A sneak and peek search warrant (officially called a Delayed Notice Warrant and also called a covert entry search warrant or a surreptitious entry search warrant) is a
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 most countries, ...
authorizing the law enforcement officers executing it to effect physical entry into
private premises without the owner's or the occupant's permission or knowledge and to clandestinely search the premises; usually, such entry requires a stealthy
breaking and entering.
Instances
Law enforcement officers are not prohibited from seizing any property from the premises. For example, in one 2010 case, federal investigators broke into an apartment in
Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the United States, U.S. U.S. state, state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along ...
,
Ohio
Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...
, collected evidence, and then "trashed the place to make it look like a burglary." According to a
Department of Justice
A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
document,
DEA agents used a delayed-notice warrant to steal a suspect's car in March 2004. After following the suspect to a restaurant in
Buffalo,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
, one agent "used a duplicate key to enter the vehicle and drive away while other agents spread broken glass in the parking space to create the impression that the vehicle had been stolen." Sneak and peek warrants are especially beneficial to illegal drug manufacturing investigations because they allow investigative teams to search the premises for chemicals and
drug paraphernalia
"Drug paraphernalia" is a term to denote any equipment, product or accessory that is intended or modified for making, using or concealing drugs, typically for recreational purposes. Drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and methampheta ...
so that they can return with a traditional search warrant.
Researchers have stated that 11,000 Delayed Notice Warrants were used to enter premises in 2013,
but questions have been raised whether this count includes other delayed notice warrants, such as
GPS trackers on cars and investigations of emails.
Patriot Act
Under the
USA PATRIOT Act
The USA PATRIOT Act (commonly known as the Patriot Act) was a landmark Act of the United States Congress, signed into law by President George W. Bush. The formal name of the statute is the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appro ...
, signed into law during the
107th United States Congress
The 107th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from January ...
, on October 26, 2001, for the first time in US history, sneak and peek warrants were used as standard procedure in investigations. Sneak and peek warrants are addressed in Section 213, under Title II, or the Enhanced Surveillance Procedures. Democrat
Russ Feingold
Russell Dana Feingold ( ; born March 2, 1953) is an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States Senator from Wisconsin from 1993 to 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he was its nominee in the 2016 election for the same U ...
was the only senator to not vote for the act, with one of his reasons being it would enable the Sneak and peak warrant.
Sneak and peek warrants are not exclusive to acts of foreign and domestic
terrorism
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
but are applicable to any
federal crime
In the United States, a federal crime or federal offense is an act that is made illegal by U.S. federal legislation enacted by both the United States Senate and United States House of Representatives and signed into law by the president. Prosec ...
, including
misdemeanors.
See also
*
Arrest warrant
An arrest warrant is a warrant issued by a judge or magistrate on behalf of the state, which authorizes the arrest and detention of an individual, or the search and seizure of an individual's property.
Canada
Arrest warrants are issued by a ...
*
Writ of Assistance
*
National Security Letter
A national security letter (NSL) is an administrative subpoena issued by the United States government to gather information for national security purposes. NSLs do not require prior approval from a judge. The Stored Communications Act, Fair Cr ...
References
Searches and seizures
Warrants
Law enforcement terminology
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