What Happens to Your Phone After Police Seize It?
For many people, a smartphone contains far more personal information than a wallet ever could. Text messages, photos, emails, contacts, location information, social media accounts, browsing history, financial information, and years of conversations may all be accessible through a single device. So, what happens when police take your phone during an arrest or criminal investigation? Police taking possession of a phone does not automatically give them unrestricted authority to search everything stored on it. Under federal constitutional law, law enforcement generally must obtain a search warrant before searching the digital contents of a cell phone seized during an arrest, although exceptions may apply depending on the circumstances. If your phone has been seized as part of a criminal investigation, understanding the difference between seizure and search is an important starting point. For questions involving criminal law in Jonesboro, AR , the specific facts surrounding how the ...