A warrant is a legal document that a judge approves and signs. When you see a warrant, it means that the police have the judge’s go-ahead to make an arrest, do a search, or take someone’s property, depending on the type. For a judge to sign off on it, the police need to show what’s called probable cause. This means there’s a good reason to think that either a crime happened or that evidence can be found in a place.
With arrest warrants, the judge needs probable cause to believe that the person named in the document has committed a crime. Search warrants work a bit differently. Here, the judge wants to see a real reason to think that there’s evidence or even the proceeds of a crime inside the location that the police want to search.
To get either type of warrant, the police officers get together information and facts that help them show probable cause. They share everything that they know through written statements made under oath that are true. You’ll hear these called “affidavits.”
An affidavit will list things that the officer saw firsthand or information that they got from a witness, even a police informant. In most areas across the U.S., a magistrate is on call around the clock to review these requests and to sign off on warrants. Sometimes, the law says that the officer who wrote the affidavit needs to swear to the truth of their statement in front of someone official.
What Is the Purpose of an Arrest Warrant?
An arrest warrant lets the law enforcement officers take someone who’s suspected of a crime into custody and keep them there. A judge or magistrate has to sign off on it first.
The police still need a good reason to think that this person was involved in a crime before they can get the warrant. They can’t just pick someone at random. Sometimes the police actually know who they’re looking for, so the warrant lists a name. Other times they may only have a description. A warrant might also mention a place where the person is usually found, to help narrow it down.
The Fourth Amendment requires that all warrants “particularly describe” who’s being arrested or what place is being searched. If the description gives enough facts for the police to know who they’re after, the warrant can still hold up in court, even without a name.
Once they have the warrant in hand, the police are allowed to find and arrest the person. After the arrest happens, the officers can also search the person and the area close by them. Even though the police usually need a separate warrant to search someone, this type of search doesn’t need it at all. This exception is known as a search “incident to arrest” or sometimes as an “arrest search.”
What Is the Purpose of a Search Warrant?
A search warrant gives the police the permission to look for the evidence of criminal activity in a particular place. The warrant needs to list the evidence that they are after and also the locations where they might find it. You might even see the police just searching places where people usually keep their things. They can only search the places and look for the items that the warrant describes. Many people find this process invasive at times.
The police carry out their search warrants during the day. If they need to do it at night then they have to get some extra approval
When the officers arrive to search a property, they’re expected to knock on the door and explain who they are and why they’re there.
If they want to skip this part, they need to get permission for what’s called a “no-knock” warrant.
What Do Arrest and Search Warrants Have in Common?
Search and arrest warrants need to be based on probable cause. For an arrest warrant, that means there’s a good reason to think that the person named in the warrant has committed a crime. With a search warrant, you also need to have a belief that criminal evidence exists and that you’ll find it at a specific place.
A neutral judge or magistrate has to sign off on these types of warrants before they can be used. You can expect the officials to carry out these warrants in a reasonable way. They can’t go beyond what the judge has approved.
Say the police get an arrest warrant for someone named Chauncey Jones who lives in an apartment. If they try to arrest a different Chauncey Jones who isn’t connected to the crime named in the warrant, the warrant is not executed reasonably. Only the Chauncey Jones listed and reasonably believed to be mixed up in the case can be arrested.
The same ideas apply to search warrants. The officers have to follow the area and type of evidence listed in the warrant. For example, if they’re looking for a stolen television they shouldn’t be searching inside small containers where it wouldn’t fit. Every part of the search has to tie back to what the judge has originally approved.
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What Are the Differences Between Search Warrants and Arrest Warrants?
Sometimes the police don’t need a warrant to arrest someone and there are also a few situations where they can search for evidence without a warrant first.
With an arrest, things are easier. If you commit a crime right in front of a police officer, that officer can arrest you on the spot without needing a warrant.
Searching without a warrant usually happens in a few more ways.
Consent
The concept of consent means you can agree to let the police search your home, office, or another space you control. If you give them permission, they can just look around as much as you have allowed them to.
Search incident to an arrest
A search incident to an arrest happens when an officer arrests you and they also get to search you, plus the area close by and anything you could reach. If they find something related to a crime during this search, they can also legally take it.
Plain view
The plain view doctrine applies if the police are somewhere they’re allowed to be – even if they’d normally need a warrant for that space – and they find evidence of a crime sitting out in the open.
Hot pursuit
The hot pursuit situation happens when you run from the police after committing a crime in front of them. The officers can chase you, even if you go into a house or another building. They don’t need to pause and get a warrant first. If they see evidence of a crime while they’re inside (as long as they got in during the chase) they can take that too. After they find you, they might search you just like they would after any arrest and any evidence they find can be seized.
Exigent circumstances
Emergencies, also known as exigent circumstances, happen in a true emergency. The police can force their way in without a search warrant in these situations. Their job is to help anyone in danger inside. But while they’re inside, if they see anything suggesting criminal activity they can gather that evidence too, when you follow the plain view rule.
There’s also a difference in how long the warrants last. A search warrant only stays good for a limited time, usually just a few days or a couple of weeks. If it runs out before the police find what they’re looking for, they’ll need to get a new one. Arrest warrants work differently and they almost never expire. So, if there’s a warrant out for your arrest, you could be picked up weeks, months, or even years later. You might move, hide, or leave the country. But the warrant still sits in the system. If a police officer pulls you over for a completely unrelated traffic violation and checks your record, they might find the outstanding warrant and arrest you right then, even though the original reason for stopping you had nothing to do with the earlier crime.
Do I Need the Help of a Lawyer with Warrant Issues?
If you think that a search or arrest warrant may have been issued without any good reason or if it was carried out in a way that seems very unfair, you should reach out to a criminal defense attorney.
A local attorney can then look very closely at your situation and give you some advice about your next steps. They help you put together a defense for any charges you’re facing and guide you on how to respond if something wasn’t done properly during your arrest or when the officers searched your property.
When you have an attorney on your side, it means you have someone who can speak up for you during hearings or even at trial, if it comes to that.
Questions about warrants get technical, so when you work with a skilled criminal defense attorney, it makes the process clearer and helps you protect your rights.
