1) Was the arrest of Mayo a legal arrest? Discuss why. Please include the components of a reasonable arrest and whether or not they were met with Mayo.

Yes, the arrest of Mayo was a legal arrest. Mayo was arrested without a warrant due to probable cause. Probable cause is when the officer has a reasonable belief in the guilt of the suspect based on articulable facts and information gathered prior to the arrest (Legal Information Institute, 2020). Since there was probable cause for Mayo’s arrest, the officers did not need to obtain an arrest warrant prior to placing Mayo in custody. From the information gathered in the original scenario, officers could reasonably believe Mayo was guilty of a criminal offense. At a minimum, officers had every legal right to detain Mayo for further questioning regarding the incident. 

2) Did law enforcement need an arrest warrant prior to arresting Mayo? Discuss why. Make sure to support your thoughts.

No, law enforcement did not need an arrest warrant prior to arresting Mayo. As previously stated, officers had developed probable cause to arrest Mayo on scene based on the facts presented to them. Law enforcement could have obtained a warrant if they had wanted to, but this creates several more hoops to jump through for the officers. In my jurisdiction, we have to complete a warrant request, which lays out the facts and probable cause for why we want to obtain a warrant. We then have to call the on-call State’s Attorney so they can review the warrant. After this is complete, the officers and State’s Attorney will meet with a judge to have the warrant approved and signed. As I said, this is not necessary since officers developed probable cause on scene.

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