Editorial: Illegal Search and Seizure – Is Nothing Sacred?

What is the world coming to? Once again, our rights designated to us as American citizens by the land of the brave and free are being violated. The Fourth Amendment states that no person shall be subjected to a search and seizure without the police being in possession of a warrant issued for such an act. Furthermore, the Fifth Amendment states that no person should have removed from their possession anything that belongs to them without just compensation for said possessions. Apparently, the police force in Louisiana has forgotten how to read. That or either such a requirement does not even exist. How else could such a blunder occur? Rewind to last week. A man in Louisiana makes a threat to kill two judges, some police officers that were not identified, and two telephone transformers. So, thinking like a good citizen, someone tips off the police of this man’s plot. Little did this Good Samaritan know how evil (aka some Louisiana police officers) would twist his act of good sense into a crime of horrific proportions. The police, with no regards to the law, barge into the man’s home without a search warrant (first mistake) and seized several articles from his house, all which he legally had permission to own (second mistake). They found nothing illegal in his house, only guns that he was legally licensed and permitted to own. When he protested what had happened in the courts, the state appealed and won. A new law now exists in the Louisiana state legislature. Police officers, if they feel threatened, no longer need a warrant to search your home and property. This is an outrage and a clear violation of our Constitutional rights as American citizens. How does this pertain to college students? That was a home, with guns, and there was a threat. Students probably live in a residence hall (not a dorm), student apartments, or an apartment building near campus. Students also probably do not own much along the lines of a “weapon”, and are not making threats to kill people in Plymouth. Think again. Just because you are not making yourself appear as a threat to society does not mean that society will decide you are one anyway. Date: January 2004. Location: Dartmouth College. Brothers of the Bones Gate Fraternity locked and left their house in response to the fire alarm going off. Safety and Security officers (S&S), which are Dartmouth College’s version of our Campus Police, broke into the Bones Gate house, then continued to smash things as they broke into a locked basement closet and emerged “victorious” with several bottles of alcohol. They then proceeded to charge the men who lived in the house with possession of alcohol that the S&S officers had confiscated without probable cause or a search warrant. When the students attempted to bring these points up at their hearing later on, the college refused to listen to their testimony and suspended them. The moral of this story? Just because you are a college student does not mean that you are exempt from the stripping of your rights! Some of the law enforcement offices of this country have clearly taken matters into their own hands and have little or no concern for us mere mortals who also happen to be responsible for their salaries. Apparently, our rights can and have been altered. Our founding fathers must be rolling over in their graves.