Chapter 2 LAMSIN PDF
Chapter 2 LAMSIN PDF
Chapter 2 LAMSIN PDF
City of Taguig
Gen. Santos Avenue, Central Bicutan, Taguig City
Chapter 2
This chapter presents related literature and studies from foreign to local sources
relevant to the current study. The brilliant ideas, insights, observations and findings of
Foreign Literature
There is very little research literature in the criminal justice field on warrants.
Likewise, there has been little systematic study of what they are and how they are
served.
83 percent of local police, and 98 percent of sheriffs’ offices serve arrest warrants. In
keeping with their different responsibilities, only 57 percent of state police agencies
serve arrest warrants. Virtually, all state and local agencies that serve warrants also
maintain some type of computerized warrant files. BJS has found that 59 percent of
agencies provide direct computer access for some field officers on wanted suspects
state, which authorizes the arrest and detention of an individual, or the search and
process issued by a local criminal court directing a police officer to arrest a defendant
designated in an accusatory instrument filed with such court and to bring him before
such court in connection with such instrument. The sole function of a warrant of arrest
arraignment upon the accusatory instrument by which such action was commenced
A warrant of arrest must be subscribed by the issuing judge and must state or
contain (a) the name of the issuing court, (b) the date of issuance of the warrant, (c)
the name or title of an offense charged in the underlying accusatory instrument, (d) the
name of the defendant to be arrested or, if such be unknown, any name or description
by which he can be identified with reasonable certainty, (e) the police officer or officers
to whom the warrant is addressed, and (f) a direction that such officer arrest the
defendant and bring him before the issuing court (Sullivan, 2015).
In Canada, arrest warrants are issued by a judge or justice of the peace under
the Criminal Code. Once the warrant has been issued, section 29 of the Code requires
that the arresting officer must give notice to the accused of the existence of the
warrant, the reason for it, and produce it if requested, if it is feasible to do so (Batten,
2010).
In Czech Republic, Czech courts may issue an arrest warrant when it is not
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time there is a reason for detention (i.e. concern that the charged person would either
flee, interfere with the proceedings or continue criminal activity. The arrest warrant
includes: identification of the charged person, brief description of the act, for which the
person is charged, designation of section of criminal code, under which the person is
charged, and precise description of reasons for the issuance of the arrest warrant. The
arrest is conducted by the police. Following the arrest, the police must within 24 hours
either hand the arrested person over to the nearest court or release the person. The
court must immediately interview the arrested person, who has the right to have an
attorney present, unless the attorney is not within reach. The court has 24 hours from
the moment of receiving the person from the police to either order remand or to
release him. Reaching the maximum time is always reason for immediate release
through the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany (German: Grundgesetz für
of liberty) the fundamental law determines that a freedom confinement which exceeds
Arrest warrants serve the enforcement of the proper expiry for instance in
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administrative law and the special administrative procedures after the Tax Code, the
Finance Court order or the social court law. In the Article 2 (Personal freedoms), (1)
Every person shall have the right to free development of his personality insofar as he
does not violate the rights of others or offend against the constitutional order or the
moral law; and (2) Every person shall have the right to life and physical integrity.
Freedom of the person shall be inviolable. These rights may be interfered with only
In United Kingdom, the procedure for issuing arrest warrants differs in each of
Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995). In Northern Ireland arrest warrants are usually issued
by a magistrate.
In England and Wales, arrest warrants can be issued for both suspects and
witnesses. Arrest warrants for suspects can be issued by a justice of the peace under
section 1 of the Magistrates' Courts Act 1980 if information (in writing) is laid before
Such arrest warrants can only be issued for someone over 18 if: (a) the offence to
or (b) the person's address is not sufficiently established for a summons to be served
on him.
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on oath that: (a) any person in England or Wales is likely to be able to give material
justice to issue a summons under this subsection to secure the attendance of that
person to give evidence or produce the document or thing, and (c) it is probable that a
summons would not procure the attendance of the person in question or, if: (a) a
person has failed to attend court in response to a summons, (b) the court is satisfied
any document or thing likely to be material evidence in the proceedings, (c) it is proved
on oath, or in such other manner as may be prescribed, that he has been duly served
with the summons, and that a reasonable sum has been paid or tendered to him for
costs and expenses, and (d) it appears to the court that there is no just excuse for the
In United States, for the police to make a lawful arrest, the arresting officer(s)
must have either (1) probable cause to arrest, or (2) a valid arrest warrant. A valid
arrest warrant is one (a) containing an adequate showing of probable cause, (b)
issued by a neutral and detached magistrate, (c) issued on the basis of a police
affidavit that does not contain known or reckless falsehoods, and (d) particularly
describing the person to be arrested. These minimum requirements stem from the
language contained in the Fourth Amendment. Federal statute and most jurisdictions
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for misdemeanors that were not committed within the view of a police officer. However,
as long as police have the necessary probable cause, a warrant is usually not needed
to arrest someone suspected of a felony in a public place; these laws vary from state
an arrest warrant.
In the majority of Western legal systems, the major role of the police is to
maintain order, keeping the peace through surveillance of the public, and the
subsequent reporting and apprehension of suspected violators of the law. They also
function to discourage crimes through high-visibility policing, and most police forces
have an investigative capability. Police have the legal authority to arrest and detain,
usually granted by magistrates. Police officers also respond to emergency calls along
Typical duties of a police officer relate to keeping the peace, law enforcement,
protection of people and property and the investigation of crimes. Likewise, officers
are expected to respond to a variety of situations that may arise while they are on
duty. Rules and guidelines dictate how an officer should behave within the community,
and in many contexts, restrictions are placed on what the uniformed officer wears. In
some countries, rules and procedure dictate that a police officer is obliged to intervene
in a criminal incident, even if they are off-duty. Police officers in nearly all countries
structurally decentralized so that each department is responsible for the policies and
procedures that govern how the organization will carry out its statutory duties to serve
the community. The major functions of a police department include the following:
protect life and property; enforce the laws; prevent crime; preserve the peace; arrest
violators; and serve the public. Local, county and state governments, as well as the
federal government, enact laws that give authority to the individual agencies to carry
the ongoing pursuit of criminals. These are used to produce evidence for the
prosecution of alleged criminals. The police have the power to search and seize, but
To guard against arbitrary police intrusions, the newly formed United States in
1791 ratified the U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment, which states that the right of
the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against
unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall
issue, but upon Probable Cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly
description of the place and object of the search to meet constitutional requirements. A
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showing probable cause to search a particular place for particular items. The standard
As cited by Urofsky (2005), the U.S. Supreme Court has said that several of
the amendments create this right. One of these is the Fourth Amendment which stops
the police and other government agents from searching citizens or their property
without facts or apparent facts that are reliable and generate a belief that incriminating
evidence can be found on the citizens or the property. Justice Louis Brandeis called
the right to privacy “the right to be left alone by the government.” Calling this right the
most valuable of all rights, Brandeis considered “every unjustifiable intrusion by the
Amendment.
It was Bloom (2013) who explained that the Law Enforcement Officers are
entrusted with the power to conduct investigations, make arrests, perform searches
and seizures of person and their belongings, and occasionally use lethal force in the
line of duty. But this power must be exercise within the boundaries of the law, and
when police officers exceed those boundaries they jeopardize the admissibility of any
evidence collected for prosecution. By and large, the Fourth Amendment and the case
judicial order was nothing more than a piece of paper. The efficacy of the order was at
stake and the court needed to have something meaningful in place to deal with the
accountable to orders set forth by the court. The need was to have warrant
enforcement be based on more than just random contact with defendants; this
became a more directed and aggressive way to enforce court orders, taking an active
role versus the passive role in the process that had been occurring (Cortes, 2014).
As cited by Poortvliet (2016), under common law, police make most arrests
must have probable cause, which means that officers must reasonably believe that a
made, the arresting officer needs to show that probable cause exists. Probable
cause is a legal standard that requires specific circumstances be present before police
can arrest or search a suspect, and it exists when an officer reasonably believes,
under the circumstances, that a crime has been committed and the suspect did it. To
determine if probable cause exists, the court uses the reasonable person standard,
which asks what a reasonable person (or in this case an officer) would believe under
the same set of circumstances. Likewise, this probable cause can be based on either
direct evidence (that is, first‐hand information that is personally known to police
officers) or hearsay.
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police may seek a court order, commonly called an arrest warrant. To obtain the arrest
support of probable cause. The judge must review the affidavit and decide whether or
not to issue an arrest warrant. In the majority of felony cases, though, a police officer
will act without a warrant and will make that arrest as soon as he or she is convinced
circumstances, the police must have a warrant to make an arrest. In public places, the
police can arrest a felon without a warrant if they have probable cause. In homes,
police must have a warrant to make a routine felony arrest. In some situations,
exigencies (such as the hot pursuit of a dangerous felon) allow the police to engage in
The National Center for State Courts (NCSC) defined "Warrant" as a specific
magistrate, which permits an otherwise illegal act that would violate individual rights
and affords the person executing the writ protection from damages if the act is
must be supported by a signed and sworn affidavit showing probable cause that a
specific crime has been committed, and that the person(s) named in the warrant
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warrant is required for misdemeanors that do not occur within view of a police officer.
However, as long as police have the necessary probable cause, a warrant is usually
official to arrest the individual named in the warrant. Under the 4th Amendment to the
Constitution, an arrest warrant can be issued only after there has been a sworn
complaint filed, based upon a judicial finding that there is probable cause to believe
that a crime has been committed and the named individual committed that crime.
These “probable cause” warrants are but one category of criminal arrest warrant.
criminal cases include arrest warrants and search warrants. An arrest warrant is
As a rule, an arrest warrant is granted when probable cause supports that a crime has
been committed by the person listed in the warrant. On the other hand, a search
warrant is a warrant to search a specific premise for evidence of a specific crime. The
warrant is issued by the judge if he or she finds probable cause to believe such
evidence exists based on information presented by police to the judge in the form of a
signed and sworn affidavit. Search warrants are generally not relevant to most of what
warrants can be issued for failure to appear in court (FTA) and failure to follow a
jurisdictions. Some of these types of warrants are: (1) Alias Warrant which is issued
when the subject fails to appear in court for a scheduled court date before any plea
appear is an added charge; (2) Bench Warrant which is a variant of the arrest warrant.
It is usually issued when a subject fails to appear for a required court appearance; (3)
Capias Warrant/Capias Pro Fine Warrant which is issued when a subject has a guilty
judgment either through court appearance, plea, or arraignment in jail, then fails to pay
a fine or complete some specified conditions within the required time period. The only
way to resolve a Capias Warrant is to pay the fine in full or be released "time served"
by remaining in jail until enough jail credit has been earned; (4) Civil Capias
Warrant which is a special type of apprehension order, issued in civil court cases
where the defendant repeatedly fails to comply with the judge's orders. These are also
called Body Attachments and Mittimuses, and are slightly different from Criminal
Warrants. A civil capias warrant is not the same as a criminal arrest warrant. The
purpose of the civil capias warrant, in a contempt case, however, is to get a person
into court for the hearing; (5) Fugitive Warrant is a warrant sent from another state
Warrant which warrants come from the Governor's office so the suspect, who has
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(NCSC, 2016).
warnings and to enter homes or public places. The Supreme Court has ruled that no‐
knock warrants can be used when police fear that announcing their presence could
endanger their lives or give criminals time to destroy the evidence the police are
seeking. Civil liberties advocates think no‐knock warrants often violate the spirit of the
of confidential informers, who are often criminals, seeking to trade what they know for
warrants, saying the warrants have enabled the police to mount an aggressive assault
against drugs. Moreover, the police assert that a majority of their no‐knock search
both telephone wiretapping and bugging. (Bugs are electronic listening devices that
record sounds.) Law enforcement agents sought a record number of court orders in
1997 to allow them to secretly listen in on more than two million private conversations.
The telephone wiretap was the most common device used. Narcotics investigations
spurred almost 75 percent of the wiretap requests in 1997. However, Title III of the
federal Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act (1968) places wiretapping and
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prohibits trial courts, grand juries, regulatory agencies, and other government bodies
An exception to the warrant requirement in Title III applies to officers who are
parties to conversations: they do not need a warrant to wear a wire or tape a phone
call. The Supreme Court has determined that exigent circumstances (in other words,
exceptions to the warrant rule. In reality, most police searches are conducted without
warrants.
The majority of warrantless searches fall into one of the following categories.
First is the Consent search which is a warrantless search made when the person in
control of an area or object gives his or her consent. By consenting, a citizen forfeits all
Fourth Amendment rights. Most criminal charges are handled through consent
searches. A citizen must voluntarily consent, rather than being coerced or tricked into
consenting. A citizen always has the right to say “no.” Police are not legally obligated
to inform citizens whose consent they are seeking that citizens have a right to refuse
to give consent. Second, the Hot‐pursuit search. This is a warrantless search following
an officer's chase of a dangerous suspect into the suspect's home, the residence of a
permits officers to search cars more freely than houses. Due to the mobility of cars,
officers may give up opportunities to seize evidence if they take the time to get a
warrant. The police can't, however, simply begin searching a car because they are
suspicious of the driver's appearance. To satisfy the probable cause prerequisite, the
police must have prior knowledge that the vehicle was involved in a crime or contains
contraband. In a rare win for privacy rights, the Court ruled in Knowles v. Iowa (1998)
that police can't search people and their cars after merely ticketing them for routine
unreasonable and unconstitutional. The Court's decision in Knowles ran counter to its
trend since the 1970s of narrowing the privacy rights afforded by the Fourth
Amendment.
The fourth warrantless searches is the Search incident to arrest. Once there is
probable cause to make an arrest, the Court said in U.S. v. Robinson (1973), a police
officer can search the person arrested and the area under the arrestee's control. It
makes sense, the Court said, to authorize such a search to preserve evidence and to
protect the arresting officer's safety. The last is the Plain‐view search which takes
place when a police officer sees evidence in plain view, is legal so long as the officer
has a right to be present in the place where he or she discovers the evidence. If an
officer has a warrant to search a house for guns, for example, and finds illegal drugs
during the search, the officer can also seize the drugs.
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scope of plain view. A protective sweep is a quick, limited, warrantless search of the
entire premises. If police have reasonable suspicion that others are on the premises
when they arrest a suspect, the officers can examine the entire premises. If the police
have no suspicion that there are others in a place where they make an arrest, they can
still look into adjoining closets or rooms. In both situations, the police may seize
The Law enforcement in the United States is one of three major components of
the criminal justice system along with courts and corrections. Although each
agencies which purposes are the investigation of suspected criminal activity, referral of
the results of investigations to the courts, and the temporary detention of suspected
and in different agencies, they are also commonly charged with the responsibilities of
progress. Other duties may include the service and enforcement of warrants, writs,
In line with, the Law enforcement officers are granted certain powers to enable
them to carry out their duties. When there exists probable cause to believe that a
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can handcuff and arrest a person, who will be held in a police station or jail pending a
enforcement officers, authorized to make arrests and carry firearms in the United
States (Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies, 2008). In 2010, the
FBI estimated that law enforcement agencies made 13,120,947 arrests (excluding
traffic violations). Of those persons arrested, 74.5% were male and 69.4 percent of all
persons arrested were white, 28.0 percent were black, and the remaining 2.6 percent
The Supreme Court ruled that law enforcement officers may enter a house
without knocking if they have “a reasonable suspicion” that announcing their presence
drugs down the toilet). In addition, rules on civil asset forfeiture allow law enforcement
officers to seize anything which they can plausibly claim was the proceeds of a crime.
The property-owner need not be convicted of that crime; if officers find drugs in a
house, they can take cash from the house and possibly the house itself.
Commentators have said these rules provide an incentive for law enforcement officers
to focus on drug-related crimes rather than rape and murder investigations. They also
provide an incentive to arrest suspected drug-dealers inside their houses, which can
be seized, and to raid stash houses after most of their drugs have been sold, when
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Title 18 of the United States Code section 3105 says that Federal Agents can
execute warrants. State and Local officers can help the feds, even if the state and
local are working outside their jurisdiction to do that, as long as the Federal Agent
remains in charge of the execution of the search. Private Citizens can also help the
Federal agent as long as the private citizens are serving a legitimate investigative
function. Now importantly what the 4th Amendment does not allow in terms of bringing
someone else along for the search is for the agents to bring private party to the site of
the search just so they can tag along for some private purpose or to satisfy their own
18 of the US code section 3109 is what we refer to as the federal “Knock and
Announce” statue. So the general rule for knock and announce is that before agents
force enter into a resident to execute a warrant - either an arrest warrant or a search
warrant - they have to “knock and announce” their identity, authority and purpose and
section 879. Search warrants involving controlled substance can be served at any
time. In addition to controlled substance warrants, agents can get special night time
permission to execute other kinds of warrants. They must show the court reasonable
cause for being allowed to do so. Also, in some investigations like, illegal gambling,
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likely to find the evidence they are looking for at that location.
Conversely, judges can issue no knock warrants from the “get go” when agents
can articulate reasonable suspicious that to knock and announce will be dangerous,
futile or inhibit that investigation. Hence, agents might decide they might either go to
the judge with this information or they may find this information at the scene and make
Foreign Studies
citizens in the country, the role of the police officer is to solve crimes, arrest criminals
there was an overcrowding in the Coconino County Jail and an exceedingly high
number of outstanding arrest warrants that were issued out of the Flagstaff Municipal
Court, but not cleared. Due to the fiscal realities that the Flagstaff Municipal Court
faces, the resources allocated to the warrant enforcement program. The intent of the
study was to specifically address two questions: (1) how does the Flagstaff Municipal
Court compare to other municipal courts that do not have a warrant unit in terms of
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largely due to the autonomy of the local courts. Likewise, there is judicial discretion in
the comparison courts. This judicial discretion affords the opportunity to manage the
court caseload in the way that the presiding judge sees fit for the overall operation of
the court and for the individual judge to have discretion in relation to the individual
case.
There has been much discussion in the court community over the past several
decades regarding the purpose and responsibilities of the courts. There is no longer a
general societal assumption that courts simply must exist for their own sake. It can be
argued that what counts for the judicial branch is ensuring that laws are administered
in a just manner, deterring violations of the law and the effectiveness of the court
order. When examining these issues, it was found that doing individual justice in
behavior and separating persons convicted of serious offenses from society, do not
take place without the follow-through of the court on the sentences they impose.
exploratory one that focused on unserved arrest warrants in US. It also aimed to
determine whether better service of warrants could prevent the incidence of violent
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International Corporation (SAIC) and the Institute for Law and Justice (ILJ) to examine
the extent to which increasing the effort to serve warrants may be an effective public
It was found out that the experimentation of police departments on their own
shows a clear willingness to look for solutions. The way in which warrants are served
restrictions against the experimentation for finding optimal solutions. The expense of
such a project should be reasonable. Besides, the benchmarking and research costs,
as well as the added costs that may be necessary to cover departmental expenses
are: (1) Training officers for new strategies, (2) Hiring civilian phone workers for the
test period, and (3) Modifications of record keeping for tracking the experiment.
It has become clear that all branches of government are under scrutiny by the
public, particularly in the area of their expenditures. The judicial branch is not immune
to examination, in fact the publication Funding Justice: Strategies and Messages for
Restoring Court Funding, First Edition 2012, offers information on how the public views
the government and more specifically the judicial system. It states “public distrust in
government taints courts, too.” All branches of government seem to get grouped
together to some extent. The information in the study provided, states that 13% of the
answers had a “great deal of confidence” in the state court system, slightly more (18%)
in the United States Supreme Court. These percentages are unfortunately very low.
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state - “does not spend enough on it” (their respective State Court) and only 17%
responded; which means that the remaining 83% felt that their state spends too much
Handbook of Collection Issues and Solutions, published by the National Center for
State Courts, Court Services Division notes that nationwide, warrants are served on
defendants as a result of some other offense having taken place. It further notes that
“most localities do not have sufficient staff to actively serve warrants”. This nationwide
problem seems to give the impression that the courts’ warrants are not important. If
the executive branch, through their law enforcement entities, happens to come across
an individual with a warrant, then the warrant will be served, but there is not a pointed
focus on enforcing the court’s order. It appears that either the executive branch may
not be the appropriate branch to enforce judicial orders or that the judicial branch may
Klaversma, 2009).
management are not just a problem in Arizona. The Warrant and Disposition
Management 2011 State Survey conducted by the National Center for State Courts
predominately focused on the entry of warrants into the warrant repository and on the
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project was their conclusion that, “States vary significantly with respect to how they
manage warrants, including where warrants are stored (centrally or locally) and how
they are transmitted (electronically or manually)” (National Center for State Courts and
SEARCH, 2011). This concept is intriguing and is one that is addressed in this project,
specifically, in regards to the practices of municipal courts. Courts may only have the
warrant entered into a local police database and therefore if the defendant has law
enforcement contact outside of that specific city, the other law enforcement entity
Accordingly, this is not just a court issue, but also a safety concern for law
enforcement officers. The practice of only entering the warrant into the local system
will also limit the likelihood of the warrant being served on the defendant. The warrant
officers are available to regularly transport defendants who are arrested in other
repository. Entering warrants into the central repository creates consistency among
case.
The Arizona Administrative Office of the Courts, Court Services Division, (2012)
ordered enforcement and criminal warrants. The timeline associated with the issuance
for defendants. It seems to be sending a clear message that the violations of court
orders should be handled aggressively and in a swift manner. The question becomes
an obvious one, why are there inconsistencies of warrant issuance? The research
there was one statewide initiative. The Arizona Department of Public Safety (AZDPS)
and the United States Marshals Service combined efforts for the creation of the
Force. The information for the WANTED Task Force was located in The Annual Report
of the Arizona Department of Public Safety. The task force’s main function is to
investigate and arrest persons who have active state and federal warrants for their
arrest.
Primarily the types of warrants that are focused on are “violent crimes against
persons, weapons offenses, felony drug arrests, failure to register as a sex offender
and crimes committed by subjects who have criminal history involving violent crimes,
felony drug offenses, and /or weapons offenses” (Arizona Department of Public
Safety, 2012). To be specific, this task force would not be responsive to FTC or FTP
warrants issued out of any municipal court. The combined efforts produced 353
fugitive arrests in fiscal year 2011 and 346 fugitives in fiscal year 2012.
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Almost eight years after its initial publication in September 2002, the Police
under the PNP’s Integrated Transformation Program spearheaded by the Chief, PNP.
Among the most significant updates in operational processes and procedures is the
inclusion of human rights protection which should be provided to both victims and
This PNP Operational Procedure Manual (2010) holds the key to successful
police actions and if faithfully followed, it would shield law enforcers from criminal and
administrative liabilities as they fulfill their mandate to serve and protect the
operations to be conducted, all PNP personnel must know by heart and shall comply
preserving evidence and evaluating information for the purpose of bringing criminal, to
In this process, the three important tools of investigation are applied, explicitly
usually given by informants, witnesses and sometimes available at the police records
on file (i.e., rogue gallery, police modus operandi file, target list and wanted list and
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must be supported by testimonies from the victim and witnesses; a sworn testimony.
information to aid for the solution of crimes, however doing this in a careless manner
can be a factor for the dismissal of cases, such as when the investigators failed to
observe the constitutional right of the suspects as plainly defined under Miranda
Doctrine. It is also provided for under R.A. Nr. 7438, that define certain rights of person
arresting, detaining and investigating officers, and providing penalties for violations
thereof (Republic Act No. 7438 “The Right of the Person under Custody”).
The DOJ Department Circular 050 (2010), required that the arresting officer or
periods allowed by law from time the suspect was taken into custody) defined by law
under the new Circular of the Department of Justice. That the counting of hours will all
throughout the day starting from the time of arrest and this will exclude Sunday and
Official Holiday.
The arresting officer, or the investigator, as the case may be, must under
investigation visits by or conferences with any member of his immediate family, any
medical doctor, priest, Imam or religious minister chosen by him or by any member of
international NGO duly accredited by the Office of the President. His “immediate
family” shall include his spouse, parent or child, brother or sister, grandparent or
grandchild, uncle or aunt, nephew or niece, and guardian or ward. After interrogation,
independent and competent doctor of his own choice. The physical examination of the
person under custodial investigation shall be contained in a medical report, which shall
cause – that is, one made for the purpose of filing information in court – is essentially
an executive function and, therefore, generally lies beyond the pale of judicial scrutiny.
The exception to this rule is when such determination is tainted with grave abuse of
discretion and perforce becomes correctible through the extraordinary writ of certiorari.
to act at all in contemplation of law. To note, the underlying principle behind the courts’
check and balance which underpins the very core of our system of government.
immediately subjected to an inquest proceeding (that is, within 36 hours at the most,
counted from the arrest of the respondent, if he does not waive his right against illegal
detention under Article 125 of the Revised Penal Code). If the inquest prosecutor is
satisfied with the proofs of probable cause submitted by the complainant and the
arresting police officers, he will file the appropriate information in court, subject to
review and approval by the chief city or provincial prosecutor, within the maximum
Under Rule 13, section 1 of the Philippine National Police Handbook (2013), the
General Guidelines on arrest emphasizes that, all arrests should be made only on the
where the law allows warrantless arrest. Also, no violence or unnecessary force shall
be used in making an arrest, and the person to be arrested shall not be subjected to
any greater restraint than what is necessary under the circumstances. As a general
rule, arrests can be made on any day of the week and at any time of the day or night.
However, only judges are authorized to issue Warrants of Arrest which is no longer
44
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warrant of arrest as the written authority of the arresting officer when making an arrest
or taking of a person into custody in order that he may be bound to answer for the
commission of an offense. The head of the office to whom the warrant of arrest has
been delivered for implementation shall cause the warrant to be implemented within
ten (10) days from receipt. Within ten (10) days after the expiration of such period, the
police officer to whom it was assigned for implementation shall make a report to the
judge who issued the warrant and in case of his failure to implement the same, shall
In section 6, Rule 13 of the PNP Handbook (2013), it shall be the duty of the
police officer implementing the Warrant of Arrest to deliver the arrested person without
delay to the nearest Police Station or jail to record the fact of the arrest. At the time of
the arrest, it shall be the duty of the arresting officer to inform the person arrested of
the cause of the arrest and the fact that a warrant had been issued for his arrest. The
arresting officer need not have the warrant in his possession at the time of the arrest
but after the arrest, if the person arrested so requires, the warrant shall be shown to
him as soon as possible. When women or children are among the arrested suspect/s,
the arresting officer shall task the Women’s and Children’s Protection Desks (WCPD)
officer or a policewoman who is familiar with women and children protection desk
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Republic of the Philippines
City of Taguig
Gen. Santos Avenue, Central Bicutan, Taguig City
inform the person to be arrested of his authority and the cause of the arrest except
when he flees or forcibly resists before the arresting officer has the opportunity to
inform him or when the giving of such information will imperil the arrest. The person
arrested, with or without warrant, shall be informed of his constitutional right to remain
silent and that any statement he makes could be used against him. Also, that he has
the right to communicate with his lawyer or his immediate family and the right to
physical examination.
inquest proceedings within the time prescribed in Article 125 of the Revised Penal
Code (RPC). No torture, force, violence, threat, intimidation, or any other means which
vitiate the free shall be used against an arrested person. The bringing of arrested
persons to secret detention places, solitary confinement and the like is prohibited.
However, if the person arrested without a warrant waives his right under the provisions
of Art 125 of the Revised Penal Code, the arresting officer shall ensure that the former
signs a waiver of detention in the presence of his counsel of choice. And if the person
arrested waives his right against self-incrimination and chooses to give his statement,
the arresting officer shall ensure that the waiver is made in writing and signed by the
person arrested in the presence of a counsel of his own choice or a competent and
Republic of the Philippines
City of Taguig
Gen. Santos Avenue, Central Bicutan, Taguig City
Manual 2013).
On the other hand, SEC. 24 of the REPUBLIC ACT 6975 known as the
“Department of the Interior and Local Government Act of 1990” accentuates the
powers and functions of the Philippine National Police which include: (a) Enforcing all
laws and ordinances relative to the protection of lives and properties; (b) Maintaining
peace and order and take all necessary steps to ensure public safety; (c) Investigating
and preventing crimes, effect the arrest of criminal offenders, bring offenders to justice
and assist in their prosecution; (d) Exercise the general powers to make arrest, search
and seizure in accordance with the Constitution and pertinent laws; (e) Detain an
arrested person for a period not beyond what is prescribed by law, informing the
person so detained of all his rights under the Constitution ; (f) Issue licenses for the
possession of firearms and explosives in accordance with law; (g) Supervise and
control the training and operations of security agencies and issue licenses to operate
security agencies, and to security guards and private detectives, for the practice of
their professions; and (h) Perform such other duties and exercise all other functions as
2013).
Local Studies
Republic of the Philippines
City of Taguig
Gen. Santos Avenue, Central Bicutan, Taguig City
making an arrest or taking of a person into custody in order that he may be bound to
The head of the office to whom the warrant of arrest has been delivered for
implementation shall cause the warrant to be implemented within ten (10) days from
receipt. Within ten (10) days after the expiration of such period, the police officer to
whom it was assigned for implementation shall make a report to the judge who issued
the warrant and in case of his failure to implement the same, shall state the reasons
thereof.
A peace officer or a private person may, without a warrant, arrest a person: a. When,
attempting to commit an offense; b. When an offense has just been committed and he
circumstances, that the person to be arrested has committed it; c. When the person to
be arrested is a prisoner who has escaped from a penal establishment or place where
he is serving final judgment or temporarily confined while his case is pending, or has
escaped while being transferred from one confinement area to another; d. Where the
accused released on bail attempts to leave the country without court permission; e.
Violation of conditional pardon, punishable under Article 159 of the Revised Penal
warrants, have given rise to the question of whether better service of warrants could
Interestingly, there is very little research on how courts enforce orders and
Warrants need to begin to be accounted for. The inability to measure clearance rates
bookings, and criminal court services are generally aware of the nature of outstanding
warrants, there has been little systematic study of what they are and how they are
served. Consequently, while the common belief is that the bulk of outstanding
warrants are for lesser crimes and failures to appear in court on lesser crimes, there
to enforcement that show both fiscal responsibility and court potency. Courts need to
address the issue of warrants and their efficacy if we want to maintain credibility and
relevance in the eyes of our funding authorities and the communities that we serve.
executive branch only weakens the perception of the court in our communities.
Fulfilling the responsibility in the enforcement of court orders can help solidify the role
And lastly, it is imperative that the judicial branch takes responsibility for making
sure that what is ordered is carried out or there is a possible risk that courts will be
seen as ineffective and possibly unnecessary by the public that they serve and by
society as a whole.