No warrant needed to search cell phones (California)

[rocketpig]

Mr Khan said:

rocketpig said:

Mr Khan said:

So long as what they find on your cellphone is relevant to the arrest, which in this case it very much was. Now if they use this for stuff like if you got arrested for drunk driving and then they found stuff on your cell-phone that implicated you in other, unrelated crimes

Is it okay for them to grab your laptop and start searching files on it because it's in a bag you're carrying?

This is a bullshit ruling any way you look at it. Cell phones are no longer simple little devices that just make phone calls. They're miniature computers and the police should be required to get a warrant to search them, just like they need to do for laptops and computers. What's on that phone is none of their damned business unless a judge grants them the right to search it.

After you've been arrested, though, and for the crime you've been arrested for. Items on your person at the time of arrest should be valid, but only for relevant information towards the arrest

But see, most things aren't valid for searching... like a laptop. And what constitutes "relevant"? It's a matter of privacy and the police shouldn't be browsing willy-nilly through peoples' phones. The thing is that you're ALREADY being arrested. The phone is ALREADY in police possession. They should have to go get a warrant to search the phone, just like they have to do for other, similar devices.

LIke most things, a judge should be making this call, not some under-fucking-educated police officer that barely understands the law.