Article Review Paper: Knock & Talk

Article Review Paper: Knock & Talk

Article Review: Knock and Talk
University of Phoenix
CJA353
Roy Hill
October 12, 2007

With increasing frequency, police officers are entering homes and conducting de facto searches as part of modern “knock and talk” procedures.   Essentially the officers use their implicit authority to inquire about crime and request entrance into the target home to talk about it.   Once inside via “consent,” the officers see all manner of alleged criminal activity “in plain view” and then “freeze the scene” and secure a search warrant. (Holcomb, 2001)
But the knock-and-talk is more pernicious than it sounds.   Law enforcement officers get information from the crime lines, other police departments, organizations such as MADD and informants outside the county.   But most of the tips come from the average person in the street - your neighbors.   That means the potential for abuse and revenge is built into the system.   (Holcomb, 2001)
Not only are police not obligated to warn people of their rights, they often stretch the truth to gain access to homes.   The cops play fast and loose with the rules. For example, when police are told they can't come into a home without a warrant, the cops shift gears and say they're coming in because of evidence of a crime in plain view or the smell of drugs in the air, both of which are legal reasons to search a home without a warrant.   There are exceptions to the search-warrant requirement like plain view or plain odor.   The police know exactly what they are doing.   (Holcomb, 2001)
Knock and talk may be a legitimate police tactic if the officers scrupulously observe our zones of privacy. Suppose the police gain entrance by ruse or unlawfully entering the closed common area. Does the consent of the occupant to enter the dwelling justify any subsequent search?   The answer is whether the police were standing in a place they had the right to be at the time they ask for entry into the interior premises. (Holcomb, 2001)
The best defense...