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RCW 9.73.200

Intercepting, transmitting, or recording conversations concerning controlled substances—Findings.

Applied in 9 court decisions — leading case 114 Wash. 2d 828 - State v. Fjermestad (1990)

Most recently applied in State v. Forest (February 1997)

1989 c 271 s 201.

How often courts cite this section

1990199730
citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

The legislature finds that the unlawful manufacturing, selling, and distributing of controlled substances is becoming increasingly prevalent and violent. Attempts by law enforcement officers to prevent the manufacture, sale, and distribution of drugs is resulting in numerous life-threatening situations since drug dealers are using sophisticated weapons and modern technological devices to deter the efforts of law enforcement officials to enforce the controlled substance statutes. Dealers of unlawful drugs are employing a wide variety of violent methods to realize the enormous profits of the drug trade.

Therefore, the legislature finds that conversations regarding illegal drug operations should be intercepted, transmitted, and recorded in certain circumstances without prior judicial approval in order to protect the life and safety of law enforcement personnel and to enhance prosecution of drug offenses, and that that interception and transmission can be done without violating the constitutional guarantees of privacy.

Official source: Washington State Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Washington statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.