The situation: You and 75 of your closest friends or drunkest frat brothers or sorority sisters are packed into the living room of the duplex that you are renting when you here someone yell, "It's the cops!" Many scream and bodies start scattering like roaches... What do you do? What are your rights?
If you're at someone else's house you have less to worry about than if it is your residence, and if you are a minor and alcohol is involved, you may receive a citation but that is trivial with what could happen if you run or worse yet, if you are uncooperative or fight. However, if it is your house, you are the one to maintain control of the situation and interact with the officers.
Before Interacting with the Officers at the Door:
1. Keep your activities hidden.
Whatever it is you are doing it is none of their business unless you allow it. I am surprised that I am even writing this, as it seems quite obvious. This means, keep the blinds closed, do not open the door and stand with it open, etc. Anything that falls within an officer's view will allow the officer access to enter the house. The most important activity you can take is to keep the officer OUTSIDE your residence... after all, this is YOUR CASTLE.
2. ALWAYS make sure that only YOU OPEN THE DOOR (No one else should ever open the door for the officer).
Try to ensure that everyone knows not to open the door if the police are called. Even if an officer yells through a window or at the door for a guest to open it, the guest should come and get you. While this is an ideal goal, it is often not realistic as the substances that may make a party really "good" at the same time cause the imbibers of said substances to make poor decisions.
Ideally, you want someone to work the door and to ensure it is shut immediately after people enter or exit. Your right to protect your home from being searched is dramatically reduced if someone else lets an officer inside, where the officer may see more and more evidence and get to cover more space under the "plain-sight" rule.
Meeting the Officer(s) Outside 3. Come from a door where the officer(s) are not or immediately shut the door behind you.
Take a deep breath, calm yourself and step outside; If you know the officer is standing on the other side of the door, you might consider going out the back door and meeting the officer where he stands. You can always say that you were outside and someone told you he or she was on the porch. But, if you do go out the door the officer is standing at, immediately shut the door behind you. This is crucial and serves multiple purposes: 1) it makes it much harder for the police to enter, 2) it stops the smell of drugs and metabolized alcohol from escaping, 3) it lowers sound levels, and 4) it prohibits the police from viewing any incriminating evidence like bongs that may have been left in plain view.
4. When talking to officers, be calm and non-confrontational.
Introduce yourself as the owner, renter, or whatever role you have with the property and ask the officer(s) how you can assist them. Remain calm and remember that officers exist to protect us. Treat them like you would any unexpected visitor - remember that Golden Rule? You have nothing to gain and a lot to lose by being aggressive, hostile, or a favorite "officer word" belligerent. Try to put yourself in the officer's boots and think about what you would want to do if you responded to a call for a loud party and the host treated you rudely. You too would probably want to shut down the party!
5. When talking, respect authority
Use the title, "Officer." Keep in mind that officers put their lives at risk in order to make our neighborhoods safe. So treat them with the respect they deserve. Call them by their official title, "Officer [Name on Shirt]," or "Sir/Ma'am." Some may take offense if you don't. Officers like it when you acknowledge their authority.
6. Determine why the officers are there.
Sometimes officers are nearby for another reason. An example, when I was sixteen, I was stopped and questioned about my presence in a neighborhood. The officer questioned me, insinuating that I had been doing something illegal. It turns out the officer was actually looking for someone who had toilet-papered a house and shot the front door with paint balls. The point of the story: do not assume the officers know what illegal things you are up to, even if they pretend they know.
It is possible the officer sat your door are asking about something going on in the neighborhood, but it is probably a safe bet they are there because of the noise complaint caused by your drunken friends rapping along to old M.C. Hammer. With some luck, there's a good chance the officers will leave if you agree to turn down the music and not "make them come back...."
7. NEVER CONSENT to a search or admission without a warrant.
You must protect your home at all costs. Do not consent to the officers entering. Officers will not tell you about your right to refuse their entry. But you have that right, and it's your responsibility to know that and to exercise the right.
Explicitly state that without a search warrant, you will not let them inside. The only reason officers ask you if they can enter is because they don't have enough evidence to search without your consent. I repeat: The only reason officers ask you if they can enter is because they don't have enough evidence to search without your consent. If you do not give them your consent, they cannot enter.
Tell the officers you understand they are doing their job and you will keep the music down. Then ask if there is anything else you can do and if you are free to go. It doesn't matter what they say; there's never a reason to allow them into your home.
If the officers say: "If nothing illegal is going on inside, then you have no reason to object to my entry." [They may then try to walk by you, interpreting your silence as consent].
You should respond: "Officer, I know you are doing your job, but I do not consent to any searches. Am I free to go?"
This stops them from entering without a warrant. If they threaten to go and get a warrant, agree to that, even if they say that an officer will remain by the doorway. If they do enter anyway and find illegal items, an Austin Criminal Defense Attorney will likely have the evidence suppressed and excluded because the items were discovered through an illegal search.
Allowing the police inside gives up your 4th Amendment right, which protects you from unreasonable searches and seizures. Most police searches happen because people unknowingly waive their 4th Amendment rights by consenting to warrantless searches. Keep in mind that "consenting to warrantless searches" could mean standing idly by as the officers try to walk inside the front door. You must actively refuse searches, but verbally state your refusal, do not grab hold of or use force against an officer to prevent his entry.
If the officers say something like, "We have to do a routine check to make sure everything is okay inside," they are trying to trick you into giving up your rights and getting you to consent to a search. (But, if the reason they are there is for a 911 hang-up call from the residence or because they here someone screaming for help, they may have a right to enter as an "exigent circumstance.)
If officers begin to put the pressure on, an effective tactic is to answer their questions with questions but do not ever consent.
8. Answer their Questions with Questions ("Am I Free to Go?")
If they say: "I smell pot. Are people smoking marijuana inside?"
You respond: "Sir, I don't smell anything. Am I free to go?"
If they say: "We need to do a routine check inside."
You respond: "I will keep the music down, officer. Am I free to go?"
While this is a voluntary encounter, remember you walked up to the officer, I would not advise saying, "Thank you, but I'm going back inside." While you may legally be entitled to terminate the encounter, the problem is that you still have the police at your door.
9. Tell the truth or remain silent - do not lie.
Officers can tell when you are not being truthful. They have busted way too many parties to fall for anything less than honesty. Lying will irritate the officers and give them a reason to bust your party. You can always mimic politicians and try to avoid questions by changing the subject.
Officer: "Those people that went inside looked underage. Are you supplying alcohol to minors?" You respond: "Officer, if the music is too loud, I will turn it down. Am I free to go?"
Officer: "You didn't answer my question. Are you supplying alcohol minors?" Then, make sure you remain silent and ... 10. Do not answer any questions about illegal activities without your attorney there.
If they say: "You didn't answer me. Are you supplying alcohol to minors?" You respond: "Officer, I have nothing to say until I speak with a lawyer. I will turn the music down. Am I free to go?"
If you do not feel comfortable answering their questions truthfully, then remain silent. Anything you say can and will be held against you, and everything you do not say cannot and will not be held against you. So do not give them anything to work with. You cannot get in trouble for refusing to answer questions.
Remember that if the officers do not have enough evidence to develop probable cause for a warrant or consent, they cannot enter. And, refusing to answer questions does not count as evidence to be used against you.
Unless officers think you are committing a serious crime, there is almost no chance that they will get a search warrant for your house, and if they do, then you deal with that later. If you remain calm and agree to turn down the music, the police will likely leave and then you will have a story to embellish....
You and only you can exercise your rights. The law is on your side, so use it. Refuse searches. Remain silent.
Dax Garvin, Attorney and Counselor At law is an experienced Austin Texas DWI Attorney at http://www.daxlegal.com
I graduated from Texas Tech University School of Law in May, 2002, and was licensed to practice law in Texas that November, following the July, 2002, Texas Bar Exam. Prior to that, I obtained my Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice from the University of Texas at Tyler and my first years of undergraduate work were spent at Austin College in Sherman, Texas, where I learned the true passion of humanity-recognizing we are all part of one great society.
I worked in the Travis County Attorney's Office from August, 2002, until October, 2003, when I entered into private practice with a mid-size Austin civil litigation firm, where I enhanced my skills for legal research, writing, motion practice, and working with insurance companies from the defense perspective.
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