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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
Improper-Application-of-Inventory-Doctrine.jpg
Legal
Inventory policy violation leads to suppression of gun
One can easily relate to the deputies’ desire to seize the gun after a short, dangerous pursuit
March 22, 2021 12:33 PM
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Ken Wallentine
Importance-of-Accuracy-in-Search-Warrant-Affidavits.jpg
Legal
Suppression follows weak affidavits
Could the affidavits have been written in such a way as to establish probable cause to search for digital images?
March 15, 2021 01:06 PM
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Ken Wallentine
Law-Enforcement-Shooting-Into-Car.jpg
Legal
Officer not entitled to qualified immunity for shooting into car
Many departments strongly discourage shooting at moving vehicles to disable the car
March 08, 2021 01:03 PM
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Ken Wallentine
Lawful-Seizure-of-Evidence-by-Private-Citizen.jpg
Legal
Child pornography landed lawfully in police hands
The Fourth Amendment prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures by the government. The defendant claimed his friend was acting as a government agent because he intended to assist the police
March 03, 2021 01:15 PM
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Ken Wallentine
Drug Interdiction / Narcotics
‘Dude, that fentanyl brick isn’t mine!’
Court concludes a combination of factors led officers to believe a suspect and a driver were in a “common enterprise” to possess fentanyl
February 26, 2021 05:40 PM
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Ken Wallentine
Disorderly-Conduct-for-Flipping-Off-a-Cop.jpg
Legal
Flying the finger leads to a traffic stop, then a lawsuit
Here’s the thing to remember: It is well-established law that a person can lawfully flip the bird at an officer
February 22, 2021 01:02 PM
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Ken Wallentine
Legal
Interference with man recording police rewarded with lawsuit
Although the public has a general right to observe and record police, that right is not unlimited
February 08, 2021 09:20 AM
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Ken Wallentine
Police-Officer-Free-Speech-on-Social-Media.jpg
Legal
There’s no such thing as a free lunch, but what about free speech for officers?
A recent case illustrates the legal test for assessing a department’s ability to discipline an officer on the basis of personal social media posts
February 01, 2021 01:19 PM
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Ken Wallentine
gavel at Statehouse in Des Moines Iowa_AP Photo_Charlie Neibergall-2.jpg
Legal
Reasonable response, even if not perfect, entitles officers to judgement
The court framed its task as determining not whether officers used best police practices but whether they violated the subject’s rights under the Fourth Amendment
January 26, 2021 11:17 AM
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Ken Wallentine
Officer on traffic stop cu (1).JPG
Legal
Opening car door invalidates stop and leads to suppression
Opening the door and entering the vehicle exposes more of the vehicle to view and impermissibly intrudes on the driver’s privacy expectation
December 20, 2020 07:48 PM
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Ken Wallentine
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