What Searches Without a Warrant (“Warrant Exceptions”)?
• Police may search your property without a warrant if you consent to the search. Consent must be freely and voluntarily given, and you cannot be coerced or tricked into giving it. • Police may search your person and the immediate surroundings without a warrant when they are placing you under arrest. • If a person is arrested in a residence, police may make a “protective sweep” of the residence and make a “cursory visual inspection” of places where an accomplice may be hiding. In order to do so, the police must have a reasonable belief that an accomplice may be around. Example: The police arrest you in your living room on charges of murder. They may open the door of your coat closet to make sure that no one else is hiding there, but may not open your medicine cabinet because an accomplice could not hide there. • When you are being taken to jail, police may perform an “inventory search” of items you have with you without a warrant. This search may include your car in order to make a lis
