An officer does not need to establish probable cause in order to make an arrest as long as he or she has confirmed the identity of a subject, and that said identification matches a valid existing arrest warrant.

• A. True
• B. False
• C. True only if the identity is confirmed and matches a valid arrest warrant
• D. True only if the officer has additional evidence

Answer: (C)

The underlying idea is that an arrest warrant already authorizes the arrest of a specific person, so police don’t have to prove probable cause at the moment of arrest. When the officer can confirm the person’s identity and that person matches the individual named in a valid arrest warrant, the warrant provides the legal basis for the arrest. That’s why the statement is true only in that scenario: the warrant supplies the authority, but the identity must align with who the warrant names. If the identity can’t be confirmed or doesn’t match, the arrest would typically require probable cause or a different valid basis.