Editorials, Opinions

Anonymous 911 calls are more confusing than helpful

It took only four tries for the author(s) of the Bill of Rights to come up with the idea that individual citizens should be protected from unreasonable search and seizure of private property. After that, it took only five people to all but eliminate the word “unreasonable” from the Fourth Amendment.

Obviously, it isn’t quite that simple, but it might as well be. Last week, NPR reported that the United States Supreme Court has recently ruled “that police can stop and search a driver based solely on an anonymous 911 tip.” In a 5-4 vote, SCOTUS has given significant power to anyone with access to a phone.

This recent ruling upholds a 2008 California Supreme Court case ruling. In that case, an anonymous call in Mendocino County included a description of a pickup truck and its license plate number, and reported that the truck had run another vehicle off the road, according to L.A. Times. The police responded to that call and found a truck that fit the description. The truck was searched, and 30 pounds of marijuana were confiscated. The drivers were arrested and convicted of drug trafficking.

The court opinions indicate that the anonymous tip, at least in this case, gave the police the “reasonable suspicion” necessary to justify an unwarranted search and seizure even though the police had not witnessed the “reckless driving” directly. The majority opinion noted, “These principles apply with full force to investigate stops based on information from anonymous tips.”

But, who made that phone call in the first place? Oh, that’s right…no one knows. Or at least, at the time, no one knew. But that no longer matters. All that matters is that police officers can now legally justify seizing and searching an individual’s car with a mere phone call.

Will this expanded definition of “reasonable suspicion” stop in its application to cars? Or will other pieces of private property be looped into this ruling in the future? We worry that this case has given police even more legal freedom on top of the liberties that police have been known to take in the past.

Our concerns about this ruling deal primarily with the phrasing of the opinion and the use of the expression, “full force.” The police have a narrative of abusing power, from racial profiling to blatant power trips.  So what’s to stop them now from using calls from anonymous tipsters, who may also abuse the power awarded to them with this decision, to “malevolently” profile and target individuals for the humiliation of search and seizure on the road?

In other words, if one is so inclined, he or she can call 911, report the license plate number and a description of a friend’s car and anonymously claim that there are illegal substances in that car. What could then follow is that the police may show up, and lawfully search the car in question, regardless of the fact that the whole thing is a rouse in the first place. Problem? We think so.

In 2014, there is a myriad of ways to disguise a voice, block a phone number or manipulate technology in general in an effort to remain anonymous. We question the ruling of SCOTUS in this case, as we feel that it undermines the protections granted by the fourth amendment.

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