Say Uncle links this court ruling.
The justices in an 8-1 decision said officers who loudly knock on a door and then hear sounds suggesting evidence is being destroyed may break down the door and enter without a search warrant.
Residents who “attempt to destroy evidence have only themselves to blame” when police burst in, said Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.
Bad Justice! This is essentially saying that the 4th Amendment doesn’t exist anymore. We can see examples like this with traffic stops. All an officer has to say is he smelled some smoke or booze, or the person’s eyes “looked funny” or speech was slurred, and ta-da you’re getting you car rolled. I have no problem with this if that’s the actual case, but there’s no way to prove if the above observations are legit. You’ll never see internal affairs entering a bag of wet tissues in a case against a crooked cop who was claiming to have smelled illegal substances while suffering from a head cold as an excuse to harassing a citizen.
The same goes here. The cops can CLAIM they “Knocked Loudly”, or claim they smelled smoke or heard a toilet flush. But how can you prove they didn’t unless you have a CC camera in your home, or you happen to be running a recording device at the time the police show up at your door.
Furthermore who hasn’t had to hurry a crap along because somebody knocked at the door, or heard the knock while doing a #1 operation? There have been many a time when I’ve come out of the bathroom to see who’s at my door. So me doing a courtesy flush is a call to kick my door?
I’m sorry Police, but if I’m washing my hands in the loo and I hear my door get kicked down, I’m coming out of the bathroom with a gun in my wet hands.
And the scary thing is that because of that legitimate reaction I will be murdered by the police because they got the address on the warrant wrong.
Also let me add that if the evidence you’re getting a warrant issued for can be destroyed quickly, you probably should be going for the bigger fish. Furthermore you can ALWAYS pump a septic tank, or have a public works crew put a block or a collection unit on a public sewer outlet.
