Court Rules Police Searches Need Only Brief Warning

Wired News ^ | Tuesday, December 02, 2003 | James Vicini

[demlosers]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Police officers executing a search warrant do not violate constitutional rights by waiting only 15 to 20 seconds after knocking and announcing their presence before using force to enter a suspect's residence, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday.

[demlosers]

The justices overturned a decision by a U.S appeals court in San Francisco that the search was unconstitutional because the officers did not wait a reasonable amount of time.

Is anybody keeping score on how many times SF appeals court gets overturned?

[Mark was here]

Why not simply put cameras in everyones house?

If you are not breaking the law, you should have nothing to fear from our wonderfull men in blue!

[At _War_With_Liberals]

How many criminal corporate execs under suspicion got their doors busted down after 15 seconds for fear they would destroy docs?

ZERO.

But then again, stealing miilions is no big deal, while possession is serious. Notice how they say it will give the suspect time to kill them., like its the typical scenario. Ity's not. Probably happens 1 out of 10,000 times.

[demlosers]

A link to older FR thread before this Supreme Court decision: High Court weighs 'knock and announce' rule used in police searches

[thoughtomator]

More kicking the corpse of the 4th Amendment.

That's right folks... you have 15-20 seconds to answer your door if the cops come knocking, and after that, it's Rambo time.

[theFIRMbss]

>Police officers executing a search warrant do not violate constitutional rights by waiting only 15 to 20 seconds after knocking and announcing their presence before using force to enter a suspect's residence

We just had the police
banging on our door, their hands
on their guns, looking

to serve some papers...
We asked what they wanted, and
they read the address

off the paper work...
It was the next house over!
They apologized,

and went down the block.
We all just thought, Damn, that close
to our own little

version of Terry
Gilliam's "Brazil!" That close
to being featured

libertarian
material in a cops
gone wild fiasco...

[presidio9]

Police officers executing a search warrant...

[thoughtomator]

So in what case other than enforcement of the unconstitutional War on Drugs the Government Can't Make a Buck Off is 15-20 seconds reasonable, even with a search warrant?

[presidio9]

Attack the judges who issue search warrants. Problem solved.

[Orangedog]

Souter said the amount of time the officers must wait might vary depending on the circumstances of the case. "Police seeking a stolen piano may be able to spend more time to make sure they really need the battering ram," he said.

But in a search for illegal drugs, 15 or 20 seconds would be enough time for a suspect to get to the bathroom or kitchen and start flushing the evidence down the drain, he said.

Why do I have this feeling that every search warrant from now on will have drugs listed along with whatever else the police will really be looking for. Kinda like how the military hardware and support used in the attack at Waco was legal because of the mythical "meth lab" inside.

[mc5cents]

That's right folks... you have 15-20 seconds to answer your door if the cops come knocking, and after that, it's Rambo time.

Hey, this is America. We do things right. We have a constitution for gods sake. We have the rule of law for gods sake. How long do you think the Gestapo waited before they broke down doors? Hmmm. /sarcasm

Have a nice day.

[thoughtomator]

In other words, this is yet another special rule we all have to live with thanks to the War on Drugs the Government Can't Make a Buck Off Of (I'm starting to like that phrase... a little unwieldy, but it's got the charm of cutting right to the chase).

[presidio9]

I'm starting to like that phrase... a little unwieldy, but it's got the charm of cutting right to the chase

Don't quit your day job.

[Cap'n Crunch]

We did two raids about a week and a half ago. Both of them were knock and announce and we had to wait 20 seconds. At the second house the guy was upsatirs flushing heroine down the toilet.

Glad he didn't decide to start shooting with the gun he had in there.

The first house we got 70 bundles.

[John Beresford Tipton]

"flushing heroine down the toilet"

Ahoy, Tidy Bowl Man!
Throw a life vest to that beautiful heroine!

[R. Scott]

They waited 15 or 20 seconds? In a lot of communities that’s a long time. I’m used to “Open Up Police CRASH”.

[Cap'n Crunch]

It's beautiful alright. I really like the beauty of bloated overdosed corpses with needles in their arms.

And the beauty of girls selling themselves for their next fix.

[John Beresford Tipton]

Take a chill pill,
sit down,
crack open a dictionary,
look up the word you used:

*"heroine"*

[demlosers]

Don't be too hard on Cap'n Crunch it got me too. I went back for a second look ;-)

LOL!