicion for the stop. Motion to suppress granted. United States v. Cruz, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8676 (W.D. Tenn. Jan. 16, 2025).*

Posted in Good faith exception, Pretext, Reasonable suspicion | Comments Off

D.R.I.: Motion in limine about SW is denied; govt can refer to search in trial

Posted on January 21, 2025 by Hall

Defendant’s motion in limine about whether a search warrant was utilized is denied. The government can refer incidentally to the search. United States v. Djan, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8285 (D.R.I. Jan. 10, 2025).

Officers had reasonable suspicion for the stop and continuation of it, and his actions toward his jacket gave them probable cause to believe there was something in it. United States v. Peake-Wright, 2025 U.S. App. LEXIS 1043 (6th Cir. Jan. 16, 2025).*

Defendant didn’t have standing to challenge the search of cell phones found on the premises that were not his. United States v. Dirksmeyer, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8423 (D. Minn. Jan. 16, 2025).*

“With or without this [Franks challenged] statement, the affidavit still contains a sufficient basis to find probable cause. For the same reasons, Neves’ assertion that the affidavit lacked an independent basis of knowledge for the accusation fails.” United States v. Neves, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8377 (D. Me. Jan. 16, 2025).*

Posted in Admissibility of evidence, Franks doctrine, Reasonable suspicion, Standing | Comments Off

E.D.Tenn.: Applying the Sixth Circuit’s “drug dealer inference,” PC exists for the SW for def’s house

Posted on January 21, 2025 by Hall

Applying the “drug dealer inference” for nexus, the court finds probable cause to believe defendant was dealing drugs from his house to support the search warrant. United States v. Evans, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8686 (E.D. Tenn. Jan. 16, 2025):

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Posted in Nexus | Comments Off

NY3: Inventory didn’t comply with dept. policy and there was no full inventory

Posted on January 20, 2025 by Hall

Defendant’s traffic stop was valid, but the state failed to show the impoundment complied with departmental policies. There was no evidence the vehicle was unsecured or unsafe if left at the scene. The inventory search failed to follow departmental procedures requiring a complete inventory list and proper documentation. There were also indications the inventory search was merely a pretext to search for evidence, and that was unconstitutional. People v. Gray, 2025 NY Slip Op 00249, 2025 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 261 (3d Dept. Jan. 16, 2025).

“Faced with uncontroverted evidence of two traffic violations at the evidentiary hearing, Defendant conceded the dark window tint and argued only that the license plate violation could not have been observed until the SUV passed by Officer Bensema. … Regardless of the established traffic violations, according to Defendant, because Officer Bensema had received prior information from Sgt. Stripling about possible narcotics in the SUV, the stop was ‘textbook’ pretext, and the evidence must be suppressed. Id. The Court disagrees.” United States v. Bolding, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8006 (S.D. Ga. Jan. 15, 2025).*

As a passenger, defendant shows no standing to challenge the search of the car. United States v. Nuñez, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8116 (D.P.R. Jan. 14, 2025).*

Posted in Inventory, Reasonable suspicion, Standing | Comments Off

C.D.Cal.: Running criminal history of passenger unreasonably prolonged the stop

Posted on January 20, 2025 by Hall

The stop was valid, but the stop was unreasonably prolonged without reasonable suspicion when running the criminal history of the passenger. That was not part of the incidents of the traffic stop. The frisk was also unreasonable. Also, “The Court finds that the existence of tattoos and a red banana on its own do not form a basis for reasonable suspicion of any crime. Accordingly, the further investigation into Rubio was outside the scope of the traffic stop, and it undisputedly added time to the stop. Thus, the Court finds that the stop was unconstitutionally prolonged.” United States v. Rubio, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8247 (C.D. Cal. Jan. 15, 2025).

“Here, the credibility determination of the Supreme Court is supported by the record. The description of the events in the warrant application and the consistency of the witness’s testimony at the Darden hearing established the identity of the confidential informant and that the informant gave the police information sufficient to establish probable cause.” People v. Suarez, 2025 NY Slip Op 00239 (2d Dept. Jan. 15, 2025).*

“The court reiterates its prior ruling that Mr. Gumbs’s interactions with W. Taylor independently established probable cause to search Mr. Gumbs’s home and, here, to seize his phones. But even if it did not, there were four additional events (on top of several other details in affidavits submitted in this case) which together establish probable cause.” United States v. Gumbs, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7720 (D. Conn. Jan. 15, 2025).*

Posted in Independent source, Informant hearsay, Reasonable suspicion | Comments Off

D.Minn.: The fact a gun wasn’t found in def’s car doesn’t mean there wasn’t PC to search

Posted on January 20, 2025 by Hall

“Defendant’s flight from law enforcement is, however, not the only basis to support the existence of probable cause to believe that evidence of a crime or contraband would be found in the Jeep. The probable cause to search the Jeep is also bolstered by Sgt. Tibbetts’ mistaken but reasonable belief based on the Defendant’s own gestures that he had a firearm. The fact that no firearm was recovered from the Jeep or Defendant’s person does not alter the fact of Sgt. Tibbetts’ objective reasonable belief that Defendant possessed a firearm supports probable cause that a firearm could be recovered in a search of the Jeep.” United States v. Holbdy, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 237346 (D. Minn. Dec. 9, 2024),* adopted, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6760 (D. Minn. Jan. 14, 2025).*

A motion to suppress filed but never presented to the trial court for resolution is waived. Young v. State, 2025 Ark. App. 13 (Jan. 15, 2025).*

Defendant has the burden of showing a Gerstein/Riverside violation. There’s no evidence that the process was slow walked to prejudice him. In addition, the police are free to continue investigating after the arrest [and should]. State v. Worley, 2025 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 22 (Jan. 15, 2025).*

Posted in Arrest or entry on arrest, Automobile exception, Waiver | Comments Off

AR: “[T]he exclusionary rule—absent a showing of bad faith—does not apply in a revocation hearing.”

Posted on January 20, 2025 by Hall

“[T]he exclusionary rule—absent a showing of bad faith—does not apply in a revocation hearing.” Wallace v. State, 2025 Ark. App. 19 (Jan. 15, 2025).

An officer on patrol in a motel parking lot saw defendant’s car. They drove past each other and defendant stopped with his window down. The officer could smell marijuana. United States v. Williams, 2025 U.S. App. LEXIS 931 (3d Cir. Jan. 15, 2025).*

The officer’s executing a pre-signed arrest warrant for a DV probation violator was entitled to quasi-judicial immunity. Quisenberry v. Ridge, 2025 U.S. App. LEXIS 930 (3d Cir. Jan. 15, 2025).*

The warrant for defendant’s storage unit came two months after its seizure. Whether it was a constitutional violation doesn’t matter because it was harmless. United States v. Kowalczyk, 2025 U.S. App. LEXIS 936 (9th Cir. Jan. 15, 2025).*

Posted in Plain view, feel, smell, Probation / Parole search, Warrant papers | Comments Off

E.D.Tenn.: The alleged illegality of the later arrest doesn’t undo def’s abandonment in flight

Posted on January 20, 2025 by Hall

Defendant fled, he said, in fear of his life, not knowing that it was the police. He abandoned property in flight. The fact the later arrest might turn out to be invalid doesn’t undo the abandonment. United States v. Ross, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 237310 (E.D. Tenn. Dec. 18, 2024), adopted, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7104 (E.D. Tenn. Jan. 14, 2025).

Officers had a motel parking lot under surveillance and saw defendant’s car. They found an arrest warrant and made the arrest. The inventory was valid. United States v. Potter, 2025 U.S. App. LEXIS 905 (8th Cir. Jan. 15, 2025).*

Officers stopped defendant for not having a front license plate. The stop led to a confrontation, and defendant refused to stop or accede to reasonable requests. He was moving around in his car and attempted to drive at one of the officers. Pulling their weapons was not unreasonable. United States v. Delpriore, 2025 U.S. App. LEXIS 898 (9th Cir. Jan. 13, 2025).*

2254 petitioner’s Fourth Amendment claim was a successor petition and barred. In re McGore, 2025 U.S. App. LEXIS 900 (6th Cir. Jan. 14, 2025).*

Posted in Abandonment, Arrest or entry on arrest, Inventory, Issue preclusion, Reasonable suspicion, Seizure | Comments Off

CA1: Report of a dead body in a house for a day didn’t justify warrantless entry

Posted on January 20, 2025 by Hall

The police entered defendant’s home on a report of a dead body inside. They knew, however, the person was dead at least a day and likely wasn’t inside the home by then. The emergency exception did not apply. United States v. Giambro, 2025 U.S. App. LEXIS 950 (1st Cir. Jan. 15, 2025).

The Stone bar applies as long as there is a state mechanism for bringing Fourth Amendment claims. Failure to fully litigate it is on the accused, not the state. Ellis v. Gorder, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7112 (M.D.N.C. Jan. 13, 2025).*

“After considering the facts presented at the suppression hearing, the court concludes that no Fourth Amendment violation occurred in this case because (1) the vehicle Mr. Martinez-Chavez was driving was lawfully stopped, (2) the first firearm was seen through the window of the vehicle in plain view while law enforcement officers were still making inquiries within the lawful scope of the stop, and (3) seeing the firearm, which one officer immediately identified as a sawed-off weapon, in the context of the encounter as it had evolved, gave the officers grounds for conducting a protective search of the vehicle, and, indeed, probable cause for a search under the automobile exception to the warrant requirement.” United States v. Martinez-Chavez, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7423 (W.D. Va. Jan. 13, 2025).*

Posted in Emergency / exigency, Issue preclusion, Plain view, feel, smell | Comments Off

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by John Wesley Hall
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"If it was easy, everybody would be doing it. It isn't, and they don't."
—Me
"Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but of playing a poor hand well."
–Josh Billings (pseudonym of Henry Wheeler Shaw), Josh Billings on Ice, and Other Things (1868) (erroneously attributed to Robert Louis Stevenson, among others)
“I am still learning.”
—Domenico Giuntalodi (but misattributed to Michelangelo Buonarroti (common phrase throughout 1500's)).
"Love work; hate mastery over others; and avoid intimacy with the government."
—Shemaya, in the Thalmud
"It is a pleasant world we live in, sir, a very pleasant world. There are bad people in it, Mr. Richard, but if there were no bad people, there would be no good lawyers."
—Charles Dickens, “The Old Curiosity Shop ... With a Frontispiece. From a Painting by Geo. Cattermole, Etc.” 255 (1848)
"A system of law that not only makes certain conduct criminal, but also lays down rules for the conduct of the authorities, often becomes complex in its application to individual cases, and will from time to time produce imperfect results, especially if one's attention is confined to the particular case at bar. Some criminals do go free because of the necessity of keeping government and its servants in their place. That is one of the costs of having and enforcing a Bill of Rights. This country is built on the assumption that the cost is worth paying, and that in the long run we are all both freer and safer if the Constitution is strictly enforced."
—Williams v. Nix, 700 F. 2d 1164, 1173 (8th Cir. 1983) (Richard Sheppard Arnold, J.), rev'd Nix v. Williams, 467 US. 431 (1984).
"The criminal goes free, if he must, but it is the law that sets him free. Nothing can destroy a government more quickly than its failure to observe its own laws, or worse, its disregard of the charter of its own existence."
—Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643, 659 (1961).
"Any costs the exclusionary rule are costs imposed directly by the Fourth Amendment."
—Yale Kamisar, 86 Mich.L.Rev. 1, 36 n. 151 (1987).
"There have been powerful hydraulic pressures throughout our history that bear heavily on the Court to water down constitutional guarantees and give the police the upper hand. That hydraulic pressure has probably never been greater than it is today."
— Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 39 (1968) (Douglas, J., dissenting).
"The great end, for which men entered into society, was to secure their property."
—Entick v. Carrington, 19 How.St.Tr. 1029, 1066, 95 Eng. Rep. 807 (C.P. 1765)
"It is a fair summary of history to say that the safeguards of liberty have frequently been forged in controversies involving not very nice people. And so, while we are concerned here with a shabby defrauder, we must deal with his case in the context of what are really the great themes expressed by the Fourth Amendment."
—United States v. Rabinowitz, 339 U.S. 56, 69 (1950) (Frankfurter, J., dissenting)
"The course of true law pertaining to searches and seizures, as enunciated here, has not–to put it mildly–run smooth."
—Chapman v. United States, 365 U.S. 610, 618 (1961) (Frankfurter, J., concurring).
"A search is a search, even if it happens to disclose nothing but the bottom of a turntable."
—Arizona v. Hicks, 480 U.S. 321, 325 (1987)
"For the Fourth Amendment protects people, not places. What a person knowingly exposes to the public, even in his own home or office, is not a subject of Fourth Amendment protection. ... But what he seeks to preserve as private, even in an area accessible to the public, may be constitutionally protected."
—Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 351 (1967)
“Experience should teach us to be most on guard to protect liberty when the Government’s purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded
rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.”
—United States v. Olmstead, 277 U.S. 438, 479 (1925) (Brandeis, J., dissenting)
“Liberty—the freedom from unwarranted intrusion by government—is as easily lost through insistent nibbles by government officials who seek to do their jobs too well as by those whose purpose it is to oppress; the piranha can be as deadly as the shark.”
—United States v. $124,570, 873 F.2d 1240, 1246 (9th Cir. 1989)
"You can't always get what you want / But if you try sometimes / You just might find / You get what you need."
—Mick Jagger & Keith Richards, Let it Bleed (album, 1969)
"In Germany, they first came for the communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for
the Catholics and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Catholic. Then they came
for me–and by that time there was nobody left to speak up."

—Martin Niemöller (1945) [he served seven years in a concentration camp]
“Children grow up thinking the adult world is ordered, rational, fit for purpose. It’s crap. Becoming a man is realising that it’s all rotten. Realising how to celebrate that rottenness, that’s freedom.”
– John le Carré, The Night Manager (1993), line by Richard Roper
"The point of the Fourth Amendment, which often is not grasped by zealous officers, is not that it denies law enforcement the support of the usual inferences which reasonable men draw from evidence. Its protection consists in requiring that those inferences be drawn by a neutral and detached magistrate instead of being judged by the officer engaged in the often competitive enterprise of ferreting out crime."
—Johnson v. United States, 333 U.S. 10, 13-14 (1948)
The book was dedicated in the first (1982) and sixth (2025) editions to Justin William Hall (1975-2025). He was three when this project started in 1978.

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