Opinion ID: 2996344
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The field test

Text: According to officers Cooper and Dail, burnt paper, burnt foil, toothbrushes, and a toilet paper roll found in the Molinas’ garbage tested positive for the probable presence of cocaine. Officer Cooper claims that during the field test, the officers took precautions to ensure accuracy, and they showed the test results to their supervisor, Master Sergeant Kerns. These results corroborated Ramirez’s statement that Raul was distributing drugs from his home. The Molinas allege that the field test results are false and the garbage items were never lab tested. They further insist that because field tests conducted during the search tested positive for illegal substances but post-search lab tests came back negative, the field tests were highly unreliable, and Officer Cooper should have discussed the unreliability of the field tests in the search warrant affidavit. These arguments are meritless. The officers had no duty to send the garbage items to a lab before applying for a warrant. The potential unreliability of the field tests was determined after the warrant was obtained, and the Molinas have presented no evidence to show that Officer Cooper thought the field tests were unreliable when he applied for the warrant. See Hebron v. Touhy, 18 F.3d 421, 423 (7th Cir. 1994) (“[P]robable cause depends on information known to the police at the time, not on how things turn out.”). The field tests and Ramirez’s statements about Raul’s drug involvement were enough for a reasonable officer to believe that probable cause existed to apply for a search warrant, so we affirm the district court’s grant of summary judgment for the officers on this claim. No. 02-1995 13