Pubdate: Mon, 23 May 2011 Source: Seattle Times (WA) Copyright: 2011 The Seattle Times Company Contact: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/409 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/raids.htm (Drug Raids) SUPREME COURT'S FOURTH AMENDMENT RULING GIVES POLICE TOO MUCH DISCRETION The U.S. Supreme Court confirmed last week police officers who smell drugs, knock loudly and listen may find the exigent circumstances to enter a home before obtaining a warrant. This is too much discretion in the hands of law enforcement. A U.S. Supreme Court ruling fragments the force of the Fourth Amendment. The ruling leaves the Constitution's protection against warrantless searches as a symbolic right, easily sidestepped in practice by police. Two Kentucky police officers sparked the case when, in search of a suspect, they broke into an apartment smelling of marijuana for fear of evidence being destroyed. They got the wrong place but still found illegal drugs. The Fourth Amendment once emphasized the right to the security of one's home. The U.S. Supreme Court now confirms that police who smell drugs, knock loudly and listen may find the circumstances necessary to enter a home before obtaining a warrant. This leaves the law too open to the interpretation of law-enforcement personnel. Rather than placing more pressure on police to stay in line with the Constitution, the court places the weight of proving constitutional rights on citizens. That does not translate well for poorer communities, where mistrust of police is high. People in these communities may not find the sound of the police knocking on their door to be the inviting call the Supreme Court majority described. The ruling falls among a patchwork of exceptions to the Fourth Amendment that the courts, unwilling to inquire into the subjective intent of law enforcement, have created. Yet, giving law enforcement such discretion in claiming exigent circumstances allows even more subjective intent between police and constitutional protections. In a solo dissent, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg rightly recognized the danger of allowing the Fourth Amendment to crumble to police discretion. Requiring police to acquire a warrant should be the rule, not the exception. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom