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Preferred term

community caretaking exception  

Definition

  • The community caretaking function, or the community caretaking exception to Fourth Amendment restrictions, allows law enforcement officers to engage in warrantless searches of defendants' property—usually a vehicle—if the officers have a valid community-oriented, protective reason for their action as opposed to searching for criminal wrongdoing. The U.S. Supreme Court first recognized the community caretaking exception in Cady v. Dombroski (1973), writing: Local police officers, unlike federal officers, frequently investigate vehicle accidents in which there is no claim of criminal liability and engage in what, for want of a better term, may be described as community caretaking functions, totally divorced from the detection, investigation, or acquisition of evidence relating to the violation of a criminal statute. [Source: Encyclopedia of the Fourth Amendment; Community Caretaking Exception]

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https://concepts.sagepub.com/social-science/concept/community_caretaking_exception

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