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Ken Wallentine

Law Enforcement and the Law

Ken Wallentine is the chief of the West Jordan (Utah) Police Department and former chief of law enforcement for the Utah Attorney General. He has served over four decades in public safety, is a legal expert and editor of Xiphos, a monthly national criminal procedure newsletter. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Institute for the Prevention of In-Custody Death and serves as a use of force consultant in state and federal criminal and civil litigation across the nation.

LATEST ARTICLES
The case of Anthony Caldwell shows a search need not occur contemporaneously with a seizure
The Fifth Circuit weighs the factors for determining whether a consent to a search of a suspect’s laptop was voluntary
Will the alleged handcuff injury be ruled excessive force? The court of appeals remanded the case to the trial court to find out
The court noted that, given the mass murder at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, “any reasonable officer [would] be on heightened alert for copycat crimes”
The court explains the duration of a traffic stop depends on the mission of the stop, making the officer’s actions in this case reasonable
Courts commonly cite risks of imminent injury, potential escape of the fleeing suspect and destruction of evidence as exigencies supporting warrantless entry
The court determines if officers had reasonable suspicion of a traffic violation in this drug interdiction case
The court decides if investigators had a reasonable basis for the search warrant, establishing probable cause
A recent 10th Circuit case highlights the high level of difficulty in proving law enforcement failure to train
A recent case from the 4th Circuit applies the Gant rule, demonstrating its impact on a warrantless search incident to arrest