LOCAL AUTHORITIES RECEIVED ADDITIONAL TRAINING IN CONDUCTING SEARCHES

Local police got a refresher course on search and seizure laws Tuesday
and Wednesday during a 16-hour seminar at Columbia State Community
College.

Frank Cornacchione, criminal justice professor at the college,
conducted the course and cautioned the officers to carefully follow
procedures when carrying out searches, especially when consent of the
suspect is granted.

"Ultimately, if the consent (for a search) is deemed coercive, we
might lose the fruits of our search," Cornacchione said.

Cornacchione outlined the aspects of the Bill of Rights' 4th
Amendment, which prohibits "unreasonable searches and seizures." He
also reviewed exceptions to the constitutional right.

"Law is subject to so much interpretation," he said, "but each
exception is predicated on factors such as officer safety, destruction
of evidence .."

In all, Cornacchione outlined 13 circumstances which allow for
exceptions to the 4th Amendment. Most of the exceptions, he said, came
into being in an effort to gain ground in the government's "War on
Drugs."

"Without drugs, my course would dwindle to nothing," Cornacchione
said.

Columbia Police Sgt. Terry Peery said the course was helpful to keep
officers abreast of the laws because officers have to make
split-second decisions, whereas criminal attorneys have time to
research case histories.

Columbia Police Lt. Mark Stooksbury said his department considers
on-going training to be an essential facet of officer
development.

"With regard to search and seizure, there are new U.S. Supreme Court
rulings that come down regularly addressing subtleties within the law
regarding search and seizure, and it behooves us as much as possible,
to stay current with those new court decisions and rulings,"
Stooksbury said. "The idea being that we don't want to lose a case or
see someone that clearly we had a good case on released on a
technicality because we failed to dot our i's and cross our t's."

About 17 officers from the Columbia Police Department along with three
federal forest rangers took part in the seminar. The Columbia police
contingent was made up primarily of detectives, supervisors and
members of the crime suppression unit.

"They're going to be involved in the development of search warrants
. and they need to know, 'What does the law currently say with
regard to probable cause? What elements must be present in order to
obtain a valid search warrant that will meet constitutional muster
when it is challenged by defense lawyers?'"

Earlier this year, Cornacchione hosted a similar seminar for the
Spring Hill Police Department.