Community Caretaking Function Exception to the Warrant Requirement

The Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution protects us from unreasonable search and seizures. A warrantless search is considered unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment unless a recognized exception to the warrant requirement applies.

The law recognized a limited number of exceptions where police may conduct a search without a warrant. One of these exceptions is called the community caretaking exception.

This exception arises from a police officer’s function as a community caretaker to assist individuals in need of help.

Community caretaking by a police officer

Community caretaking by a police officer is separate and apart from the other, more well-known police functions to prevent, detect, and investigate crimes, apprehend criminal offenders, and collect evidence relating to crimes.

Scenarios police may conduct warrantless searches

There are many scenarios where police may conduct warrantless searches, relying on the community caretaking function.

An example includes:

• responding to a parked car occupied by a sleeping motorist
• encountering a homeless person sleeping on the sidewalk
• responding to a motor vehicle accident
• accompanying rescue workers to an emergency call for a drug overdose or trauma-based injury
• and more

In these circumstances, police encounter a suspect or property (container, vehicle, or home) that they subsequently search without a warrant yielding evidence of a crime.

The discovery of this evidence most often leads to charges and an arrest. Once arrested and charged, the defense will challenge the warrantless search as violative of the Fourth Amendment and the prosecution will respond that the warrantless action was reasonable under the community caretaking function.

Disputes in Court

Disputes arise in the courts regarding application of the community caretaking exception to the facts of each case, and specifically those leading up to and surrounding a search.

Disputes also arise when an officer’s actions begin as community caretaking, but evolve into a warrantless search to detect, locate, and/or acquire evidence of a crime.

Litigating community caretaking issues

Litigating community caretaking issues is complex, and is further complicated where many judges are prone to wanting to find a police officer’s actions to be reasonable, opposed to sanctioning their conduct and rewarding criminal defendants with the suppression of evidence.

If you have questions or concerns about the community caretaking exception to the warrant requirement, contact the RI Criminal Defense Law Office of John L. Calcagni III, Inc. for a free consultation at (401) 351-5100.