Emergency entry is warranted in the following situation where a police officer tries to prevent physical harm of an individual (Miller & Wright, 2019). When police officers are in pursuit of a suspect in a criminal investigation, they are likely to follow them to their residential home. If they follow the suspect into their house where they hear occupants in the house scream or hear noises that suggest someone is being harmed physically, police officers have the right to enter warrantless to protect the individual being hurt.
Another exigent circumstance is preventing of the destruction of evidence relevant to a criminal investigation. If police officers arrive at a suspect’s home and have a reasonable belief that evidence is being destroyed, they have the right to enter without a warrant (Miller & Wright, 2019). Evidence to suggest the destruction of evidence is taking place includes but is not limited to verbal confirmation where police officers can hear suspects signaling each other to destroy the evidence or can see the victims destroying the evidence.
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Another exigent circumstance is when a police officer is in hot pursuit of a fleeing suspect. Police officers may not have the time to get a warrant from a magistrate; this would count as an exigent circumstance (Bergman, & Berman, 2018). If police officers were to follow a suspect of a crime committed, they have the right to search and seize any evidence they find once they capture the suspect regardless of whether they have a warrant or not (Bergman, & Berman, 2018). The evidence they acquire from the search could help in solving a crime which would have otherwise not been solved if the evidence is not collected at that time.
References
Bergman, P., & Berman, S. J. (2018). The criminal law handbook: Know your rights, survive the system. Nolo.
Miller, M. L., & Wright, R. F. (2019). Criminal Procedures: The Police. Aspen Publishers.
