10 “Must haves” for a Valid Search Warrant

Have police served you with a search warrant and searched your home or your office?

Search Warrant While search warrants are permissible under our state and the United State Constitutions, police must satisfy very specific requirement to obtain one and even then, the warrant itself must contain certain information. Here are 10 “must haves” for a search warrant.

  1. A warrant MUST HAVE an affidavit of probable cause attached to it which tells the person issuing the warrant that there is probable cause for the search and seizure of the item in question. Probable cause is the reasonable expectation that a crime was or is being committed and it’s the same standard that law enforcement must satisfy to arrest a person for a crime.
  2. A warrant MUST HAVE been based on reliable information by some witness or an informant;
  3. A warrant MUST HAVE the information used to obtain it corroborated by another source other than that same witness or the informant.
  4. A warrant MUST be signed and sealed by the issuing judge,
  5. A warrant MUST have a specific date and time of issuance
  6. A warrant MUST identify specifically the property to be seized
  7. A warrant MUST name and describe with particularity the person or place to be searched,
  8. A warrant MUST be executed within a specified period of time not to exceed two days from the date of issuance
  9. A warrant MUST be served in the day time unless otherwise authorized on the warrant,
  10. A warrant MUST contain state title of the judicial officer who issued the warrant. This person MUST also certify that he/she has found probable cause exists based upon the facts sworn to or affirmed by police based on the witness or the informant.