In-Service Training

Stay up to date with in-service training provided by ESPOS Law Enforcement.

2-Day "Holtz" Arrest, Search and Seizure Class

Arrest, Search & Seizure

In 2025, ESPOS Law Enforcement will again offer the 2-Day "Holtz" Arrest, Search and Seizure Class! This class will include the most up-to-date version of the Arrest, Search and Seizure Manual that has been completely updated by Larry E. Holtz, Esq. and is only offered by ESPOS Law Enforcement. The class will be instructed by Captain Edward Esposito and is based on the format as originally presented to thousands of law enforcement officers and supervisors by Larry E. Holtz.

Arrest, Search & Seizure Class 1
March 4 & 5, 2025 (Tuesday and Wednesday)
9am - 4pm
DoubleTree by Hilton
690 Route 46 East
FAIRFIELD, NJ 07004
Classes held in Fairfield Ballroom

Arrest, Search & Seizure Class 2
March 18 & 19, 2025 (Tuesday and Wednesday)
9am - 4pm
DoubleTree by Hilton
700 Hope Road
TINTON FALLS, NJ 07724
Classes held in Sterling Ballroom

Arrest, Search & Seizure Class 3
June 3 & 4, 2025 (Tuesday and Wednesday)
9am - 4pm
DoubleTree by Hilton
690 Route 46 East
FAIRFIELD, NJ 07004
Classes held in Fairfield Ballroom

Arrest, Search & Seizure Class 4
June 10 & 11, 2025 (Tuesday and Wednesday)
9am - 4pm
Bergen County Law and Public Safety Institute
281 Campgaw Rd
MAHWAH, NJ 07430
Classes held in Hall of Heroes

Click here to register!

Course Description
ESPOS Arrest, Search and Seizure class was created by Larry E. Holtz, Esq. and is presented by Captain Edward Esposito. This two-day, highly-acclaimed program will update law enforcement officials in the recent developments and changes in the laws of arrest, investigative detentions (including “stop & frisk” and motor vehicle stops), search warrants, and the exceptions to the written warrant requirement. The seminar will focus on the court decisions which have been recently handed down by the United States Supreme Court, the NJ Supreme Court, and the various panels of the Appellate Division.

New Jersey officials have previously voted this class, "the most important course of the year." In addition to providing a comprehensive update of new material, the seminar will simultaneously serve as a comprehensive refresher for those persons who have not had an opportunity to attend an arrest, search and seizure review and update for a number of years. All attendees will receive a comprehensive written manual, which is only available through ESPOS Law Enforcement, and contains an analysis of the cases, rules and procedures presented during the class.

Class Highlights

ARREST

Physical requirements
- The “de facto” arrest
The “objective“ standard
Probable cause requirement
- Arrest purposes to be served
- Suspicious “street transactions”
- No Loitering vs. No Trespassing
- Citizen informants
Arrest with warrant
- Satisfied / recalled warrants
- A dispatcher’s mistake
Warrantless arrests
- The “in presence” requirement
Entering dwellings
- To arrest
- To conduct an investigative stop
- To stop a fight
- Homes of third parties
- “Buy bust” drug operations
- Fresh / hot pursuit
- In-home arrest procedures
- Protective sweeps
Procedures following arrest
- DNA cheek swabs
Summons vs. warrant procedures

EXCEPTIONS TO THE WRITTEN WARRANT REQUIREMENT

Preliminary issues
Search incident to a lawful arrest
- Non-motor vehicle settings
- BAC and Birchfield Issues
- Motor vehicle settings
- Federal vs. NJ procedures
Impounded vehicles & inventories
Inventory of personal effects
Exigent circumstances
- Crime Scenes / Emergency aid
- Community Caretaking
- Easily lost/destroyed evidence
- Police-created exigencies
- Odor of burnt marijuana
- Answering the door smoking a joint
- Entry of home pending warrant
- DWI blood warrants (McNeely)
Automobile exception
- New Jersey rule – State v. Alston
- State v. Witt – Return to Basics
- Auto searches / armed robbery
- Evidence of ownership search
Consent searches
- Motor vehicle context
- Scope of the consent
- Common & apparent authority
- A co-occupant objects
- Adult household members
Privacy expectations and areas not constitutionally protected
- Privacy expectations
  - Media ride-alongs
  - Toll Billing, Bank Records
  - Thermal imaging
  - ISP account information
  - GPS device attached to vehicle
  - Cell phone site information
  - Apartment common areas/halls
- Open fields
  - Curtilage and the “knock & talk”
  - Drug sniffing dog at doorstep
- Plain view
- Plain touch
- Abandonment
- Private / Non-governmental searches
  - Searches by landlord
Courthouses/Jails & Related Searches

OTHER POLICE-CITIZEN ENCOUNTERS

The Mere Inquiry
- Requesting/compelling identification
Investigative Pursuits
- Foot pursuits—New Jersey Rule
- High crime areas
- Flight from police & “Obstructing”
- The Attenuation Doctrine
- Mere Inquiry vs. Terry Stop
Investigative Detentions: Persons
- The Terry stop
- Profiles
- “BOLO” vs. Profile
- Transporting suspects & ID Process
- Investigative Detention Orders
- The Terry frisk
- “Man with gun” calls
- Stop and “Frisk” vs. Stop and “Strip”
- Handcuffing during Terry stop
Investigative Detentions: Vehicles
- Roadblocks
- Kirk Guidelines
- 9-1-1 Tips of dangerous driving
- Tips for Traffic Stops
- M.V. stops, observed violations
- Community Caretaking Function
- Registration checks: MDTs
- Permissible questions during stop
- Asking driver/passenger out
- Door openings
- “Seizure” of the passenger
- Traffic stops and frisks
- Traffic stops and use of K-9
Investigative Detentions: Property

SEARCH WARRANTS

Preliminary issues
Preference for written warrant
Possible Areas of Attack by the Defense
- Absence of a search warrant
  - Cell Phones
- The judicial requirements
  - Acting Municipal Court Judges
  - A Neutral & Detached Judge
- The probable cause requirement
  - Protecting informant’s identity
  - Surveillance locations
  - GPS Tracking Devices
  - Controlled buys
  - Staleness
  - Affidavit integrity/truthfulness
- The particularity requirement
  - Places/persons to be searched
  - Things to be seized
- Search warrant execution
  - Time
  - Secrecy
  - “Knock & Announce”
  - “No knock” warrants
  - Waiting a reasonable time
  - “Flash bang” devices
  - Knock & announce violations
  - Scope of the search
  - Detaining occupants
  - A “reasonable continuation”
- Search Warrant Return/Inventory
- Anticipatory Search Warrants
Telephonic Search Warrants

NJ Legal Update

ESPOS 2025 New Jersey Legal Update is a 1-day class that is designed to assist law enforcement personnel with an in-depth presentation of newly revised or added statutes, Directives and Guidelines that are most often used by the law enforcement community. The class also includes a 2023 New Jersey Legislative Update Manual prepared by Larry E. Holtz, Esq.

Legal Update Class 1
April 1, 2025 (Tuesday)
9am - 4pm
DoubleTree by Hilton
690 Route 46 East
FAIRFIELD, NJ 07004
Classes held in Fairfield Ballroom

Legal Update Class 2
April 2, 2025 (Wednesday)
9am - 4pm
DoubleTree by Hilton
700 Hope Road
TINTON FALLS, NJ 07724
Classes held in Sterling Ballroom

Click here to register!

Course Description
ESPOS 2025 Legal Update has been created exclusively for this State’s law enforcement and criminal justice professionals. Those who attend will receive a 2025 New Jersey Legislative Update Manual prepared by our legal subject matter expert, Larry E. Holtz. It is designed to update officers and other criminal justice personnel by presenting the latest changes in, and additions to, the statutes in the criminal and motor vehicle laws, as well as associated laws of law enforcement interest. Each new or amended statute presented in this course and the accompanying manual may be treated as “current law,” and may be immediately used wherever applicable. To enhance the presentation, legislative background and history is presented to provide an in-depth understanding of the changes. Also, where applicable, new case law that interprets the criminal or motor vehicle code has been included to assist with statutory application in real world situations. Rounding out the presentation will be the new Guidelines and Directives promulgated by the NJ Attorney General’s Office.

The New Jersey Legislative Update Manual comes free with the course and is not available elsewhere. Changes in the statutory and/or procedural law are indicated either by strikeout, which designates language that has been deleted from the law, or by underline, which designates new language that has been added to the law. The latest edition of the manual includes a detailed table of contents linked to the related sections for quick and easy navigation.