It is a complicated legal issue. Right now, police have the legal right to search your person, your packages and your car if you are being held for arrest. But does that include your cell phone? The Supreme Court of The United States is set to decide on this issue.
The case involves two men who were convicted when cops searched their cellphones for evidence. David Riley, an alleged member of the Bloods gang, was sentenced to 15 years for his ties to a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles. His cell phone linked him to the crime. A Boston man, Brima Wurie, was sentenced to 22 years for crack-dealing and weapons offenses, but his conviction was overturned.
In Wurie’s case, he was linked to a 2007 drug sale in the parking lot of a convenience store. After his arrest, police noticed that Wurie’s phone kept receiving an external call from a number identified as “my house” on the caller ID screen. The officers opened the phone and accessed its call number. Through a reverse directory, they were able to obtain an address that eventually led them to get a warrant and found a stash of crack cocaine.
The concern brought by the American Civil Liberties Union is whether police can potentially arrest you for minor infractions such as littering, jaywalking, or traffic offenses and examine your phone for other potential infractions. Are your pictures and text messages fair game?
The case will modernize the view of the Fourth Amendment, which constitutionally bars “unreasonable searches and seizures.” The framers of the constitution were addressing actions taken against citizens by the Red Coats prior to the Revolutionary War.