Imagine you are an upperclassman who lives in a house off-campus. You decide one night to have a party with your friends and you provide beer and alcohol for the event.
In the middle of the party, you hear a loud banging at the door and you come to find out an Oxford police officer is there regarding the loud music coming from your stereo system. They say they can hear it 25 feet away from the property line and enter the house to give you a citation. Thoughts quickly race through your mind about underage drinkers and a few friends-of-a-friend smoking marijuana upstairs. What do you do? What do you say? Are the police even allowed to be entering your house?
Many Miami University students have experienced this predicament, or other forms of it, for years. Many times, these students have been unaware of their rights or have been incorrect in understanding them. Furthermore, the notion of "probable cause" that the police employ when suspecting a crime has happened or will happen in the immediate future has been debated between students, their lawyers and the police an innumerable number of times.
So, what does probable cause constitute? What common myths have been formed by students who do not fully understand their rights and the law?
For Oxford lawyer Wayne Staton, who taught at Miami for 35 years while simultaneously practicing law in Oxford, there is a gray area when dealing with probable cause.
"There is really no definition and it's up to the courts to decide if an officer had sufficient probable cause," Staton said.
For Staton, who has represented numerous Miami students, it is important for students to understand their rights when dealing with the police.
"If an officer stops you out of mere suspicion, and without having plain evidence, they are allowed to ask you for consent to search your bag or car," Staton said. "However, any person has the right to refuse a consent search unless the officer has a warrant."
Staton said the general rule is a search warrant is required unless something incriminating is in "plain view" or the person gives consent to a search.
Public Information Officer for the Oxford Police Department Sgt. Jon Varley echoed Staton's summarization of probable cause and explained the law enforcement perspective of a consent search.
"During a consent search, the citizen is allowed to revoke that consent and end the search, unless something is found," Varley said. "Many people do not know that and at any time during a consent search you are allowed to terminate it unless the officer finds something illegal."
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Varley said, however, if the search is revoked, but the police are still suspicious, they are allowed to obtain an emergency warrant to continue their search. Furthermore, the police are allowed to exercise an "exigent warrant" in certain situations.
"An exigent warrant is employed when we believe leaving would be a hazard to someone's health, that evidence faces imminent destruction or that a suspect will escape," Varley said. "In those specific situations when we have probable cause and suspicion, as in smelling an odor, we have the right to enter the premises and stay there until we receive this warrant to make sure that no evidence is destroyed and no one tries to flee."
Many situations are circumstantial and each case is different. However, the police are trained to employ probable cause within the legal framework, and they operate on the basis of legal reasoning, according to Varley. It is important to know the differences between legal reasoning, probable cause and mere suspicion when encountering the police in judicial circumstances.
Varley does have a piece of advice for everyone.
"Don't listen to your friends when they try to give you legal advice," Varley said. "More often than not, their beliefs about dealing with the police are myths."
There are many common myths that students hold when dealing with the law. Varley cleared the air, and dispelled some of the most widely held.
Is it true that if you stand on the sidewalk with a beer, then you can be promptly arrested even if you are over the legal age?
"If you step on the sidewalk with an open container, then you are on public property and are fair game," Varley said.
Is it true that you need to be read your Miranda rights when being arrested or cited?
"That is untrue because your Miranda rights need only to be read when you are in custody and being questioned," Varley said. "If we are just on the street talking, and we saw you blatantly commit a crime and we have no question that you did, then your rights do not need to be read."
Finally, if you are peeing in public, even on your own property, will you be arrested?
"Definitely, you cannot pee anywhere in public," Varley said.
Senior Emily Cameron lives in an off-campus house, and has dealt with the police before regarding a noise complaint, but was not aware of the specific rights she as a citizen has.
"I don't think many students know that when you are confronted by the police, you can say no to a consent search," Cameron said. "I think it is very helpful to know that you can revoke a consent search, and it's helpful in general to know your rights as a citizen."
In any situation dealing with the police, knowing your rights and options is important. Yet, Varley makes a broad statement for everyone.
"If you are committing a crime and we have probable cause but can only ask for a consent search, more times than not we will obtain a search warrant sooner or later and we will cite you," Varley said.
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