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Should Police Acquire Paid Informant?

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The local police received a tip from an informant that a supply store was allegedly growing and selling marijuana. The enforcement needed proof that illegal activity was taking place at this business location, so they went through extreme measures to get surveillance to prove illegal activities were taking place. Utilizing a paid informant is an area of concern to ethicists who believe that informants are often paid to get away with crimes. The Fourth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States that “no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause”(Swanson, Chamelin, Territo, & Taylor, 2012). As a consequence, the successful use of informant in supporting requests for a warrant depends on the reliability of their information. Additionally, the source of the information is made clear and the police officer has a reasonable belief that the informant is reliable.
There are several issues with conducting surveillance illegally of a property. One of the issues is any surveillance that is obtained in an unlawful manner, cannot be used in the court of law. For example, the Exclusionary rule holds that evidence illegally seized by the police cannot be used in a trial. The rule acts as control over police behavior and specifically focuses on a failure of officers to obtain warrants authorizing them either to …show more content…

The law enforcement approached the residence 84 times without obtaining a search warrant. According to the fruits of the poisonous tree doctrine, any evidence that is obtained from unreasonable searches cannot be presented in court against the defendant. I do believe that having a search warrant affects the outcome of this case. For example, if the officers could have put in the same effort to obtain a search as they did on disguising themselves, it could change the outcome of the

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