Quote:
Originally Posted by Streck-Fu
Unfortunately, "could" and "might" are likely as close as we can get to knowing if a rush of police officers through a door makes the legal cut, short of judicial scrutiny in a given case. Police on the scene are empowered to use their own judgment as to whether an "emergency," defined ever-more loosely as time goes on, exists that justifies forcing an entry into private property in the absence of a warrant.
Fourth Amendment notwithstanding, we really do live in a world where screaming when an unidentifiable police officer points a gun at you through your window may be all it takes to authorize knocking your door off its hinges and dragging you outside in handcuffs.
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Relying on judgement of police on the scene rather than clearly defined rules, coupled with insufficient training, is going to get more people killed.
A recent personal example that turned out okay in the end is that in May my apartment just outside the border of DC was broken into. At 5 am on a Saturday someone forced their way through my dead bolted and door-bar secured door, and was met by a 12 gauge and clear instructions. 911 was called, officers were dispatched, and I made it very clear to the 911 operator that I was holding the person at gunpoint until police arrived. When the 8 officers burst into my apartment without announcing themselves before entering I had to quickly determine whether they were accomplices of the intruder, or if they were the good guys. There were no sirens, and I hadn't been told by the 911 dispatcher (still on the phone) that police had arrived on scene; the police didn't direct the 911 dispatcher to let me know they were coming in or even announce who they were after they came running through the door. Fortunately I recognized a badge, informed them who I was, that I had called 911, that the person nearest them had broken in, slowly set my shotgun down, and ended up being handcuffed until the officers calmed down and verified my identity. Had they used better judgement before coming through the door it would not have been as dangerous a situation as they turned it into.
IMO their training and judgement fell short and we're lucky no one was hurt. The ambiguous guidance being given by the courts, and leaving it to under-trained cops to make entry decisions on the fly while they're in the thick of things, is a very dangerous path to go down.