Legal Question in Criminal Law in Pennsylvania

Re: about tips to the police

Is the person known or unknown? If the person is unknown the cops need some other piece of evidence to cooroborate the tip in order to get a warrant to search. If the person is known, they can get a warrant.

If the cops search based on the tip in either of the above without a warrant, they need to meet an exception to the warrant requirement, such as exigency. If they meet any of the exceptions, they do not need a warrant.

Good Luck, feel free to email or call.

Re: about tips to the police

This is a very fact specific matter. Your question does not say whether it was a warrantless search and seizure or whether the police obtained a warrant. That is very critical to the issue of whether the police may use whatever they seized as evidence which I think is what you're asking. If they did obtain a warrant then they are on firmer ground than if they did not but there are many circumstances which may justify a warrantless search and seizure such as a search incident to an arrest, a search with consent, a seizure of objects in plain sight in a vehicle, etc.