◆ SpookStack

sos vod bi cl Mi | WIC didi Mh VM GRR ARE SENSITIVE Man1-ID: LHBSAP1 LEGAL HANDBOOK FOR SPECIAL AGENTS PART 1 eee (£) Places Where Address is Unknown - If no address ig known or the location is not marked with an address, a specific description will be especially important. The description should be sufficiently detailed to avoid mistaking the place to be searched. In this regard, the use of photographs and diagrams as a supplement to a written description should be considered. For example, "a small wooden dilapidated red barn located on the west side of Jefferson Davis Highway, approximately 1.7 miles south of Aquia Road in Stafford County, Virginia, as shown on the attached color photograph marked Exhibit #1, and all rooms, lofts, storage areas, and the surrounding grounds," (2) Description of Property or Person to be Seized - The Fourth Amendment forbids a general exploratory warrant. Thus, property to be seized under a warrant should be identified as clearly and distinctly as possible. As a general matter, if the property is contraband, the possession of which is unlawful, it does not have to be described in great detail; however, if it ig noncontraband, then greater detail is required. identification by physical description and serial number, both of which are reasonably available to the Agent, then this information should be included in the affidavit. In other cases, the property should be identified by brand name, and a specific quantity, will serve to distinguish the property sought. For example, "That the affiant has reason to believe, and does believe, that there is now being concealed certain property, namely: a large number, believed to be 3,000 Hamilton Beach electric blenders, which electric blenders were part of an interstate shipment from Baltimore, Maryland, to Richmond, Virginia." In this manner, bank robbery loot could be sufficiently described by reference to the total amount or the approximate number of bills of each denomination taken. Precise descriptive data, such as complete, individual serial numbers, may be impossible or impractical to furnish. (b) One area in which particularity of description is essential concerns property that draws upon both First and Fourth Amendment protections. Search warrants directed at the seizure of books, papers must describe the particular items taken. An effort to authorize the seizure of "obscene material," for example, fails because such a warrant leaves to the discretion of the executing Agent the determination as to what is and what is not "obscene." When the material sought enjoys the added protection of the free speech and free press provisions of the First Amendment, the clearest identification possible is required. (c) Where the object of the search is a person to be arrested within third party premises, such person must be described with particularity. The name of the individual is usually sufficient, If the true name is not known, an alias or physical description will (a) I£ the property lends itself to ready suffice. | SENSITIVE Printed: 08/20/2003 06:43:34 Page 6