> Is it ethical to look up the location of their phones? Sure it is. They just have to get a warrant. This is not a difficult burden in such a situation. Remem

> Is it ethical to look up the location of their phones? Sure it is. They just have to get a warrant. This is not a difficult burden in such a situation. Remember that a warrant requirement only requires probably cause, which is obvious in this case). The entire point is that the government has to make sure the justification is put on record instead of simply letting the police search whatever they want. This obviously wasn't a significant burden... as they did it just an hour earlier: At 1:05am on January 22, roughly six hours after Karsseboom was shot, the OPD got a search warrant for three apartments: #108, #110, and #212. At 2:45am, the OPD faxed Metro PCS, asking the company to activate a pen register on two target phone numbers (a 510 number and a 661 number) citing exigent circumstances. Exigent circumstances is about a currently-still-active situation, such as a chase or where there is imminent danger. Seeing someone waving firearm at people is "imminent danger". Theorizing about what crimes a criminal might do in the future - without any specific evidence - based only on their past crimes while the officers involved take a few hours to apply for warrants and search a few apartments is surprisingly far from "imminent". This is terrible police work: they what should have been an easy case, but rather than simply getting a warrant and making sure the necessary evidence was handled properly, they rushed the job and ruined the evidence.