Back in January, I asked about police officers entering the home of a murder victim.
I just realized that I forgot to ask in that thread how they go about getting into the house? Assume a single-family detached home that the victim left secured (locked and the alarm set).
Do the police have locksmiths on standby for such things – because I can’t see that breaking the door down is allowed? Can they call the alarm company and arrange a time to go in?
Thank you so much!
Here in the U.K., when you have a burglar alarm, you’re supposed to provide the police with a list of keyholders.
In the US, it’s uncommon for the police to even know if you have an alarm until someone calls them because the thing is going off. And there’s certainly no organized listing of who might have a key.
The police will gain entry via whatever means necessary. Until a doctor has been face to face with the victim to pronounce them dead, the police are dealing with a living person with an injury.
Whether or not they attemtp entry on their own or wait until the fire department shows up with their axes and halligan tools (AKA “the master key”) will be a departmental procedure.
If the house has an alarm, the likely scenario will be that the alarm company places a call to the police, and at that point, they may be informed that officers are on site.
I forgot to state in my OP (joys of posting from the day job and being interrupted in the middle of posting) that the victim was killed elsewhere. She lived alone in a single-family detached house.
Search warrent and a locksmith. No threat to life, can not damage property just because.
In most places in the US this would be covered under local ordinances so it will vary greatly from town to town and state to state. Ideally you should give the information to the police when you get an alarm and in some places it is mandatory.
Yep. It would be a very easy search warrant to get.
Search warrant OR probable cause to suspect a crime has been or is being committed that would make the time needed to get a search warrant prejudicial to preventing the crime, securing the evidence, and/or detaining the probable perpetrator.
But given the OP’s scenerio 2 would be a stretch. The victim isn’t getting any deader and there is no reason to believe there is anything going on in the house. It is smarter to get a warrant. It will cut down on the chances of evidence being thrown out. Secure the scene, have the detectives type out an affidavit and get a judge to sign. Its a simple procedure.
Thank you, all! Very much appreciated!
Actually, it’s very likely that no warrant would be needed because of the ‘community caretaker’ exception.
Police need a warrant when investigating a crime. They don’t need a warrant if they’re breaking in to a house to render assistance, or to ensure that no one needs assistance.
Ah, that’s different. I first interpreted the question as something along the lines of a neighbor called 911 because they heard a fight/gunfire/screams/etc. and the victim was in their house.
So the actual question is more along the lines of someone got killed at the park or wherever, and the police are looking for info on next of kin, making sure they didn’t leave a baby sleeping while they stepped out, etc.
What kind of reason do they need to claim that they were just “ensuring no one needs assistance”? I can see searching for survivors during a hurricane like Katrina for instance. But can they assume that, if there’s a light on in house or a car in the driveway, but no one answers the door, there must be someone home who is unconscious so they have the right to enter?
No, they need more than that. The general test, at least in Virginia (picking a state with which I’m familiar) is whether the police reasonably believe someone’s health or physical safety is genuinely at risk, and whether their actions are motivated by their functions as law enforcement officers or as caretakers rendering assistance to those in need.
However, I should have followed the OP’s link. The OP’s original scenario dealt with a body being found elsewhere and the police seeking entry into the murder victim’s home for investigation purposes. No community caretaker would apply in that instance.
What led me astray was the discussion above about a burglar alarm going off – if an alarm was sounding and no one was turning it off, the police could enter the home without a warrant to ensure that no one inside was in need of assistance (in fact, they could enter under the exigent circumstances doctrine as well).
I don’t know if this is normal, but when we had an alarm installed in our new house we had to apply for a permit from the county.
Yes. Also a professional appointment diary or similar that would help them track her movements.
I agree with everything Bricker said, as usual.
If I may add … if the woman was killed elsewhere, that jurisdiction would ask for assistance from the jurisdiction where she resided.
That jurisdiction would have many possible ways to find out who could let them into her house. These include records of past reports and contacts – at the house or with her on her own – that may list relatives, friends, or her employer. It can include her alarm company which should have a list of emergency contacts. Officers can knock on neighbor’s doors. Work history can be obtained through state unemployment insurance files. Credit checks and private search companies provide relatives’ names and her previous addresses within minutes.
These methods should yield family members or a neighbor with a key. And this implies that legal consent or something close to it is given to the police.
Absent consent and a key, they could use a locksmith, or pick a lock themselves, or “break-in” (you’d be surprised at how easy it is sometimes – thus the success of burglars). As has been mentioned, there would be concern about doing this legally because, since she’s dead already, there doesn’t seem to be an emergency need to get into the house. This in all probability means obtaining a warrant. Getting a warrant, however, is based upon establishing probable cause of there being evidence of a crime in that location (that’s the short version).
Why does your story have them entering the house? That will determine the direction they take. Suspect lives there? Warrant. She kept a diary? Go through family, friend, or executor.
Good luck,
AZRob