Could And Would You Be Arrested For Something Found In Your Home During For A House To House Search

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as i have watched the search for the boston bomber, i had a thought. how many people maybe arrested during or after the search for him. for something illegal. be it durgs guns or what have you.

now i'm condoning illegal activity, but if the cops come into your home, looking for someone that has no obvious connection to you, and with out a warrant, can you be arrested?

could they also take note of what you have and request a warrant?

would this be a violation of the 4th amendment?

reply to post by hounddoghowlie


Let me put it to you this way.

If the cops knock on my door and find me sitting in my living room with a body on the table, then yes, I'm certainly going to get arrested.

Police can arrest you anytime you are breaking the law ( if proper process is followed). Now will they take the time to arrest somebody for some misdemeanor or something like that, while there's a manhunt going around?

Probably not.

But they could.

~Tenth

I would say no they wouldn't. They would probably make note of it for investigation, later.

I think it would depend on what they found. Something as simple as some paraphernalia probably not, but if you had something like a meth lab, then I would assume so.

reply to post by hounddoghowlie


You just said if they find something illegal can you be arrested? Do you even understand that statement??

Just because of no warrant, it is ILLEGAL....Right??

I doubt they are taking an inventory of people's homes and more interested in looking for any leads to the suspect....

reply to post by tothetenthpower


well yeah, a body or something like that.
what i'm talking about with out probable cause.

reply to post by hounddoghowlie


If you open your door and the cops see something illegal, that's probable cause.

~Tenth

THIS IS WILD!!

CNN just said on the news, with a Boston cop: We're going to knock, if no answer we will then use a bullhorn and if no response then, we're going to enter forcefully.

WHAT if you're just not home... You're going to come back with a destroyed door-frame and house ransacked.

I've never heard tell of this sort of treatment of citizens since the 40's in Europe.

reply to post by tothetenthpower


if it's laying in plain sight yes, but if they search the house and your not given much of a choice,
would anything found be used against you?

Why the hell would you let them in without a warrant? Whether I am doing something wrong or not, no LEO is coming into my home without a warrant. I don't care what the circumstances are.

reply to post by hounddoghowlie


Yes, they sure could.

You always have a choice, they can't make you let them come in, so if you do and they find an unregistered or illegal gun for example, you can be charged.

And probably will, unless, like stated above, it's a situation where the cops just don't care about anything else but who or what they are looking for.

~Tenth

reply to post by DarthMuerte


from what i can tell, in boston right now you don't have much of a choice.

reply to post by tothetenthpower


then to me that is clearly a violation of the 4th amendment.
you are not under arrest and are not suspected of a crime, or suspected to have to have association with suspect, and are not given a choice as to if they can come in.

reply to post by hounddoghowlie

If the police come to your door and something is in “plain sight” yes they can charge and arrest you for it.

The police have the right to enter and check your property under “ probable cause” or “reasonable suspicion”.

a police officer may only search people and places when the officer has probable cause or reasonable suspicion to suspect criminal activity.

"Probable cause" means that the officer must possess sufficiently trustworthy facts to believe that a crime has been committed. In some cases, an officer may need only a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity to conduct a limited search. Reasonable suspicion means that the officer has sufficient knowledge to believe that criminal activity is at hand. This level of knowledge is less than that of probable cause, so reasonable suspicion is usually used to justify a brief frisk in a public area or a traffic stop at roadside. To possess either probable cause or reasonable suspicion, an officer must be able to cite specific articulable facts to warrant the intrusion. Items related to suspected criminal activity found in a search may be taken, or seized, by the officer.

When they have someone cordoned into an area where they are hiding, and they have to sweep houses it would be covered by the above.

Most people, understanding the import of what is going on, are going to allow the police unfettered access to their property in this instance anyway. If the police see something in “pain sight”, unless that person is a suspect (person of interest), or its something very serious, the police will most likely not bother with it as they have their hands full already. If that person is a “person of interest” they can use that item to arrest them, hold them, and send them downtown for questioning.

reply to post by defcon5


Oh I didn't realize they could enforce searches without warrants in those situations.

That's quite interesting.

~Tenth

Originally posted by CALGARIAN
THIS IS WILD!!

CNN just said on the news, with a Boston cop: We're going to knock, if no answer we will then use a bullhorn and if no response then, we're going to enter forcefully.

WHAT if you're just not home... You're going to come back with a destroyed door-frame and house ransacked.

I've never heard tell of this sort of treatment of citizens since the 40's in Europe.

There is nothing legal about barging into people's homes without probable cause (I doubt a criminal seen or suspected to be in the area meets that burden) especially if they have no reason to believe that the owner/occupants are not associated with the suspect in some way.

This and the Dorner hunting expedition are conditioning drills for the masses.

It smacks of lazy police work, poor understanding/disregard for the rights of citizens and a police state.

In combination these type intrusions with ever increasing "check-points, TSA groping and facial recognition cameras being installed we will be 1984 compliant by no later than 2020.

Welcome to the new AmeriKa.

Since we have no leads or facts let's just shut down a whole city - costing millions in lost sales and lost wages in damages so we can search the place brick by brick...

Why not just shut down the nation East of the Mississippi we are sure he's over there somewhere...

Asinine.

reply to post by tothetenthpower


Any time that police believe that a crime has occurred on a piece of property they can enter it. It does not matter if the owner is the person who is suspected of the crime, or someone that is on the property for other reasons.

So in this instance they have at least “reasonable suspicion” that he is hiding on a piece of property in that area. They can now enter any property in that area to search for them.

A good example is when someone's house is broken into, and suddenly the police are in your backyard looking for them. This happens pretty frequently, and they don't need a warrant or the owners permission to go on their property in pursuit of the criminal.

Originally posted by Golf66
There is nothing legal about barging into people's homes without probable cause (I doubt a criminal seen or suspected to be in the area meets that burden) especially if they have no reason to believe that the owner/occupants are not associated with the suspect in some way.

Yes it does.

Its VERY common for police to pursue a fleeing suspect into other peoples property during chases or searches. The owner does not have to be involved in the crime, the police only have to “reasonably believe” that the criminal is in that area.

If this were not the case, every person who committed a crime would just walk into their neighbors property then go, “Nah, Nah, go get a warrant”...

reply to post by defcon5


The difference is.. They arent in pursuit of a fleeing suspect into anyones property. They are saying that we believe that hes somewhere in this section of town and we are going in and checking door to door until we find him, whether youre home or not.
That is not legal.

Originally posted by DarthMuerte
Why the hell would you let them in without a warrant? Whether I am doing something wrong or not, no LEO is coming into my home without a warrant. I don't care what the circumstances are.

Yes, they can and they will (and then will "pry it from 'your cold dead hands' afterward)

-Its called "probable cause" and no warrant is needed if they see/smell or otherwise think something illegal is in your home (and they lie as well...)

I know someone who went through something similar. During a "search" for a "suspect" Officers smelled marijuana (they claimed) coming from the window of an apartment. Knocked on the door (no answer), kicked door in and arrested occupants. It was in our local paper and deemed "Legal"- Later on (about two months later) they did something similar and found nothing but "claimed" they smelled it, and thus they were in no legal trouble .

-They will do whatever they want.

In theiory I agree with you- in practice, you will end up dead or in prison for opposing them (legal or not)

-We live in a Police state (many have known this for years) but the Middle Class is just now realizing what the rest of us have known (and dealt with) forever.