As a general rule, you have a right to privacy in your own home. The police may want to come in, but they don’t always have the right to do so. Citizens in America can expect a certain level of privacy and any searches on their property must be carried out lawfully.
To understand if this has happened or not, you need to know why you have to let the police into your home. Here are three ways that it can happen.
1. You give them consent
First and foremost, you can always consent to a search. The police will sometimes simply arrive at a home and ask if they can look around. This is not to say that it’s advisable to allow them to do so, but you technically do have that right if you would like to exercise it.
2. They have a warrant
The second situation is if you do not give them consent but they produce a warrant. What this means is that they’ve contacted the judge, shown that they have some sort of probable cause, and gotten a warrant to go into your home against your wishes. You should certainly ask them if you can see the warrant, but, if they do have it, then you have to abide by it.
3. There’s an emergency
In a sometimes controversial situation, if the police believe there’s an emergency, then they can enter your home. This often means that they think that evidence is being destroyed, that there’s a public danger or that a crime is actually in process at the time.
If the police have conducted an illegal search, then they may have violated your rights. This can severely impact evidence from the case, so it’s important for you to know what steps to take.