They may not, however, rely on it blindly. With the benefits of more efficient law enforcement mechanisms comes the burden of corresponding constitutional responsibilities.22 Two of those same three Justices joined in a separate concurring opinion to express an even stronger view about the potential problems of computerization. They opined that while the exclusionary rule historically had applied only to the misconduct of police agencies, the expanded reliance on computerized records by every arm of government might someday present them with the question of whether that rule should be extended to government as a whole and not merely to law enforcement. While concern about the dangers of computer technology will be an important issue to the Court in considering the expansion, it is not the only problematic issue for law enforcement. They do not recognize distinctions between, for instance, street patrol officers and data entry clerks who work for the department.
Deterrence is, after all, the ultimate purpose of the exclusionary rule.
In that regard, a police agency might contend that a single clerical employee is so far removed from the law enforcement function that the rule would have no impact on them. With this consideration in mind, the agency might wish to focus its attention on an aspect of the exclusionary rule that, under the Leon analysis, seems to have been discounted, that is, the effect that the exclusionary rule already has had on the policies and practices of law enforcement. Although these comments were intended to serve as a warning to law enforcement, they emphasize Justice Blackmun's view that the purpose of the rule is not to redress individual past wrongs but to affect the future conduct of law enforcement as a community. It could be argued that there would be no misconduct to be deterred in the future and that the mere threat of exclusion had served the purpose of the exclusionary rule by altering the conduct of the agency before the fact. With this in mind, law enforcement must be prepared to demonstrate that the exclusionary rule has retained its vitality by creating an incentive for police managers to examine the manner in which law enforcement collects, maintains, and uses computerized data.