Page 32 - Critical Tasks in Law Enforcement 2020-2021 Sessioin
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Task: Probable Cause and Arrest






          District of Columbia v. Wesby, 2021 U.S. LEXIS 760 (2018).

          • Officers should document all fact and circumstances that led them to


               infer that there was probable cause of criminal activity even those
               innocent factors that when mixed into the totality of circumstances


               support the officers’ conclusions

          • Probable cause is not a high bar.  Officers must be aware that when

               questioned by attorneys on individual factors in isolation the officer

               should always premise their answer on the fact that the officer did

               not consider that fact or circumstance in isolation but instead put all

               the facts in a measuring cup and then looked at the whole mix rather

               than one ingredient.












                                     ©2021 Jack Ryan  Legal & Liability Risk Management Institute                                    31
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