Police may ask for consent to a search of a home, office, or other property, or ask to talk about a crime they are investigating. This post covers what police may do if consent to a search is refused, whether to let them search, and whether to speak with them about an investigation. The answers below come from attorney Greg McCollum.
Frequently Asked Questions
What will the police do if I do not consent to a search?
Generally speaking, if the police are asking for permission to search, they’re asking you to agree to it. And if they’re asking you to agree, it’s because they do not have a search warrant. If the police have a search warrant, they are not going to ask permission. They’re going to knock on the door or knock the door down, literally, and come in and start tearing the house apart.
You have an expectation of privacy that is enhanced in a dwelling, for example, if you’re in your house, which could also be an apartment, a duplex, a condo, or anything that someone lives in, including hotel rooms.
If you’re staying in a hotel room, that’s really the equivalent of your house in terms of your expectation of privacy. Vehicles, you have a greatly diminished expectation of privacy, and the police have much more leeway to search.
At the same time, if they’re asking for your permission, they’re asking for you to validate that. If you give a lawful consent, then you can’t come back later and complain about it, with some exceptions regarding how long you’ve been detained pursuant to them asking those questions.
But if the police are asking you for consent to do something in general, you have the right to refuse. If you think it’s appropriate and you don’t want them to take that action or conduct that search, you have the right to refuse.
The police want to talk to me about a crime that they are investigating. Should I speak to them?
You have to follow your gut instinct on that. Certainly, if you know that your neighbor’s house was burglarized and the police come over and they were asking you questions of saying, “Did you see anybody?” or “Did you see a suspicious vehicle over there?”, then intuitively you would answer those questions because you certainly want to help in the investigation.
If you’re the target of the investigation, then what happens to most people is that they want to help the police even when they’re the subject of the investigation. This happens to people who are charged with crimes, and it happens to people who are charged with serious crimes.
People are taught to be polite, and it’s almost impolite to not answer a question if someone’s asking you a question. This is something that the police use. They use it to their advantage in an investigation.
Typically, when the police are questioning you and you think that you’re the target of the investigation, what is really going on is that they believe you committed a crime. They’re not really investigating it so much as they’re gathering evidence. And by you giving a statement to them, they’re getting that statement from you specifically so it can be used in court against you.
If the police ask to search my home, my office, or other property, should I let them?
Certainly, that depends on the circumstances. If the police are asking to search your home or your property, there’s one reason that they’re asking, and that’s because they do not have a search warrant or the legal authority to do it. So they’re asking you to consent to that. In other words, they’re asking you to give them permission to do something that they otherwise could not do.
There are two circumstances of that. One is that something may have just happened which you may be aware of, which may give rise to probable cause, and they may try to detain you to go get a search warrant, which will take a few hours. Either way, whether you give them a warrant or not, you’re probably going to be detained for several hours and forced to wait there while the police search.
Police searches can be pretty significant in terms of messing up your property and tossing your drawers and that sort of thing. The other situation where the police come and ask to search is what’s called a “knock and talk.” A knock and talk is done after the police have had a meeting and they have determined that they do not have the legal authority to search your house or your premises.
So what they are doing is they’re just going to give it a shot. They’re going to knock on the door and see if you’ll just somehow let them do something that otherwise they would not be allowed to do. If you’re subject to a knock and talk, and the police do not have a search warrant and do not have the basis to search, and you say no, you don’t consent, then they’re just going to leave because they really don’t have any other choice.
Talk to a South Carolina Criminal Defense Attorney
Facing a police request to search your property or answer questions about an investigation can be stressful, and the decisions made in those moments can matter later. Greg McCollum brings 30 years of experience and a background as a former prosecutor to defending clients in South Carolina.
If you have questions about police searches and questioning, call the Greg McCollum Complete Legal Defense Team at (843) 626-5480. Consultations are confidential.