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Probable cause is an under-appreciated term. Every American should know what it means. You'll see actors in movies and TV say to other actors posing as police t

Probable cause is an under-appreciated term. Every American should know what it means. You'll see actors in movies and TV say to other actors posing as police that they can't enter their home without a warrant and that's not true. Police can enter your home without a warrant, all they need is probable cause. What is probable cause? Probable cause is when a police officer is 51% sure that a crime is occurring. So if police are 51% sure a crime is occurring in your home, they can enter, and you can't stop them and anything illegal they see in line of sight can be used to prosecute you. Police can only go to the place where they think the crime is occurring, so if they have cause to think someone is doing something illegal on the first floor of your house, they can't climb the stairs to the second floor to find illegal drugs in your bedroom closet. Probable cause doesn't give police leeway to search your entire house just because they saw someone smoke pot through the kitchen window. Having said that, when I say police can only go to the 1st floor, that really only means that they'll have a lot of trouble convincing prosecutors and judges that anything they found on the second floor will be admissible, they can physically go up to your second floor and you should not stop them. What police will do is try to use line of sight to find anchors to get deeper into a house. So if they barge in because a suspect ran into the living room, they'll try to find other things that will give them 51% probable cause to move further through the house. tl;dr: Probably never try to physically or even verbally stop police from searching your house, car and person and property. They don't need a warrant, they just need to think something is up. The movies and TV are not reality. Source: Some administration of justice classes in school, experience with police.

denzil_correa 12y ago
Thanks for the very nice explanation with an example.
dragontamer 12y ago
And even in the event that they do need a warrant, warrants can be issued easily through email and fax machines that are located in every single cop car. So... if you deny the search, the police can often call a judge to write up a warrant really quick. Judges work overtime, on weekends and on night shifts for this kind of thing.
deleted 12y ago
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SoftwareMaven 12y ago
Conversely, you do not need to give permission to police just because they ask. Even at police checkpoints, they do not have the right, without probable cause or your permission, to search your vehicle. If we don't stand up for our rights, we will lose them. (Now, realistically, if you say "no", they will bring a dog over that they've trained to signal, thereby giving them "probable cause".)
- leorocky 12y ago
  If you say no and they say 'get out of the way', you better get out of the way though, you can't physically prevent the police from searching your car if they decided to do it anyway. All you can do is hope your lawyer fights any evidence they get that way.
zaroth 12y ago
This seems not quite right to me... you need probable cause to get a warrant. You can't skip the warrant just because you think you have probable cause. However, there are 'exigent circumstances' where the police can enter your house without a warrant. I think that comes down to things like hearing screams for help, preventing destruction of evidence, etc. tl;dr: Probably never try to physically or even verbally stop police from searching your house, car and person and property. Actually, my understanding is you should always verbally explicitly refuse to consent to a search. But if they search anyway, of course you do not physically try to stop them. They will probably claim you gave consent and misplace the recording, but it's the best you can do.
- Retric 12y ago
  Is in progress is different from has occurred in the past. Also, the bar for a warrant is much lower than 51% probability of having committed a crime.
anonbanker 12y ago
This is why a wise person accepts entry upon prepayment of a sum of money, as this allows the homeowner and police to both stay in honor, provided consideration is then given promptly thereafter.

denzil_correa 12y ago

Thanks for the very nice explanation with an example.

dragontamer 12y ago

And even in the event that they do need a warrant, warrants can be issued easily through email and fax machines that are located in every single cop car. So... if you deny the search, the police can often call a judge to write up a warrant really quick. Judges work overtime, on weekends and on night shifts for this kind of thing.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

SoftwareMaven 12y ago

Conversely, you do not need to give permission to police just because they ask. Even at police checkpoints, they do not have the right, without probable cause or your permission, to search your vehicle. If we don't stand up for our rights, we will lose them. (Now, realistically, if you say "no", they will bring a dog over that they've trained to signal, thereby giving them "probable cause".)

leorocky 12y ago
If you say no and they say 'get out of the way', you better get out of the way though, you can't physically prevent the police from searching your car if they decided to do it anyway. All you can do is hope your lawyer fights any evidence they get that way.

zaroth 12y ago

This seems not quite right to me... you need probable cause to get a warrant. You can't skip the warrant just because you think you have probable cause. However, there are 'exigent circumstances' where the police can enter your house without a warrant. I think that comes down to things like hearing screams for help, preventing destruction of evidence, etc. tl;dr: Probably never try to physically or even verbally stop police from searching your house, car and person and property. Actually, my understanding is you should always verbally explicitly refuse to consent to a search. But if they search anyway, of course you do not physically try to stop them. They will probably claim you gave consent and misplace the recording, but it's the best you can do.

Retric 12y ago
Is in progress is different from has occurred in the past. Also, the bar for a warrant is much lower than 51% probability of having committed a crime.

anonbanker 12y ago

This is why a wise person accepts entry upon prepayment of a sum of money, as this allows the homeowner and police to both stay in honor, provided consideration is then given promptly thereafter.