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

Here's the deal: the cops are searching for this guy. He could A) be hiding with friends or B) holding a family hostage to hide him. So this house to house search has valid reasoning. We don't know who this guy has connections to.

Second, anything a cop sees in plain sight during a legal, yes it is legal, search can be used for your arrest. Will a cop who is on the hunt for this guy take the time to arrest you for smoking pot or snorting coke? Well, it's mostly up to the discretion of his captain. Most likely they would only confiscate anything illegal and allow you to count your blessings while arresting anyone who is guilty of doing something they deem too extreme to turn a blind eye to.

Oh, wait, I forgot who I was talking to. Ahem..."Damn those pigs! All of them are assholes with guns and an ego trip ready to take you down because they can! Such turds!"

Originally posted by defcon5

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”...

edit on 4/19/2013 by defcon5 because: not enough sleep...

You are correct.
I have seen them go door to door in apartment building over "fleeing suspects" (and using the "opportunity" to arrest people and "look around" while supposedly only trying to find this "fleeing suspect") happens quite often.

-It SHOULDNT, but it does and no Court will be on the side of a citizen if something goes terribly wrong. Hell, we have had cases of a warrant being used on the wrong home and the Police (after terrorizing families) are never held accountable.

reply to post by Berzerked
Doesn't matter if its just one piece of property or an area.
Again, this is very common, and I've personally seen it done multiple times. As an example, they cordoned off a square mile of the hospital near me, and searched all the buildings in the area after a kidnapping from the peds unit.

saw an episdoe of cops (so take that for what its worth) but they were chasing a robbery suspect with dogs and then all of a sudden the dogs made a beeline for a backyard and found a massive grow operation,owners didnt come home tell after the cops had searched the whole place but they were arrested....pretty sure they stopped chasing the robbery suspect when the dogs found the pot

Google "exigent circumstance". Everything I've read says that they have been asking if residents would like their homes searched, but my hunch is that if they felt so inclined they would be well and truly covered by the imminent threat of a bomber in the neighborhood having already found several explosive devices and searching for a fugitive.

If they're looking for a person, they shouldn't be rummaging around looking for something that'll fit in a breadbox.
They should be just quickly looking in rooms, closets, behind doors, and drapes, and out of there.

If they see something else in that process, maybe that something should be put away a little better.

They shouldnt be allowed to just kick in the doors of people that aren't home though, people on holidays will be coming back to thoroughly looted houses with no front doors.
And an arrest warrant for something they didn't put away...