For many, their cell phone contains incredibly personal and sensitive information. Whether or not you have anything criminal to hide is irrelevant to the fact that you would likely prefer not to have someone else go through your phone. However, can police seize and search your phone if they believe it contains information relevant to a criminal investigation? Below, we explain when police can search your cell phone for information pertaining to a criminal matter.
When Can Police Search Your Phone?
There are three main ways in which police can legally search your cell phone for information in Minnesota. Absent one of these scenarios, and their actions may constitute a violation of your individual freedoms, which could cause any evidence the collected to be thrown out. Here are the three ways in which police can legally access your cell phone for information.
1. You Give Them Permission – First and foremost, if you give police permission to go through your phone, they can do so. We don’t recommend ever giving them permission. Don’t fall for their mind games. “If you have nothing to hide, just let us take a look.” Reverse it on them and say that you’ll gladly allow them to conduct a search once they’ve obtained a warrant to do so, but in the meantime you’ll be invoking the rights against illegal searches and seizures granted to you by the constitution. There’s no reason to give police permission to search your phone.
2. They Have A Warrant – If you are placed under arrest and police petition a judge for a warrant to search your cell phone and this warrant is granted, they can legally search through your cell phone. This warrant will only be granted if there is probable cause that it pertains evidence of criminal activity, so they can’t just get this warrant granted without narrowing down the scope of their investigation and having a real belief that it contains evidence.
3. Emergency Situations – Finally, there is one last way that police can search your cell phone, and it doesn’t involve a warrant or your permission. There are some emergency situations where police are allowed to legally search your phone. Officers can search your cell phone if they have credible reason to believe that the imminent search of your phone is necessary to:
- Prevent harm
- Prevent destruction of evidence
- Respond to an urgent public safety threat
Remember that data can be retrieved, so they can’t just claim that they want to search your phone before you delete a text message or a call log to another individual. There needs to be a real belief that evidence will be destroyed absent the imminent search, or real harm could come from not accessing this information as quickly as possible. Without these factors, police will need to wait a little longer to obtain a warrant in order to access the cell phone.
If you’re confused about whether or not police have the legal right to search your phone, or you need help fighting a criminal charge related to an incident where police asked about reviewing your phone, reach out to Avery and the team at Appelman Law Firm today at (952) 224-2277.
