Conscientious police?
You have to wonder whether there is more to the story. Police in Lakeville, MN apparently implemented a public service campaign to remind people to secure their homes and residences. It seems they do this in the middle of the night, as one resident found out. According to an AP story, police knocked on someone's door, and couldn't get anyone to answer - so they went inside. There were 4 children there, who were having a sleepover. They told the officer their father was upstairs, so the police went in and woke him up, and apparently asked if everything was alright. If I was awakened in my bedroom at 3:00 a.m. by a police officer, I would have to say no!
Maybe I'm too skeptical, but I wonder if there wasn't some other reason they wanted to go inside and look around. There's a doctrine called the community caretaking exception, which allows police to skip getting a warrant when they reasonably believe someone is in danger. I think this would be carrying it a little too far though.
All joking aside, stories like this show why our founding fathers wanted to be sure we had protection against unwarranted government intrusion. That's what the Fourth Amendment is for. While it is generally only an issue in criminal cases, it exists for everyone, to protect us all against unwanted drop ins.
Its worthwhile to remember that in many countries, this is nothing out of the ordinary. It's also worthwhile to remember that this why we, as criminal defense lawyers, do what we do.
Criminal defense lawyers are the ones who hold the government accountable, and in doing so, ensure that everyone keeps the freedoms that so many have fought and died for. So that we can all go to bed, and expect only the alarm clock to wake us up.
