3.26Anticipatory Search Warrant

 

“‘An anticipatory search warrant is a warrant based upon an affidavit showing probable cause that at some future time (but not presently) certain evidence of crime will be located at a specified place.’” People v Kaslowski, 239 Mich App 320, 324 (2000), quoting People v Brake, 208 Mich App 233, 244 (1994) (Wahls, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part).

In Kaslowski, 239 Mich App at 325-329, an anticipatory search warrant permitting police officers to deliver a parcel containing drugs and an electronic monitoring device that would activate when the parcel was opened was deemed valid because the warrant and affidavit established narrow circumstances under which the police were authorized to execute the warrant, the search was subject to the successful delivery of drugs by an undercover police officer, and the affidavit clearly indicated that the execution of the warrant was contingent on the successful delivery of the drugs.

Anticipatory search warrants do not violate the Fourth Amendment’s warrant clause. United States v Grubbs, 547 US 90, 94-95 (2006). Further, the condition or event that “triggers” execution of an anticipatory search warrant need not be included in the search warrant itself. Id. at 99.