Search and seizure

Search and seizure
Searches of property by law enforcement for legitimate purposes; but depending on the country, also used to intimidate dissenters and dissidents.

Search and seizure is a procedure used in many civil law and common law legal systems by which police or other authorities and their agents, who, suspecting that a crime has been committed, commence a search of a person's property and confiscate any relevant evidence found in connection to the crime.

Some countries have certain provisions in their constitutions that provide the public with the right to be free from "unreasonable searches and seizures". This right is generally based on the premise that everyone is entitled to a reasonable right to privacy.

Though specific interpretation may vary, this right can often require law enforcement to obtain a search warrant or consent of the owner before engaging in any form of search and seizure. In cases where evidence is seized in a search, that evidence might be rejected by court procedures, such as with a motion to suppress the evidence under the exclusionary rule.

Germany

Some searches that occurred in 2020 and 2021 in Germany appear not to be based on legitimate legal and law enforcement matters, but instead have been used as a method of government repression against certain people.

United States

Swatting

Swatting is a harassment tactic of deceiving an emergency service (via dispatcher) into sending a police and emergency service response team to another person's address. This is triggered by false reporting of a serious law enforcement emergency, such as a bomb threat, murder, hostage situation, or a false report of a "mental health" emergency and may be armed. Some people have died in these situations.

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