Justices increase powers of police to enter homes

Facts, not officers' motives, are what matter, the chief justice said.
LOS ANGELES TIMES
WASHINGTON -- Police officers may go into a home uninvited and without a search warrant to break up a fight they have seen through a window, the Supreme Court ruled Monday.
Usually, homes are off-limits to police and government searches, except when officers have obtained a warrant from a judge.
In the past, however, the court has said there is an exception for emergencies, such as a fire at the residence.
In Monday's decision, Chief Justice John Roberts said a fight in progress is the kind of emergency that justifies quick action by the police.
"The role of a peace officer includes preventing violence and restoring order, not simply rendering first aid to casualties," he said. "An officer is not a like a boxing [or hockey] referee, poised to stop a bout only if it becomes too one-sided."
Rulings overturned
The unanimous decision overturned rulings by the Utah state courts, which held that a loud party and a drunken fight did not give police reason enough to burst into a home without a warrant.
The state's judges said the officers in this case appeared more interested in breaking up the loud party than in aiding a seriously injured person.
But Roberts said the officers' motives did not matter. What counts, he said, are the objective facts.
"In these circumstances, the officers had an objectively reasonable basis for believing both that the injured adult might need help and that the violence in the kitchen was just beginning. Nothing in the Fourth Amendment required them to wait until another blow rendered someone 'unconscious' and 'semi-conscious' or worse before entering," the chief justice wrote.
About the case
The case began in the early morning hours of July 23, 2000, when police in Brigham City, Utah, responded to a complaint about a loud party. The four officers heard shouting from inside the house, including calls to "Stop! Stop!"
When they walked down the driveway, they saw two juveniles drinking beer in the backyard. From there, they saw through the kitchen window a young man swing his fist and strike one of the adults in the face, drawing blood.
The officers, shouting "police," entered the kitchen door, broke up the fight and arrested several of the adults for being drunk and disorderly. They in turn demanded the police leave the premises.
When the Utah courts suppressed the evidence against the adults, state prosecutors urged the court to hear the case to clarify what is considered an emergency exception to the Fourth Amendment.
Roberts said the officers did not need a warrant because they were breaking up a fight, not searching the premises. Moreover, they did not need to knock on the door before entering because they would not have been heard.