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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSlate: Can the Police Search My Home for a Bomber?
Can the Police Search My Home for a Bomber?
SWAT teams descended on the Boston suburb of Watertown on Friday morning to conduct a door-to-door search for the Boston Marathon bombing suspect left alive after a convenience store robbery, car chase, and shootout Thursday night. Is it legal for the police to search your house without a warrant?
It can be. Under the Fourth Amendment, a judge issues a warrant if police can demonstrate that a search is reasonablethat there is probable cause to investigate a house, car, or backyard for evidence. But there are plenty of circumstances under which police can perform searches without invoking probable cause.
If you consent to a police search, officers do not need a warrant to enter your home. If you have a housemate, he or she can allow the police to rummage through common areas, such as the living room or the kitchen, but not private areas, such as your closet or bedroom.
In exigent circumstances, or emergency situations, police can conduct warrantless searches to protect public safety. This exception to the Fourth Amendments probable cause requirement normally addresses situations of hot pursuit, in which an escaping suspect is tracked to a private home. But it might also apply to the events unfolding in Boston if further harm or injury might be supposed to occur in the time it takes to secure a warrant. A bomber believed to be armed and planning more violence would almost certainly meet such prerequisites.
--snip--
Much more at the link! Very interesting article, also covers the "brick of cocaine on the coffee table" scenario.
PB
Xipe Totec
(43,872 posts)Such as the leafy green plant growing under a lamp in your closet.
No evidence can be collected except for the original purpose of the search.
limpyhobbler
(8,244 posts)kudzu22
(1,273 posts)Which is why you should never consent.
limpyhobbler
(8,244 posts)From the article:
Youre in trouble. According to the plain view doctrine, if police already have a right to be in your house and they notice evidence of a crime, they are entitled to seize that evidence for use against you in court.
So, if there is a violent criminal on the lose, believed to be planning more violence, that could give the cops a right to search any home in the area, with or without consent. And if the are in the home legally and notice some contraband, they can use it against you. That's how it seems to me.
kudzu22
(1,273 posts)If you invite them in and they see something in plain sight, they can use it against you. If you refuse and they come back with a warrant, they can only use the things listed in the warrant. If they enter under "exigent circumstances" (and whether a door-to-door search can be considered exigent is up for debate), then your lawyer can still argue it was an illegal search and maybe get the evidence thrown out. If you consent, you have no such option.
P.S. I'm not a lawyer, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.
moxie.lu
(22 posts)ZombieHorde
(29,047 posts)What if the cops are searching my house for bombers and they find a brick of cocaine on my coffee table?
Youre in trouble. According to the plain view doctrine, if police already have a right to be in your house and they notice evidence of a crime, they are entitled to seize that evidence for use against you in court. Of course, the SWAT teams searching for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev probably have more on their minds right now than illegal drug use.
Xipe Totec
(43,872 posts)reformist2
(9,841 posts)It doesn't matter whether he had a gun or a bomb - same difference to public safety, really.
whatchamacallit
(15,558 posts)Land of the Free.
Poll_Blind
(23,864 posts)...not like and enact laws to protect ourselves from things we don't like.
This is what makes the failure of representative government in America, today, and a general apathy of the public to hold elected representatives accountable, a deeply perilous situation.
PB
reformist2
(9,841 posts)Poll_Blind
(23,864 posts)Just wondering.
I'm also a little dubious that this situation has never come up, before, in the history of America. That just seems like a stretch.
PB
reformist2
(9,841 posts)ProgressiveProfessor
(22,144 posts)Not a lot, but a few. Nobody was forced. Houses where no one opened the door were not entered either.
Tierra_y_Libertad
(50,414 posts)Or, if someone called and said they might have seen the suspect in Strawberry Point, Iowa, could they start kicking down random doors there?
Poll_Blind
(23,864 posts)...the nature of the matter. IIRC, and I could be wrong, but also the governor has a shitload of power in stripping rights, situationally.
PB
SpartanDem
(4,533 posts)in a neighborhood, they could then go door to door in that area. What they can't do is say we think he's Strawberry Point so we're just going to start doing searches.