Cops can now search homes WITHOUT a warrant.

[from zero]

Yet another step in the direction of no more freedom ...


Court Opens Door To Searches Without Warrants


NEW ORLEANS -- It's a groundbreaking court decision that legal experts say will affect everyone: Police officers in Louisiana no longer need a search or arrest warrant to conduct a brief search of your home or business.


Leaders in law enforcement say it will provide safety to officers, but others argue it's a privilege that could be abused.

The decision was made by the New Orleans-based 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. Two dissenting judges called it the "road to Hell."


The ruiling stems from a lawsuit filed in Denham Springs in 2000.

New Orleans Police Department spokesman Capt. Marlon Defillo said the new power will go into effect immediately and won't be abused.

"We have to have a legitimate problem to be there in the first place, and if we don't, we can't conduct the search," Defillo said.

But former U.S. Attorney Julian Murray has big problems with the ruling.

"I think it goes way too far," Murray said, noting that the searches can be performed if an officer fears for his safety -- a subjective condition.

Defillo said he doesn't envision any problems in New Orleans, but if there are, they will be handled.

"There are checks and balances to make sure the criminal justce system works in an effective manor," Defillo said.

 

[jenscats5]

That is just unbelievable......"won't be abused" my ass.......anyone could say that they felt threatened, etc for any reason......

 

[Smurfy]

i dont anticipate ever having the cops wanting to search my home, warrant or not.

 

[Buddy_Christ]

whoa! i've got nothing to hide but i definetly do NOT agree with that shit.

on a side note, IF i were ever in that situation, as they came into the house i'd politely tell them "oh yeah, don't look here, here and here" and tell them that it'd just be a bad thing for me if they did, thereby telling them to look in those places.

and what would be in those locations?

sex toys

but i don't like the sound of this too much. checking IDs is one thing, but searching homes w/out warrants is not my idea of a good thing in some situations. i'm sure there's a few situations where it'd be a good thing, but i can't think of any and i'm sure those situations would be extremely (as in 1 in a million) rare.

 

[Paulo]

There is already waaaaay too much liberty given with 'probable cause'.

Excellent...

But we all know that 'probable cause' is never abused.
so, might as well go a step further.

 

[Xero]

i dont have anything they want anyways

 

[danielson]

nice

you ever give people an oppotunity to abuse terror laws and they will....they have started it against anti-war protestors in britain and they have been abusing it other countries where they;ve had to deal with terror longer (Ireland)

 

[Sub-Zero]

isnt that go against the 4th?

 

[from zero]

Anyone wanna take a one way road trip to Canada?

 

[jh1]

Can you say overturned?

This won't last. Someone will challenge this all the way to the Supreme Court of the USA when they are the victim of this jack-boot court. This is sickning.

 

[jenscats5]

While I know I won't ever do anything to cause the cops to want to search my house, around here you always read about "mistaken addresses." The cops can bust into your house, break all your stuff & then Oops! wrong address & they don't have to pay for any of the damages. The post man always confuses our street -- Maple with the one in Elsmere which is Ave......so I can't imagine the cops getting it right. Jeez.

 

[ChefWide]

i dont anticipate ever having the cops wanting to search my home, warrant or not.

Anticipate. hmmm...

You are an active member of an elite (pardon the pun) internet cult that is known to be FILLED with violent drug users and dealers that are involved in an international steroid sales and distribution ring.

Violence and pornography are in plain site there everday, as are a host of illegal activities, therefore we have a resonable suspicion that you have drugs not only in your house, but more than likely in your car, at your place of work and on your person (read: cavity search).

Since drugs and drug dealing always deal in large amounts of cash, we have reason to believe that you carry concealed weapons, so here we come, warrant or not.

Since there is some question as to the extent of your dealings with those in the middle east, we will detain you under PATRIOT Act II, so that we don't have to tell ANYONE that we have detained you: no lawyer, no phone call, nada. Untill we say so.

If we dont like you, you are in trouble.

 

[Testosterone boy]

Interesting that the stripping of rights got earnest during this administration.

Coincidence?

 

[Buddy_Christ]

i dont anticipate ever having the cops wanting to search my home, warrant or not.

as ChefWide is pointing out, guilt by association. you know how many people have been sent to jail just because they knew someone that was involved in drug dealing and didn't speak up? we discussed this and watched a movie on it in my Criminal Justice class last semester. a woman's son was a big time drug dealer. he had bought her some things, one of which was a car. she did know that he didn't have a legit job but didn't question him on his source of high income. he was indited on charges and fled. the state, wanting to draw him out of hiding, went after his mother and charged her with i believe conspiracy, can't remember exactly. the state proceeded with criminal charges against her, however, they would've dropped the charges if turned himself in. he didn't, she recieved 20 years. now granted, she probably knew he was involved in illegial activities, and it's always best to distance yourself from people that are involved in things like that to minimize your risk of any BS, but what was done to this woman was completely bullshit and should not be allowed to happen in our courts. even the prosecuter said he didn't want to do this to her, but the powers that be above him forced him to. his only option to not do it would've been to resign, in which case the state would've just gotten another prosecuter to do it.

if the courts can fuck someone over like that just for knowing that their son was more than likely involved in drug trafficing and had recieved some gifts from his profit, imagine what they could come up with on the spot as a "probably cause" to tear your house to shreds.

 

[crew9]

source?

 

[Robert Jan]

This sort of thing is very dangerous.
It is naive to believe your privacy has no value if you dont do anything wrong, that would almost imply something silly like the government is just and operates in the interest of the people.

 

[Razorguns]

I don't care. they'll just find leftover pizza boxes and guitar strings. Knock yourself out boys.

 

[Smurfy]

what kind of a moron lets her son buy her a car without a legit income. hello? anyone home up there? sorry but that's complete idiocracy. if he didnt have legit income then, gee i guess that it was "not legit" income. so why would i drive around in a car bought for me with illegal monies. i wouldnt.

 

[Burning_Inside]

This can actually work to our benefits.

if you know cops can just waltz into your home, then hey, what better place to off a copper than at your own home?!?! Start building trap doors in the walkways! Buy attack dogs! Big ones! Cops causing you grief? Just go outside and make propable cause for entry, and sit back with your hand on the button and enjoy the fun!

 

[RaZor Ramon]

I don't see how this won't be overtuned as so as someone gets searched without a warrant and gets a good lawyer. It's goes directly against the 4 admendment.

 

[landser]

National Socialist state of America.

 

[Robert Jan]

How is this typical for socialism? more like totalitarianism

 

[The Wenis]

nobody needs to panic just yet. it only applies in the 5th circuit and likely won't withstand appellate review. the 5th circuit is a notoriously conservative court and often goes to far even for the supreme court. this will be one of those cases. it will be overturned.

 

[strongsmartsexy]

i dont anticipate ever having the cops wanting to search my home, warrant or not.

Well, here in Carlsbad last week the cops searched 25 homes and obtained warrants just because they had a higher electric bill than anticipate. At 5 of the homes they found nothing at all, and the other 20 hadn't enough of anything to have warranted even that much of a search.

Isn't that fun? You have a high electric bill, they can come search your house? What is next?

 

[manny78]

That's fucked up. You'd expect that from a Banana Republic but definitely not from the "Land of the free"...

 

[buddy28]

This is alarming. Encroaching police state.

 

[MattTheSkywalker]

Disgusting.

Poorly educated low wage earners now have the freedom to come into houses wherever they need (read: want) to.

Fuck this. It'll be overturned.

 

[Testosterone boy]

Well, here in Carlsbad last week the cops searched 25 homes and obtained warrants just because they had a higher electric bill than anticipate. At 5 of the homes they found nothing at all, and the other 20 hadn't enough of anything to have warranted even that much of a search.

Isn't that fun? You have a high electric bill, they can come search your house? What is next?

Must be 25 reef keepers in Carlsbad.

 

[landser]

How is this typical for socialism? more like totalitarianism

National Socialism is NAZISM. Ie: Fascism.

 

[strongsmartsexy]

Must be 25 reef keepers in Carlsbad.

Only 20 homes had it, and the ones that had it were personal use stuff, not anything of quantity.

The other 5 were searched and found nothing. The alarming point of this is that people were searched soley on the level of their electric bill. What's next? Phone bill? Credit card purchases? Water bill? Or just no reason at all?

 

[argent]

this should get overturned

 

[Testosterone boy]

Only 20 homes had it, and the ones that had it were personal use stuff, not anything of quantity.

The other 5 were searched and found nothing. The alarming point of this is that people were searched soley on the level of their electric bill. What's next? Phone bill? Credit card purchases? Water bill? Or just no reason at all?

Reef keepers maintain reef aquariums which are energy intensive due to lighting and circulation pumps etc,

 

[Buddy_Christ]

what kind of a moron lets her son buy her a car without a legit income. hello? anyone home up there? sorry but that's complete idiocracy. if he didnt have legit income then, gee i guess that it was "not legit" income. so why would i drive around in a car bought for me with illegal monies. i wouldnt.

good point and maybe i gave a bad example. try this one. someone that you know is dealing drugs, yet you're clueless. they get busted. they cut a deal with the DA to reduce their jail time. they implicate you. guess what....it's their word against yours and it only takes ONE PERSON'S testimony to find you guilty under the drug conspiracy laws. they get 5-7 years, you get 20.

that's going right back to the whole guilt by association thing. granted, you could probably get off on the charges, but it's enough to fuck your life up in the process. we've got some stupid laws. the sad thing is, they're enforced. it's all a numbers game when it comes down to drug charges. they nail a big fish, he gets a deal to turn over the names of 10 smaller fish. the prosecutor gets the credit for putting 11 people behind bars in the "war on drugs."

 

[jnuts]

Fuck this. It'll be overturned.

What he said.

 

[collegiateLifter]

as ChefWide is pointing out, guilt by association. you know how many people have been sent to jail just because they knew someone that was involved in drug dealing and didn't speak up? we discussed this and watched a movie on it in my Criminal Justice class last semester. a woman's son was a big time drug dealer. he had bought her some things, one of which was a car. she did know that he didn't have a legit job but didn't question him on his source of high income. he was indited on charges and fled. the state, wanting to draw him out of hiding, went after his mother and charged her with i believe conspiracy, can't remember exactly. the state proceeded with criminal charges against her, however, they would've dropped the charges if turned himself in. he didn't, she recieved 20 years. now granted, she probably knew he was involved in illegial activities, and it's always best to distance yourself from people that are involved in things like that to minimize your risk of any BS, but what was done to this woman was completely bullshit and should not be allowed to happen in our courts. even the prosecuter said he didn't want to do this to her, but the powers that be above him forced him to. his only option to not do it would've been to resign, in which case the state would've just gotten another prosecuter to do it.

if the courts can fuck someone over like that just for knowing that their son was more than likely involved in drug trafficing and had recieved some gifts from his profit, imagine what they could come up with on the spot as a "probably cause" to tear your house to shreds.

conspiracy my ass.

Sounds a lot like the Stasi of the DDR.

They couldn't stop the people from fleeing, so they would arrest family members.... sweet.

 

[Forge]

I am Jack's raging sadness.

 

[Y_lifter]

I'd like to see them come into our house without permission..

Our 3 Chihuahuas would eat them alive...

 

[Testosterone boy]

I'd like to see them come into our house without permission..

Our 3 Chihuahuas would eat them alive...

They might shoot them in "self defence".

 

[mcbruiser]

Any more news on this?

This kind of thing really burns me up, but is there anything we can do about it?