Supreme Court Says Police Can Enter Your Home Without Knocking "In Emergencies"

[Gold9472]

Supreme Court Backs Police in Emergencies

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060522/ap_on_go_su_co/scotus_police_search

By GINA HOLLAND, Associated Press Writer
8 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court reaffirmed Monday that police can enter homes in emergencies without knocking or announcing their presence.

Justices said four Brigham City, Utah, police officers were justified in entering a home after peeking through a window and seeing a fight between a teenager and adults.

Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the unanimous court, said that officers had a reasonable basis for going inside to stop violence.

The decision overturned a ruling by Utah's Supreme Court that said a trial judge was correct to throw out charges stemming from the police search. The trial judge had ruled that police had violated the Fourth Amendment's prohibition against unreasonable searches by failing to knock before entering the house.

[jetsetlemming]

Wait, they couldn't already do that? You see it all the time in action movies, they just bust the door down and all the people inside here is "Go, go, go!"

[princesskittypoo]

i tihnk if they can tell a crime is going on it's ok... and i think it's always been that way. hearing people screaming and gun shots and all they show that all the time in the movies... of corse they do announce they are police during those situations.

[Good Doctor HST]

Police stopping violence in someone's home in an emergency is okay. Police entering a home on suspicion of someone smoking a joint in the privacy of their own home is not okay. A policeman's word versus the citizens on reasonable cause is now skewed more toward authority.