Public Safety and Privacy Wardell Carter AJS 552 May 28, 2012

Laws concerning public safety and the privacy of individuals contradict one another. A question arises from the situation in regard to whether public safety or individual privacy receives a higher priority based on situations that are individualistic. Although the Fourth Amendment provides protection for the citizens of the United States, there is room for occurrences of crime although the amendment reduces law enforcement’s efforts at crime reduction methods and access to evidence. During the last decade, the Supreme Court made rulings in regard to public safety, privacy, and sex offenders. This paper will debate and analyze two Supreme Court cases; People v. Cintron, and Connecticut Department of Public Safety v. Doe. This paper will also summarize the Supreme Court decisions along with the implications these cases have in regard to social police in the area of public safety. Changes to the approaches taken by law enforcement personnel in regard to individual rights and public safety have taken place because of rulings by the United States Supreme Court. Agencies have additional authority over the protection and application of civil rights, which in some instances bring into question if there is a violation of an individual’s Fourth Amendment rights. In the past, the shattering of privacy rights and changes made by recent Supreme Court rulings and law makers intrigue privacy rights and civil activists. The reasons behind these rulings were to create a system with balance to provide equal protection for citizens. However, recent court rulings state the government has taken a different approach. The People of the State of New York v. Eliezer Cintron, Petitioners were