Question about searchs

[hanen]

What is the name of your state? North Carolina

This morning I woke up to the sound of the police banging on my door. They asked if there was someplace we could talk and i invited them in they said they were looking for 2 kids and then they proceeded to tell me that someone said i was a drug addict. They searched my bedroom my bathroom all my drawers my purse like a common criminal. I have never been in trouble a day in my life. After they were finished I asked them who told them this they told me they didn't know. my question is: Is this legal for them to do this on hear say and no proof and is there something I can do about this. I have no idea whats going on and to me this seems like harassment. Help me if you can please.

[CdwJava]

Originally Posted by hanen

Is this legal for them to do this on hear say and no proof and is there something I can do about this.

You can politely decline to allow them inside or permit them to search.


- Carl

[hanen]

So what your saying is anyone can say anything and your guilty until you prove you are innocent. Thats a very sad comment on our society now

[outonbail]

Originally Posted by hanen

So what your saying is anyone can say anything and your guilty until you prove you are innocent. Thats a very sad comment on our society now

No one found you guilty of anything. You invited the officers into your home. Once they were inside, if they were to see anything illegal or suspicious they had every right to investigate further.
If they didn't see anything illegal or suspicious, then they had no probable cause to search without your permission. They may get nosy and start to look around, but you had every right to tell them you didn't want them searching your home without a warrant and/or that you wanted them to leave your home at that point.

As far as someone saying you were a drug addict, I wouldn't stress it too much. First off, being a drug addict isn't illegal, it's an illness, a disease. Possessing controlled drugs, being under the influence and selling them is illegal. So if someone said you were a drug dealer they would be more interested in looking around in your home than if you were just a drug addict.

I guess the big question is, did they find anything while they were snooping around?
If not, then you just suffered some inconvenience. But I would think you learned something by the experience as well.
If they were very intrusive or intimidating and you felt as if you had no choice, or they refused to stop searching when you told them to, you can always file a complaint with their department.

If you don't want something like this happening again, then you should have learned that next time the police knock on your door, don't invite them inside your home. In fact, you don't have to answer the door at all if you don't want to.

If they actually did believe you were a drug dealer, they would have worked on getting enough probable cause to have a judge sign a search warrant. Once they have a search warrant, they wouldn't waste much time knocking on your door anyway, as it is much quicker and safer for them to just knock it down......

[CdwJava]

Originally Posted by hanen

So what your saying is anyone can say anything and your guilty until you prove you are innocent. Thats a very sad comment on our society now

This has nothing to do with guilt. The police received a complaint and they looked into it ... isn't that what we expect and hope the police will do with alleged crimes? If the police only sat back and wait for people to confess, we'd get awfully bored.

- Carl