NOTES It Doesn't Matter What They Intended: the Need for Objective
ABRAMOSKE_NOTE 4/23/2008 9:07:44 PM NOTES It Doesn’t Matter What They Intended: The Need for Objective Permissibility Review of Police-Created Exigencies in “Knock and Talk” Investigations “Because good proactive police work often creates exigencies, the legal issue is not simply whether the police created the exigency, but whether the police impermissibly created the exigency.”1 I. INTRODUCTION The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution protects citizens from unreasonable searches and seizures conducted by law enforcement personnel.2 This right is protected in part by the requirement that law enforcement officers obtain search warrants prior to searching for and seizing evidence.3 Searches conducted without a warrant are generally unreasonable.4 This warrant requirement is not absolute, however, as the Supreme Court recognizes exceptions when certain exigent circumstances exist.5 Exigent 1. Edward M. Hendrie, Creating Exigent Circumstances, FBI L. ENFORCEMENT BULL., Sept. 1996, at 2, available at http://www.fbi.gov/publications/leb/1996/sept966.txt (acknowledging legal issues arise when police create exigent circumstances through warrantless search). 2. U.S. CONST. amend. IV (establishing warrant requirement for searches, seizures, and arrests). The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. Id. 3. See, e.g., Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 357 (1967) (stating warrantless searches unreasonable, but subject to few “well-delineated” exceptions); McDonald v.
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