In the above thread, several posters are claiming that a search took place according to the accounts given in the two links posted in the OP. Two posters have claimed that the police searched the home for firearms. I used one of the poster’s own cites to show that a police search did not take place. Hopefully any legal experts here can settle this.
A claim by Labrador Deceiver:
He claims the above is backed up by the following cite he provided:
We don’t know that the police forced their way into the home, but I think it was very likely they asked permission to go in. as the writer would be complaining about that specifically and he never did. Then they asked permission to examine the safe (perhaps in a manner or using words that appeared threatening), and were denied it, and left.
So, no illegal search took place. But a legal one did. If the police enter a home legally they surely look around in whatever areas they were allowed into, which is a search and an entirely reasonable one. Had they seem something in plain sight, like drugs, they could have made a legal arrest.
They can’t “look” around in whatever areas they were allowed into, unless by look around you mean they can freely move their eyeballs around. Doing so when in one’s home is not a “search” by any means. Not in a legal sense.
Being invited inside does not mean that a search has occurred. If they are permitted inside to look around, then it would appear that a consensual search is occurring and that the consent can be withdrawn at any time … unless, of course, the consensual search turned up probable cause that can then be used to either continue the search or seek a search warrant. But there is no evidence given in any of the reports that they were free to “look around.”
*A “search” occurs when a government officer infringes upon an expectation of privacy that society considers reasonable. (Jacobsen (1984) 466 U.S. 109, 113.)
search n
1 : an exploratory investigation (as of an area or person) by a government agent that intrudes on an individual’s reasonable expectation of privacy and is conducted usually for the purpose of finding evidence of unlawful activity or guilt or to locate a person [warrantless es are invalid unless they fall within narrowly drawn exceptions “State v. Mahone, 701 P.2d 171 (1985)”] *
http://dictionary.findlaw.com/definition/search.html
An officer moving his eyeballs around after being invited in does not infringe upon an expectation of privacy and no exploratory investigation took place.