Are the police legally allowed to search my/your home for a bomber without any warrant?

[JaneyVee]

What if, hypothetically speaking, they found something minor, like, I don't know, say, small amount of marijuana while in the process of searching the home? What's the outcome?

ETA: This is a completely hypothetical question, I live in NYC, the house searches aren't pertaining to me.

[GitRDun]

1. No

They need a warrant unless you invite them in.

[Warpy]

24. That was true when they were doing door to door searches

for Susan Saxe and Kathy Power in the 70s. When they banged on mine, I told them to slip the warrant under the door. They left.

However, I think it's a bit different if it's an imminent danger situation. If they think that's where the guy is holed up and he has explosives that can level the building, I think they can clear the rest of the building and go right in.

[kenny blankenship]

28. Not true. In pursuit of a suspect

or if they have probable cause to believe a crime is about to be committed on the premises, they do not need a warrant or your invitation to enter. They knock, you answer, they state their intention & reason to enter, you must open up and stand aside or you will be charged with obstruction of justice.

Now, regarding whatever they may find in your home which incriminates you but is totally unrelated to the pursuit of a suspect, that may be a different matter, depending on circumstances, such as how they searched. They can't knock on your door to gain entry for the purpose of looking for a bank robber, and then spend their time rummaging in your sock drawers for contraband and have that search stand up in court.

[GitRDun]

30. I agree with you on probable cause

I did not get that from the OP

[ProgressiveProfessor]

31. It is called "exigent circumstances"

Cannot see it being applicable here, but given the circumstance I could see a court looking the other way.

The norm in this situation is to apply a great deal of verbal pressure. Most people wilt in the face of it.

[uppityperson]

2. Co-worker just informed me they are also confiscating guns.

Hr heard it from a conservative friend. Sigh

[JaneyVee]

7. No, I'm being serious. I don't know the protocol under the 4th Amend pertaining to this situation.

[enough]

20. It's a perfectly reasonable question. (nt)

[uppityperson]

25. Yours is a reasonable question, was just adding on what my co worker told me

When I confronted asking for a legit source, he didn't have one. I will come back later to read replies to you question as it is a reasonable one, what is the law.

[nolabear]

13. Oh fabulous. Now I want to go hide. Fire in a crowded theater.

I'm going to hope not too much of this goes on and they catch this guy and we all go back to a more average level of crazy.

[alcibiades_mystery]

17. You could be sitting in your underwear, smoking a Cheech and Chong blunt while twirling an M-60

And if you ain't this Tsarnaev cat, the cops are going to sit you on your lawn for a hot minute while they check your crawlspace, then let you go back to watching Best of Tru-TV's Wipe Out while they go on to the next house. Your coworker is an irretrievable moron.

[kestrel91316]

27. Crock of shit lie from a RW freak

[uppityperson]

32. Hyper young adult who may be educatable is my hope. But big sigh.

[bowens43]

29. maybe there is a bight side ;-)

[drm604]

38. And so begins the conspiracy theory.

This was all staged in order to go house to house and confiscate guns.

[cali]

3. well, probable cause? the suspect was seen in the neighborhood

And MA has decriminalized marijuana I believe. Also, they're looking for this guy, not trying to catch people with drugs.

[Gormy Cuss]

4. You're screwn, that's what. n/t

[Poll_Blind]

5. Or they need probable cause to believe he's in there.

Look, just my opinion, but I doubt the police are going to want to search your house for an armed terrorist and then stick around to make sure you don't have a joint stashed under the bathroom sink.

That's my feeling, anyway.

PB

[Rex]

6. Just go flush it now! Evidently you are paranoid and don't need to smoke anymore!

[Shrike47]

8. They can come in w/o a warrant or permission if in hot pursuit, otherwise no.

Realistically, they are going to ignore small quantities of drugs and even if they didn't, the contraband would probably be suppressed.

[Dreamer Tatum]

9. They'd steal it and spark up, probably.

[JaneyVee]

16. After the week they've had, who could blame them.

[byeya]

10. If the police are there lawfully you can be charged with a crime for which they find evidence.

If they are searching for a person, they can't search small drawers, pocketbooks, etc, they clearly could not conceal a person, but if the contrband is in plain view they must seize it. Whether or not you get charged for having the contraband is up to the local authorities.

[randome]

11. I kind of doubt they'd be looking in your kitchen cabinets for a fugitive.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

12. If there are what they call "exigent circumstances."

Otherwise, no. Exigent circumstances exist only where people are in imminent danger, evidence faces imminent destruction, or a suspect will escape.

[Deep13]

14. probably

To add to what the previous posted said, if they are pursuing a suspect, they have pretty wide latitude to follow him anywhere. That constitutes probable cause. Presumably if the suspect is in your home, he is a danger to you. Consequently, police may intervene on your behalf. If the police turn out not to have probable cause, then the worst that will happen is suppression of evidence found as a result of the arrest of the defendant.

For cars, a the courts only requires reasonable suspicion for a stop.

If police are allowed to be somewhere, or have good faith to believe they are allowed to be somewhere, anything in plain sight is admissible evidence.

This is just off the top of my head recollection. This is not legal advice, my law license is only good in Ohio, and I am on "inactive" status anyway.

[nadinbrzezinski]

15. Yes they can search with your permission

Those drugs can be charged only if openly visible.

Chances are they are doing a clearing operation, and not worrying about your stash of pot

[Dreamer Tatum]

19. Chechnya historian AND constitutional lawyer

WOW. Most of us only master one discipline.

[uppityperson]

34. What is your discipline? Snarking?

Why do this? Isn't there enough crap going on in the world already? Ignore works.

[MineralMan]

18. Put your dope away somewhere that it's unlikely that a mad bomber

would hide. The cops aren't looking for your little baggie. They're looking for a dangerous terrorist. They aren't interested in your petty drug use.

For Pete's sake.

[Life Long Dem]

21. Yes

"Exigent circumstance in United States law"

"An exigent circumstance, in the American law of criminal procedure, allows law enforcement to enter a structure without a search warrant, or if they have a "knock and announce" warrant, without knocking and waiting for refusal under certain circumstances. It must be a situation where people are in imminent danger, evidence faces imminent destruction, or a suspect will escape."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exigent_circumstance

[Comrade Grumpy]

41. You would think "particularlized suspicion" would be required.

You can't just go bust down everybody's door because there's a wanted criminal loose. Do the cops have some reason to believe the suspect is in a particular location? Okay.

[Life Long Dem]

42. I agree

"You can't just go bust down everybody's door because there's a wanted criminal loose."

[olddots]

22. I imagine everyone from Watertown to Amherst is cleaning up their act .

which is a good every once in a while.

[kestrel91316]

23. Only if they are in hot pursuit, like they saw him go into your home.

But they are doing no such thing, as you well know. They are conducting welfare checks on every home and making sure that nobody is being held hostage by him in their homes. They don't give a damn about trivial amounts of weed right now. They aren't ripping people's homes up.

If somebody refuses to let the cops in, a search warrant would follow PDQ, right after the SWAT team surrounds their house with guns drawn on the assumption that they are harboring him. And that is PROPER police procedure.

Nobody's rights are being violated.

[NutmegYankee]

43. Refusing a search is not probable cause to justify a warrant. nt

[baldguy]

26. An armed terrorist is roaming around threatening mayhem, and you're worried about your stash?

[Benton D Struckcheon]

36. Cuz they haven't smoked enuff yet. Need. more. weed. Stat. n/t

[tritsofme]

40. The possibility of ending up in jail or with a rapsheet isn't a trivial concern.

Seems to be a completely relevant question to me.

[TheCowsCameHome]

33. Dunno, but I wouldn't care to find out.

Let me know how it turns out, if you don't let them.

[cbdo2007]

35. Yes. I'm curious how these searches go.....anyone here had their house searched in this case???

Like do they just come to the door and ask you questions and see if you look suspicious or do a handful of them come in and take a look around just the open areas?? Do they go in your attic and basement??? Would seem fruitless if they didn't search every corner of every house, but on the other hand I can't imagine these are very comprehensive searches.

[MadrasT]

37. Ugh.

...my ex husband was a bonafide hoarder. The house looked like something from the "Hoarders" show on teevee.

It would *really* have been uncomfortable to have cops come demanding to search the house.

Jesus. They could have killed themselves in an avalanche of crap trying to search that house.

I don't even want to think about it.

(Fortunately that situation is now part of my past.)

[Shrek]

39. Here's an article that explains it

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2013/04/boston_bomber_manhunt_is_the_watertown_door_to_door_search_by_police_for.html

[datasuspect]

44. it's not legal

but they can do it anyway.

they can make up any exigency that establishes probably cause or suspicion of a crime in progress.

in fact, it happens all the time.

[justiceischeap]

45. Somehow I imagine they'd probably have other things to concern themselves with

For example, in homicide cases, especially if drug dealing is involved, they don't really care about side activities, they want to solve the murder and gather the info needed to solve said murder. In this case, they want to make sure there isn't a terrorist hiding in your kitchen with a bomb strapped to his chest.

[hunter]

46. I've said "No."

it was late, and my wife had fallen asleep on the sofa nursing our kid. I was taking the kitchen garbage out to the back porch. I opened the kitchen door and there was a guy in the shadows holding a gun. Surprise!

He ran off and jumped over our back fence.

Seconds later the police were pounding on our front door and they wanted to run through our house. I said "No" and told them the guy had already jumped over the back fence and which direction he was headed.

They later caught the guy and found his gun, and then a cop came back later to ask me a few questions. That was that.

Another time, when I was in college, my girlfriend, one of her friends, and I were staying at a motel in Southern California in a city that wasn't known for respecting civil rights. I was sleeping in one double bed, furthest away from the door, and my friends were in the other. I woke up to my girlfriend's angry yelling, she was ANGRY, DAMN, half dressed and waving her arms and screaming at some guys in the room, trying to shove them back out the door. Her girlfriend was sort of cowering under the covers. I never did find out what that was about, but the guys were cops who'd simply let themselves in while we were sleeping. I think they were hoping to find drugs, guns, or prostitution or something. That ended with no apologies, nothing.