Controversy sometimes arises when police officers want to search for information on a person’s phone. Maybe they arrested that person with drugs and cash, so they suspect that they were participating in drug sales or drug trafficking. The police think there is evidence on their phone, in the form of direct messages to the people who bought those illegal drugs.
But the person who has been arrested may not want to give the officers access to their device. Maybe they have it locked behind a biometric reader or maybe they just use a numerical code on their phone. Does this keep the police from reading the messages on that device?
Search warrants
It can, but the police do have a way to get around this issue. If they cannot get consent from the suspect, they can get a search warrant from a judge. Once they do, they may be able to compel the subject to open their phone because they have the legal authority to do so. Consent is no longer required.
But one key thing to remember is that the investigators could also serve that search warrant to a tech company. They might not actually need the phone at all. If the direct messages were sent through Facebook, for example, then Meta may have the records. If they were sent through iMessage, then the authorities may approach Apple with a search warrant. These companies will sometimes turn over information so that the police don’t need to access the device. Everything they need is already stored in the cloud.
Do you have questions about how the police gathered evidence and if they did so properly? Make sure you know about all of your criminal defense options.