Police "Searches"

Hello All

My question involves a different type of police searches. For instance, if someone breaks into your home the police have to check your home to make sure it's clear. I know in the event of a search warrant anything with a lock can and will be opened. But what about in this instance? Are cops allowed to open locked cabinets or closets for a robbery sweeps?

What about fires? Are firefighters allowed to open locked cabinets or closets?

911 calls? Cops have to come check things out, are they allowed to look in locked cabinets or closets?

Knock and talk searches?? Everyone always says don't open your door for cops but if they are knocking they are already on to you. If you don't open the door they will more than likely get a warrant. So if you open the door(if you have nothing in plain site or it doesn't smell) to what extent are they allowed to search?


http://www2.highlandstoday.com/content/2010/nov/12/fire-call-leads-to-grow-room-discovery/

In this case there wasn't even a fire just smoke. But, the firefighters obtained permission from the police to force open a locked room to "air it out". And they found a grow. Call me paranoid but I would really appreciate any insight.

Skim good question. I've been thinkin about cancellin my home alarm service for this very same reason. I know if my alarm goes off, they are goin to walk thru the whole house to make sure it's clear. I also wondered if they found somethin would it stand in court.

yes they will search the whole house. they have to. and yes if they find a grow you are screwed.

Sebring Fire Deputy Chief Ken Barefield said the department received a call from Canovas' neighbor saying they could see smoke in the kitchen. The person also said there was a pot on the stove.

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Who would leave a pot and the stove on while your away if that was the case???????? Ahahaha this story sounds really bullshit to me. btw a pot on the stove could produce a lot of smoke or a kettle would? Never heard of a pot producing a lot of smoke LMAO

Sebring Police Officer Shannon Strenth explained that firefighters had to ventilate the room before they left.

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Why in the hell do they have to do that, isnt that your job when the firefighters are gone to ventilate the whole house to get rid of the rest of the smoke ?

Firefighters were about to break the door down when Canovas reportedly said he'd let them in.

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First of all he shouldn't of let them in the room, the fire wasn't located in the room, and if it needed to ventilated shit i would've ventilated it myself when they were gone. Break the door just cuz it needed to be ventilated ahahahahaha now this is what I call a bullshit story.....

Hey guys... I'm taking Political Science 1 this semester and currently this is the topic of our learning.... First and foremost, visit www.FlexYourRights.org and watch the videos on the home page. There's three different scenes in the 10 Rules scene and then the host who's a lawyer also goes on to address street stops as well as "knock and talks." So there's three scenes in total and deal with each situation in the appropriate manner utilizing your rights in the way that Jefferson intended when he wrote the Bill of Rights, to protect the citizens from Big Government. Specifically, he had seen that big gov't can and will always abuse it's power if given the opportunity and he outlined in the 4th, 5th and 6th amendments how to protect yourself from this arm of the government. The 4th amendment deals with unreasonable searches and seizures. Basically, you have the right to different levels of privacy in different scenarios, thus each is handled a bit differently. At home, it's reasonable to assume the highest degree of privacy, from there your car is the second most private area of their lives when they come into contact with police and them doing a street stop, you have the least expectation of privacy. If the cop has "reasonable suspicion" then they can do a outside pat down only to check for weapons. Pat down means pat though, if you have a bag with you it doesn't automatically give them the right to search it. If however, they have clear and defined proof that you are or where involved in a crime then they can search you, your car, your house, whatever they want. Reasonable suspicion is tricky. A cop can say he smelled pot, even if he does not. Anyway, the video's give you ten rules and outline for you, how to use those three amendments. The three particular amendments which Jefferson foresaw OUR need for, and with great foresight gave us the tools to protect ourselves from criminal prosecution. The teacher gave us a great example of someone that follow those three amendments and almost, quite literally got away with murder. The Bart cop who shot Oscar Grant got 2 years for capping that guy even though the video had made it all the way around the world. You can plainly see in the video, Oscar Grant lying on the ground in compliance prior to being fatally shot in the back. His defense was that he thought he had grabbed his taser rather than his pistol. The funny thing is, these cops train to know the difference, to the point of it being second nature for them. So why did the douche bag get only 2 years or something, and actually come pretty close to walking? One reason. From the time of the shot, he invoked his fifth amendment right to shut the fuck up. The DA and cops had none of his words which could be used against him in the court of law. It's right there in the Miranda rights. What you say CAN and WILL be used against you in the court of law. They're trained to lie to you in order to get information from you which then will be used against you in the court of law. However, they don't need to advise you of this right BEFORE they arrest you. So anything you say up until the point of arrest CAN and WILL be used by the DA to prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law.

Hope this helps. Helped me a bit to regurgitate what I've learned so far in class and by watching the video in class. So thanks for the help with writing my next paper! Hope I got it down as well as I think I do and also that the above helps you figure out what you need to know...

Cheers,

Blink to the Z

One more thing to add... If the cops are in pursuit of a dangerous criminal or there's an emergency (fire) they can come in without a warrant. Other than that though, use what the videos outline for you in whatever police interaction lie in your future.

Cheers,

Blink

fire fighters get to go where ever they want to protect you and stop fires

Knock and talk searches?? Everyone always says don't open your door for cops but if they are knocking they are already on to you. If you don't open the door they will more than likely get a warrant. So if you open the door(if you have nothing in plain site or it doesn't smell) to what extent are they allowed to search?


Do yourself a favor and NEVER answer the door for a knock and talk. All the pigs want to do is TRICK YOU OUT OF YOUR RIGHTS. So don't talk to them. If they could get a warrant there would be no need for the knock and talk in the first place. Keep in mind, what you say before you are aressted can and will be used against you too!

darby crash said:

Knock and talk searches?? Everyone always says don't open your door for cops but if they are knocking they are already on to you. If you don't open the door they will more than likely get a warrant. So if you open the door(if you have nothing in plain site or it doesn't smell) to what extent are they allowed to search?


Do yourself a favor and NEVER answer the door for a knock and talk. All the pigs want to do is TRICK YOU OUT OF YOUR RIGHTS. So don't talk to them. If they could get a warrant there would be no need for the knock and talk in the first place. Keep in mind, what you say before you are aressted can and will be used against you too!

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Your absolutely right!!!

Firefighters can enter your house and check every room (locked or not) in case of an emergency. I think locked "cabinets" are generally safe from firefighters. I don't know how a fireman can justify opening up your PC grow in court, but if your cab is enough to fit a child in, it's probably gonna be opened.

One more thing to add... If the cops are in pursuit of a dangerous criminal or there's an emergency (fire) they can come in without a warrant. Other than that though, use what the videos outline for you in whatever police interaction lie in your future.

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Yep, police can enter and check during an emergency. This includes domestic violence I believe.

You have some control over the possibility of a fire but the above is something you generally have no control over especially if you live in a place where gang activity/crime is frequent. It's part of the "bad luck" (<1%) chance of getting busted. The other 99% of that is a snitch.

Knock and talk searches?? Everyone always says don't open your door for cops but if they are knocking they are already on to you. If you don't open the door they will more than likely get a warrant. So if you open the door(if you have nothing in plain site or it doesn't smell) to what extent are they allowed to search?

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You're wrong. The cops aren't dumb. If they go to do a knock and talk and it fails (and many times it does) then that criminal is gone. He will know they're on to him and dispose of evidence and laugh in their face. For this reason, they will try very hard to get a warrant. A knock and talk is a last resort for them.

If they spend a month searching your garbage and can't find enough evidence to get a warrant, they'll say "hey before we let this guy off the hook, let's see if he's dumb enough to admit what he's doing to us by just asking him directly." *knock* *knock*

The pasted Tampa article is fucked up.

Firefighters used fans to get the smoke out of the house. Barefield said one of the rooms was locked and they'd gotten permission from Sebring Police officers on duty to force the door open.

Canovas arrived before firefighters got the door open and told them they could not go in to the room, according to the arrest report.

Sebring Police Officer Shannon Strenth explained that firefighters had to ventilate the room before they left.

"The defendant told the firefighters to 'go ahead and do what they needed to do,'" Strenth wrote in the report.

Firefighters were about to break the door down when Canovas reportedly said he'd let them in.

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They can only break down doors in an EMERGENCY! In this case, AFTER concluding that there was no emergency, had they broken down the door, the evidence would NOT have been admissible in court. Too bad he "let them in" (or so they claim.)

[this 14 plant bust] was the second major marijuana grow bust in less than two weeks. On Oct. 29, Highlands County Sheriff's deputies found an underground grow operation at a Moon Ranch Road home.

The grow room housed 40 four-foot tall marijuana plants that had a value of over $150,000.

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The guy had 14 plants! 14 plant bust and 40 plant bust are "major marijuana grows" ??

A good friend of mine had the fire dept show up after getting a call from the upstairs neighbor about "smoke". The furnace had backdrafted and released a puff of smoke that could be smelled by the tennents. When the fire dept got there it was obvious there was no fire yet they insisted that it was their policy to shoot the building with FLIR to make sure there wasn't a fire. He said they spent quite a bit of time there with the FLIR.

Very practical concern no doubt. I know for those of us in California we deal with fire evacuations on an almost annual basis and they go through house to house if ones unlocked they will actually comb the house for residents and move on... Now that is only for homes placed under mandatory evacuations and don't know anybody who would leave their house unlocked during this situation but it could happen....

Keep your grow room behind a locked door at all times. My friend had the cops show up to his house for d.v call. He had already left his home before the cops showed up. When the cops did a walk through they could smell and hear his grow room. They demanded that his wife to open the door to the room. She refused. Anyways they kicked the door in and found a room full of herb. In court he claimed illegal search and seizer and won!! This was not cali either.