Search warrant

A search warrant is a court order that a magistrate or judge issues to authorize law enforcement officers to conduct a search of a person, location, or vehicle for evidence of a crime and to confiscate any evidence they find.

In certain authoritarian nations, police officers may be allowed to search individuals and property without having to obtain court permission or provide justification for their actions.

Under Section 18(5)a of Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, a constable can conduct a search immediately without an inspector's authorisation.

In Scotland, a country operating on the distinct legal system of Scots law compared to England and Wales – the restrictions governing the use and execution of search warrants are set out under Part XIII under the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995.

There are numerous different warrant procedures in the Criminal Code, some have specific requirements such as being served during daytime or having a named supervising officer present in the case of a home search.

[6] If these (see link)[7] requirements are not met by the police the evidence found may become inadmissible against the accused at trial.

Under section 96 of BNSS, a search warrant may be issued where-: (1) (a)any Court has reason to believe that a person to whom a summons order under section 94 or a requisition under sub-section (1) of section 95 has been, or might be, addressed, will not or would not produce the document or thing as required by such summons or requisition; or, (b) such document or thing is not known to the Court to be in the possession of any person; or (c) the Court considers that the purposes of any inquiry, trial or other proceeding under this Sanhita will be served by a general search or inspection, it may issue a search-warrant; and the person to whom such warrant is directed, may search or inspect in accordance therewith and the provisions hereinafter contained.

[16] If the subject is arrested in a home or vehicle, police may perform a protective search to make sure that there are no weapons within the vicinity.

[17] For example, they may search for weapons in the room where they arrested the subject of a warrant, and conduct a "protective sweep" of the premises if they reasonably suspect that other individuals may be hiding.

[20][21] When police arrest an individual shortly after the individual has exited a vehicle, the police may conduct a full search of the suspect's person, any area within that person's immediate reach, and the passenger compartment of the recently occupied vehicle for weapons or any other contraband.

In California, the California Electronic Communications Privacy Act mandates that in certain cases concerning electronic search warrants that the court issue gag orders "[...] prohibiting any party providing information from notifying any other party that information has been sought [...]".