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Alright guys, this is a question that comes up a lot. It is when can we enter a home after a 911? Hang up? Right? I shouldn't really say 911 Hang up. And let me give you some context here from my email. All right, there's officers from Texas, you know, we often get sent to Nemo and hang up calls with no information provided by the caller. When we get on scene and someone answers the door, they typically tell us everything is fine. You know, inside it was also it was an accident. My question is, at what point do we have an obligation to go inside the home to check on the welfare of others. So the cop will typically ask if there's anyone else inside. And if they say no, and the cop doesn't have any reason to believe anyone else is inside there, then the officer concludes the investigation leaves. Now they tell the officer that someone is inside, I let them know that I want to check on the person to check on their welfare, and typically give them the option of bringing them to the cop right to the door, or the COP is going to potentially make a forced entry and walk past the husband, let's say and go check on people. Now, let's say that we get a 911 Hang up. And upon meeting the caller at the front door, we are informed it was an accident that they dialed 911 and everything is fine. They then tell us that there are other people inside but no emergency exists. We don't see anything that would indicate an emergency. I don't hear anything that would give us exigent circumstances to enter the home. The question is, are we obligated to check on the rest of the residents welfare inside the home? And if we enter the home without consent or any other agency, would that be violating the person's rights? All right. This is a great question. And you know that this comes up all the time. So let's just kind of address it now. First of all, the laws, you know that the officer can recognize that he's did some research and the case was a little over the place. I will say that the majority of the cases seem to be supportive of the officer's actions. Right of going in of making sure that people okay nama one hangups, you know, can be pretty serious. But this is 2021. This is not your grandparents Police Department. There are a lot of stuff going down today that was would never have gone down even 10 years ago. So the game that we're playing today is way more advanced is way more protective of your liability. Okay. So with that said, Here's what I teach. Number one. What is the rule? The rule is this falls under the emergency aid exception. This is not a does not fall under community caretaking. We know that community caretaking does not apply to homes. Right, we have that from a US Supreme Court case called Coniglio versus strong caretaking Communicare taking is a pretty a relatively low standard where cops just want to make sure that people are okay; that's not the standard that we use anymore. We are definitely in the ballpark of exigency emergency urgency, and that falls under the emergency aid exception. So, therefore, in order for you to push past the husband, for example, and check on the occupants, you're going to be able to need to articulate some ongoing emergency where time is of the essence. The 911 Hang up is certainly a big part of that. But what I would like you to tell me is something more I'm sure there's something more okay, if all you have all you have is a non moment hang up and the person saying look it's just a mistake, you know, the kids are playing with the phone or whatever. I would be careful but Anthony there could be so many dead or dying in there. I get it. And with freedom comes tragedy, right. So sometimes people do get hurt when you actually respect people's rights and you don't necessarily just you know, push away in on every single not one hang up simply because it's an I want to hang up. Accidents do happen. Tragedies also occur, you know, same argument for the Second Amendment right. The second amendment causes tragedy, it is just the way a freedom loving society works. So my point here is that I would want my cops to have something more than simply a vanilla pneumonia. I would want to see any blood in the ground. I would want to see the husband acting abnormally nervous. I want to see a history at the house. I want to see broken dishes. I want to hear that the neighbors are saying yeah, they've been they've been going out of town. Cats and dogs, I want to see kids, you know, there are kids in the house. And you know, you see one of them, and they look scared and so forth. I just, I would like cops to have something more usually there is something more. Okay, look at the the person's behavior. Is the husband lying to you?
Is there any kind of deception there? Right? And the cop says, Do we have an obligation? Well, this may surprise you. But generally speaking, the answer's no, not a legal obligation, you may have a moral obligation, you may have a policy, you may have your Sergeant saying, hey, we'll look we're going to go clear that house, and you go from there, right. But as far as a legal obligation, it's very hard to hold cops responsible for situations where they don't go in, because they don't feel that they have the proper ingredients to go in and justify, you know, emergency aid exception, and somebody actually is hurt in the house and they try to sue you. It's it would almost it's very hard, okay, I'm not saying that they can't see you. But it is extremely hard. But I'm not here the message of, you know, go about your career. And just because they can't see you, that means you're not going to do anything, do the right thing. Now, there are some times when the right thing to do is to turn around and leave the house. I mean, it's just the way it is. That is part of a freedom loving society. So in 2021, okay, and beyond, it's only gonna get harder. If you are going to push away past that occupant. I really would like you to have several reasons about why do you think somebody in that house needs or wants your help? needs or wants your help? Tell me why. I promise you in the vast majority of cases, if you if there is something going on, there's something there. There's clues there. Look, open your eyes, look for those things. Look for the you know, the all the telltale signs that something more is going on there. More than just a simple hang up. And the husband is, you know, telling you that everything is fine. He doesn't want you in the house. Okay. But that's the answer. I wish I had something better. I wish I had something black and white, I don't have black and white. I can't tell you, not one hang up equals an entry. That's not the rule. And you would be very hard pressed, you have a bad day in court. If you went into and you were getting sued or you know, you're getting irate over this. And you simply said, I go in every single time there's a hang up, that's not really the rule. Instead, it's the emergency aid exception. Tell me why. Okay, that's the best I can do for you. You have to make these decisions. I can't make them for you. But I do teach report writing. And I do have a rule of five. Give me five reasons about why you did what you did. You would be surprised if you really push yourself how many things are out there. That's what I have for you. I hope it helps. Do the best job you can. And you know, you're you're doing the right thing, but just tell me why. All right. And it is okay sometimes to back down in the turn around and leave the guy's house. With that said Do me a favor. Hit like hit subscribe. Tell your friends about us. Alright my friends. Until next time, stay safe.
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