Knock-and-talk is a bad policy, because it sets up an adversarial relationship between citizens and the police.
Instead of encouraging people to support their local police force, knock-and-talk creates an atmosphere of fear and distrust.
In Michigan, the police seem to have great deal of legal authority and ability to search a person’s home. It goes without saying that police have the right to search your home if they have applied and received a search warrant from a Judge. There are many ways to get a search warrant and police will often obtain one prior to raiding a home. The most important thing needed to obtain a search warrant is probable cause that a crime is being committed or was committed.
However, police will use an abundance of tactics to get into your home so that they can obtain evidence even without a warrant. This is where your right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures comes in. The police cannot do anything they want. Under the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution and Article 1, § 11 of the Michigan Constitution, individuals have the right to be secure against unreasonable searches and seizures where they have an expectation of privacy.
Well one exception is when police have objective evidence that you are destroying evidence and have to break into your home to stop it. Another is when police believe that there is a medical emergency and need to break in to help a dying or injured person. A third exception is when police are pursuing a fleeing felon and they enter a home in pursuit. In that case, police are justified in entering the home. However, simply standing outside of a home and seeing evidence of a crime or smelling marijuana does not justify a police officer entering your home without a warrant. The police may use that evidence to obtain a warrant, but they are not allowed to break in without your permission for those reasons.
Here Is The Opinion From The Michigan Court of Appeals in 2001
“We conclude that in the context of knock and talk the mere fact that the officers initiated contact with a citizen does not implicate constitutional protection. IT is unreasonable to think that simply because one is at home that they are free form having the police come to their house an initiate a conversation. The fact that the motive for the contact is an attempt to secure permission to conduct a search does not change that reason. We find nothing within a constitutional framework that would preclude the police form setting the process in motion by imitating contact and, consequently, we hold that the knock and talk tactic employed by the police is constitutional.”
Recently, our Supreme Court has decided to take up the question of whether police can employ this tactic in the dark at 5 in the morning and still have it be considered constitutional. However, as of now it is constitutional. As citizens, we all must remember that we have the right to ignore the police regardless of how much of disturbance they cause, regardless of what the police themselves say to those they are trying coerce, and regardless of the tactics they employ.
Never Give The Police Entry Into Your Home Without A Warrant
What to do in the event of a police Knock and Talk at your home or grow facility.
Click on the video below.
[YOUTUBEIF]7G2TUfYVHRU[/YOUTUBEIF]
The Michigan Medical Marihuana Act does not protect a person from arrest if the person's registry identification card is not reasonably accessible at the location of arrest.
The caregiver must however have the patient’s paperwork at the location of the grow facility.
A patient has the right to possess 12 plants and-or 2.5 ounces of the drug. Caregivers have the right to supply up to six people with medical marijuana and possess up to 72 plants.
More people might decline these searches if cops had to inform them of the right to refuse, said Florida State University College of Law Associate Dean Wayne Logan. "Unlike Miranda, police don't have to advise homeowners of their Fourth Amendment rights," he said.
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday gave police more leeway to break into homes or apartments in search of illegal drugs when they suspect the evidence might be destroyed.
The justices said officers who smell marijuana and loudly knock on the door may break in if they hear sounds that suggest the residents are scurrying to hide the drugs.
And once residents let officers in, they have little recourse if police ransack their homes or violate their rights, said Orlando defense attorney Donald A. Lykkebak. "The smart thing to do is insist they get a warrant."
Please stay in complete compliance for your own safety!
Instead of encouraging people to support their local police force, knock-and-talk creates an atmosphere of fear and distrust.
In Michigan, the police seem to have great deal of legal authority and ability to search a person’s home. It goes without saying that police have the right to search your home if they have applied and received a search warrant from a Judge. There are many ways to get a search warrant and police will often obtain one prior to raiding a home. The most important thing needed to obtain a search warrant is probable cause that a crime is being committed or was committed.
However, police will use an abundance of tactics to get into your home so that they can obtain evidence even without a warrant. This is where your right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures comes in. The police cannot do anything they want. Under the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution and Article 1, § 11 of the Michigan Constitution, individuals have the right to be secure against unreasonable searches and seizures where they have an expectation of privacy.
Well one exception is when police have objective evidence that you are destroying evidence and have to break into your home to stop it. Another is when police believe that there is a medical emergency and need to break in to help a dying or injured person. A third exception is when police are pursuing a fleeing felon and they enter a home in pursuit. In that case, police are justified in entering the home. However, simply standing outside of a home and seeing evidence of a crime or smelling marijuana does not justify a police officer entering your home without a warrant. The police may use that evidence to obtain a warrant, but they are not allowed to break in without your permission for those reasons.
Here Is The Opinion From The Michigan Court of Appeals in 2001
“We conclude that in the context of knock and talk the mere fact that the officers initiated contact with a citizen does not implicate constitutional protection. IT is unreasonable to think that simply because one is at home that they are free form having the police come to their house an initiate a conversation. The fact that the motive for the contact is an attempt to secure permission to conduct a search does not change that reason. We find nothing within a constitutional framework that would preclude the police form setting the process in motion by imitating contact and, consequently, we hold that the knock and talk tactic employed by the police is constitutional.”
Recently, our Supreme Court has decided to take up the question of whether police can employ this tactic in the dark at 5 in the morning and still have it be considered constitutional. However, as of now it is constitutional. As citizens, we all must remember that we have the right to ignore the police regardless of how much of disturbance they cause, regardless of what the police themselves say to those they are trying coerce, and regardless of the tactics they employ.
Never Give The Police Entry Into Your Home Without A Warrant
What to do in the event of a police Knock and Talk at your home or grow facility.
Click on the video below.
[YOUTUBEIF]7G2TUfYVHRU[/YOUTUBEIF]
The Michigan Medical Marihuana Act does not protect a person from arrest if the person's registry identification card is not reasonably accessible at the location of arrest.
The caregiver must however have the patient’s paperwork at the location of the grow facility.
A patient has the right to possess 12 plants and-or 2.5 ounces of the drug. Caregivers have the right to supply up to six people with medical marijuana and possess up to 72 plants.
More people might decline these searches if cops had to inform them of the right to refuse, said Florida State University College of Law Associate Dean Wayne Logan. "Unlike Miranda, police don't have to advise homeowners of their Fourth Amendment rights," he said.
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday gave police more leeway to break into homes or apartments in search of illegal drugs when they suspect the evidence might be destroyed.
The justices said officers who smell marijuana and loudly knock on the door may break in if they hear sounds that suggest the residents are scurrying to hide the drugs.
And once residents let officers in, they have little recourse if police ransack their homes or violate their rights, said Orlando defense attorney Donald A. Lykkebak. "The smart thing to do is insist they get a warrant."
Please stay in complete compliance for your own safety!
