I suspect I would let them. A part of my says no, but mostly I’m guessing I’d let them in.
BDSM devotees might well think they have nothing to hide, but their gear would quite possibly get them a whole lot of negative attention from the cops, if the cops think that could have been used as torture/restraint devices for an unwilling prisoner, like a kidnapped kid.
Martial arts fan? Some of those decorative weapons might not be legal in your area.
I know a homebrewer who definitely makes more than 100 gallons of beer per year, the legal limit for a family. Someone who had a grudge with him did report him to the authorities, which I think (in the US) involves the BATF when it comes to that kind of thing.
House dirty because you’ve been overwhelmed with work? Have a kid? Will CPS come knocking later?
Did your dad give you that hunting rifle from when you went hunting as a kid? Did you bother with the licensing/transfer of ownership paperwork?
You don’t want to waste their time? They’re already wasting their time by requesting to search everyone’s house in a certain area and letting everyone know well in advance.
I’ve had the police trying to come into my place looking for an armed robber who had gone to ground somewhere in my block. I asked them to grab a warrant and get back to me. They weren’t happy, but it was a matter of principle.
That, and the last two times a uniformed cop was in my house - both times responding to a burglary call - they stole from me. CDs the first time, cash from my wallet the second. NSW police - got to love them.
I’m leaning this way, especially several days later and after the fact of this lazy, inexplicable dragnet has been released via the media. If someone did have this little girl or evidence of her kidnapping in their house, why on earth would she or that evidence still be there when the police arrived on this pre-announced door to door search? Do they think that she was taken by someone with an IQ of 5?
This smells to me of public perception policing. They’re not doing this because they have any reason to believe it will be useful, they’re doing this so that they look like they’re working very very very very hard, going to Every!Single!House! trying to find this girl. They took that “henhouse, farmhouse, outhouse” speech from the movie “The Fugitive” too literally.
As someone who works in a corporate-supervisory capacity, I’d say that it’s not an unreasonable bet. You’d be astonished how blatant people get about committing breaches of law, even when they know that they’re being monitored.
What Diogenes said. It isn’t that important to me that the police don’t have a right to search my home. I’ll cooperate with the police and pray that they find the little girl, dead or alive, so that her parents can move on from the hell that they’ve found themselves in.
You are not a suspect just because you live in the neighborhood.
There is no ethical high road to letting police search your house without a warrant on a witch hunt.
Refusing a warrantless search does not automatically make you a suspect.
Searching the home of the innocent OP will not move the investigation forward–there will be no evidence found. There was an interesting video series linked on these boards about why it can never be of any benefit to you to answer police questions, especially without a lawyer. It seemed to refer primarily to people in custody, not potential witnesses, however. But the police can turn an innocent person into a suspect pretty quick. I am not going to try to summarize it but it is quite compelling and changed my mind on the subject.
Searching the home of the perpetrator will not move the investigation forward if he is not utterly stupid, is expecting the police to show up, and eliminates any evidence that could be found in a “quick peek.” :rolleyes:
I would be very happy to answer any questions they would have as a potential witness, but searching all homes is just pointless.
I would refuse without a warrant. One of the basic principles of US Law is that the police cannot search your home without your permission.
I’d be polite about it, but still say “no.”
No way without a warrant. Knowing I didn’t do it, I’m not cooperating with such an incredible waste of the police force’s time and resources. Plus, I also believe that the more we allow our rights to be eroded, the more they eventually will be.
“Get a warrant, Pig.”
Because any police department that tried to investigate by trolling in such a fashion would have public opinion and any of about a bazillion organizations starting with the local ACLU affiliate after them in about 10 seconds. Standing in the way legally would be the fourth and fifth amendments to the Constitution, which bar search without a warrant (4th), and self-incrimination (5th).
If they have to troll the neighborhood in such a manner, they don’t have squat. Anything they find in a voluntary search can be used against you, whether it’s related to the original case or not.
Yeah, actually, you are. Everybody’s a suspect until there’s a reason to eliminate them.
It’s not a witch hunt, it’s a hunt for a missing child, and there is certainly no ethical high road to impeding that kind of investigation just to assert some sophomoric sense of privilege.
You’re already a suspect. Refusing a search does not eliminate you.
Of course it will. It will eliminate you as a suspect.
If she’s been gone a month, why do they think she’s still there? If they want in my place, they need a warrant.
I am puzzled as to why an 18 year old WOMAN; not considered a minor as per the laws of Canada, is referred to as a child or a little girl.
A search for a child would likely make me somewhat more cooperative - indeed I would have voluntarily searched all of my property.
Anything else would require a warrant to enter my home.
I might be swayed if it were a missing toddler, but this is an 18 year old young adult. No way.
But since I (hypothetically) didn’t commit the crime and have no body to hide, I am not a suspect, nor should be. Thus, there’s no reason for the police to search my home, and doing the search is a waste of their time.
Nor is there any reason for the Police to restrict their lists of suspects to that neighborhood. Maybe it was the ice-cream man, and the body is 20 miles away.
We have had this debate before. The police have no reason or justification to KNOW the perp is in that neighborhood.
Ferret Herder gives a good list of why you may think you are totally innocent of any crime, but may in fact be guilty. Are you in fact a lawyer? Do you know each and every law, code and regulation on the books? Federal, State, County and City? (Or use Canadian terminology if you prefer). Or maybe you were crusing the internet, and a bad link took you to some porn- which you closed down quickly, but it turns out to be Kiddie porn.
I enforce various local Codes, and I can tell you that if a Investigator wants to, he can find a violation. He doesn’t even have to look very far. (One of my neighbors stores his LPs in milk crates- possession of which is a violation of CA Agri code. )
This sort of search is of very doubtful legality in the USA, and has not been useful at all. It’s been tried some dozen times, and only once iirc- did it work, and there the Police had solid evidence that the criminal was local - I think it was a secured building.
It doesn’t work, it is a violation of rights, and it wastes valuable police time and energy.
No it won’t. At best they might stumble acrossed another Anthony Sowell with a house full of bodies but it doesn’t remove anyone as a suspect.
You give them way more credit than I do. This is nothing more than a massive fishing expedition. They’re using this kidnapping case to guilt people into letting them search their homes.
Just you wait. At least one person will be arrested for something completely unrelated to the kidnapping as a result of these searches.
It will remove you from the first pass, anyway.
And why do people keep saying, “I’m not a suspect?” Yes you are. Of course you are. Do you think being categorized as a 'suspect" has some special, technical set of legal criteria that you don’t meet? It doesn’t. If the police think you might have done it, then you’re a suspect. Deal with it.
What rights are being violated if you voluntarily allow a search?