Opinion ID: 2073303
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Probable CauseSubstantive Law

Text: The probable cause concept is based on an objective standard. This Court said in State v. Heald, Me., 314 A.2d 820, 828 (1973) that [p]robable cause rests on probabilities and is objective in nature. It is not whether particular officers thought or believed they had cause to arrest or search. It is rather whether on the basis of facts known or reasonably believed by him, an ordinarily prudent and cautious officer would have probable cause to arrest or search. See also State v. Mimmovich, Me., 284 A.2d 282, 285 (1971). Whether probable cause exists to support a warrantless arrest depends upon the totality of the facts and circumstances in a given case. People v. McCrimmon, 37 Ill.2d 40, 224 N.E.2d 822, 824 (1967). The question as to what particular information will suffice to establish probable cause will turn on the facts and circumstances of each case. People v. Thornton, 47 Ill.App.3d 604, 7 Ill.Dec. 721, 365 N.E.2d 6, 10 (1977); State v. Curtis, 217 Kan. 717, 538 P.2d 1383, 1389 (1975); State v. Bean, 280 Minn. 35, 157 N.W.2d 736, 740 (1968), cert. denied, 393 U.S. 1003, 89 S.Ct. 493, 21 L.Ed.2d 468. Probable cause, however, is to be evaluated and judged on the basis of the collective information in possession of the police at the time of arrest, as the knowledge of each officer working in coordination in an attempt to solve a reported crime is the knowledge of all; thus, probable cause need not necessarily rest solely on the personal knowledge of the officer who makes the arrest. State v. Smith, Me., 277 A.2d 481, 488-489 (1971), [8] and cases cited therein. If the arresting officers are acting on information conveyed by police transmission facilities, which by itself would not be sufficient to establish probable cause to justify the arrest, then the arrest without a warrant would be illegal, unless the State produced the evidence within the knowledge of the other members of the police team on which the radio information was based and which itself singly or in conjunction with the evidence independently gathered by the arresting officers constituted probable cause. United States v. Vasquez, 534 F.2d 1142, 1145 (5th Cir. 1976); Collins v. State, 17 Md.App. 376, 302 A.2d 693, 697 (1973).