SAN DIEGO DISTRICT ATTORNEY The Fourth Amendment and ...

Out-of-County Service: Search warrants may be issued for, and served,
out-of-county so long as it relates to an offense that can be prosecuted in
the issuing magistrate’s county. (People v. Ruster (1976) 16 Cal.3 rd 690;
People v. Fleming (1981) 29 Cal.3 rd 698, 707; People v. Easely (1983) 34
Cal.3 rd 858, 869-870; People v. Ruiz (1990) 217 Cal.App.3 rd 574.)
The issuing magistrate must merely have probable cause to believe
that the case is triable in his or her county. (People v. Easely,
supra.)
P.C. § 1524(j) provides statutory authority for a magistrate to issue
a search warrant to be executed in a different county where the
alleged offense(s) include a violation of P.C. § 530.5 (Identify
Theft), and the victim resides in the issuing magistrate’s county.
Even though the issuing magistrate is later determined to not have
jurisdiction over a crime for which he issues a warrant (i.e., it is
later discovered that the alleged crime is not triable in the
magistrate’s county), “good faith” may save the improperly issued
out-of-county warrant. (People v. Ruiz, supra; People v. Galvan
(1992) 5 Cal.App.4 th 866; People v. Dantzler (1988) 206
Cal.App.3 rd 289.)
Out-of-State Crimes: A California judge may issue a search warrant for a
location within his or her county to search for evidence located within the
county relevant to a crime committed in another state. (People v. Kraft
(2000) 23 Cal.4 th 978.)
It is not a legal requirement that law enforcement authorities in the
foreign state have requested, or even be aware of, the search
warrant. (Ibid.)
Who May Serve: Only a “peace officer” (with exceptions as noted below),
as listed on the face of the warrant (i.e., “any peace officer”), may lawfully
serve a search warrant, although the peace officer may be assisted by
others. (P.C. §§ 1529, 1530)
While the affiant need not necessarily be a sworn peace officer
(People v. Bell (1996) 45 Cal.App.4 th 1030, 1054-1055.), the
person executing the warrant must be.
Exceptions: There are some exceptions to the general rule that the
person serving a search warrant must be a peace officer:
© 2012 Robert C. Phillips. All rights reserved
P.C. § 830.13: Persons listed below who are not “peace
officers” may exercise the power to serve warrants as
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