Abstract
Public officials, including police officers, are often subjected to considerable scrutiny in the workplace as a result of the tremendous responsibilities they bear to the public and the potential for civil liability they present. Methods of monitoring often collide with individual privacy in these settings. Considering the proliferation of electronic surveillance, particularly in the workplace, there is a dire need to elucidate Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures and privacy rights. The current analysis examines officers ' legal expectations of privacy in the workplace against electronic monitoring through the analysis of case law. General guidelines for assessing expectations of privacy and a brief discussion of new and emerging issues concerning privacy, electronic monitoring, and the workplace are offered.
"A police officer is not, by virtue of his profession, deprived of the protection of the Constitution" —United States v. McIntyre (1978, p. 1224)