Public Safety and Individual Rights Paper

The primary concern of this paper is to establish the impact of the USA Patriot Act on local law enforcement and its potential for net widening. This paper will cover three primary areas to provide a proper public safety case analysis. First the paper will describe the public safety agency and its roles in relation to the USA PATRIOT ACT. Then the paper will provide a detail explanation of the leadership, management, and administration roles of the public safety agency chosen. Finally this paper will cover the importance of efficient administration in public safety.

Headed by the governor of the state, the state govt. of CA replicates the Federal govt. It has three branches that perform their assigned tasks and keep within the limits set by the constitution. These branches are:

Our government is a federal form of government, a federation. States yield their sovereignty to the federal government. The government would have no power if all the states were sovereign. The states would most likely ignore the government because they would have no power over them. An example is the government that preceded the Constitution, the Articles of Confederation that included 13 independent little nations. They gave the federal government little power and there were many disadvantages. Each state had its own currency. Doing business between states was difficult because of this. That’s why the Articles were replaced with the Constitution. A confederation was replaced with a federation. It was set up with a supposed balance. A state politician doesn’t always like the federal laws but that is what keeps it balanced. It would be confusing and probably dysfunctional if every state had its own immigration and foreign policy. We all just witnessed each states different opinion on gay marriage.

The United States is currently governed under a federalist constitution and has a deep rooted history of setting up its constitution to accommodate transparency, checks and balance and prevent tyranny. The federalist system of government is divided into the co-dependent central and state government. federalism in the united states give states the power to create their own laws, constitutions, and government structures. As stated in the U.S. Constitution (U.S.), enormous reservoirs of political power are thus derived from the people who reside in the states themselves. (champagne 2017)

The purpose of this paper is to outline relevant case law as well other additional resources I will be referencing for my final course project on the Fourth Amendment. The sources within this paper are pertaining specifically to the section within the Fourth Amendment regarding unreasonable searches and seizures. I have included a brief for the following cases, Arizona v Gant, and Mapp v Ohio, as well as a synopsis for each additional resource I have chosen regarding my topic. These sources will aid me in both learning and understanding the Fourth Amendment of our United States Constitution.

This paper presents the topic selected for the final Public Safety Case Analysis Project, an overview of the USA Patriot Act, its impact on local law enforcement, and the potential for net widening. Congress reacted to the violation to our country on September 11, 2001 by passing the USA Patriot Act into law on October 26, 2001. (USA Patriot Act, 2001). Since its enactment, the USA Patriot Act has both validated and victimized the American public in the name of securing our Nations freedom.

State governments are set up through state constitution, which usually have four sections. These sections are the: preamble which states the purpose and that the authority of the government comes from the people. Another section is the bill or declaration of rights which includes many of the same rights as in the U.S. Constitution’s Bill of Rights. To expand on this the states constitution are different due to the fact that many voter initiatives take the form of a constitutional amendment. States constitution varies in length and sizes. In fact California's constitution is one of

Search and seizure is a vital and controversial part of criminal justice, from the streets to the police station to court. It is guided by the Fourth Amendment, which states that people have the right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure of their bodies, homes, papers, and possessions and that warrants describing what and where will be searched and/or seized are required to be able to search the above things (“Fourth Amendment,” n.d.). Interpretations of the Fourth Amendment by the U.S. Supreme Court and the establishment of case law by many state and federal courts have expanded upon the circumstances under which search and seizure is legal. Several doctrines and exceptions have also emerged from the Supreme Court and other case law that guide law enforcement officers on the job and aid lawyers in court.

The Federalist Government was created to balance our liberties, and as a way to defend against tyranny, and open up politics to a wide variety of individuals, and involve the States in planning and developing new Ideas for the future. The three powers given by the Constitution to the national government include: Delegated Powers, Implied Powers, and Inherent Powers. Reserved Powers are guaranteed by the Tenth Amendment, which allows local government the right to regulate trade, elections, and issuing licenses for business. Many powers may be mixed between the Federal and state government like taxes, because you have both state and Federal taxes. The Federal Government perform its duties as to impede on the state’s ability to conduct business.

State governments can vary in form depending on who controls the government, for this we have different forms of government for certain states. For the state of California, we are run by a direct democracy which is held by the people as a whole. The system of government in which political decisions are made by the people directly, rather than by the elected representatives; probably attained in small political communities. Citizens of the community debate then vote directly on all laws, especially laws present by the ruling council of the city. The state’s ruling concerns regulating tax deductions, hiring city officials, healthcare, economic equality etc.

Search and seizures are highly debated topics in the United States. Stop and frisk, automobile searches and border searches all fall within the guidelines of the Fourth Amendment. Discussed in this paper will be what reasonable searches, seizures and arrests are and how they are applied. Also to be discussed is whether probable cause is needed during warrantless searches and how the right to privacy is weighed. Finally, this paper will discuss how America’s borders are being protected by the Fourth Amendment, and what exceptions

The political system that runs the United States of America is a result of the Constitution, Amendments and the Civil War. As mentioned before, there are 50 states that help govern the nation along with the national government, referred to as the Federal Government. The Federal Government is comprised of three branches: Legislative Branch, Executive Branch and Judicial Branch. These three branches were developed to satisfy the principle known as ‘separation of powers’. This is the idea that no one institution has too much power. This also means that no individual member can be more than one institution. The principle of ‘checks and balance’ also falls under this idea. Each branch has limited authority to act on its own. With that being said, each branch regulates the other two and vies-a-versa to a certain extent. The House of Representatives and the Senate make up the Legislative Branch. Together they make the laws of the nation. There are two senates per state, meaning 100 senators in the Senate House, and today in the 11th Congress there are 435 members. All congress members are elected by their respective states into either the Senate or House of Representatives.

The federal government is the system that divides up power between a strong national government and smaller local governments. It consists of three branches, the legislative, executive and judicial branch. Essentially, the federal government is what sets various boundaries and some regulations. State and local governments consist of the systems that are used on a daily basis such as schools, police and fire departments, libraries, and parks.

The three main National government rights are being able to make and enforce laws, tax, and borrow money. Being able to enforce laws is a needed for our government to maintain some power. Most laws are created to protect us from ourselves. The government has the right to tax everyone. The government has to somehow make money to pay the people whom work for them { social workers, lawyers, judges, ect. }, so they tax products to fund government services. Lastly the government has the right to borrow money. The government borrows money so that they can pay bills and dues. The government usually borrows money in the form of people buying

Although we live in a nation that places a premium value on personal freedom, it is also a nation whose population considers its own safety and welfare as paramount rights. This creates a need for some measure of public order. Such public order mechanisms are typically expressed in the form of laws. The laws of the United States are an attempt to balance the desire for individual freedoms with the desire for universal safety. (D'Augostino, 2008)