j4bs4209333
Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Massachusetts
I am wondering if police can legally search a victim's property or do they have to get a warrant first. A friend of mine had his house broken into by a neighbor. There was a witness and the police arrested the person and recovered the stolen property, which was a flat screen tv and also a small fireproof safe which was locked. The suspect has a long record and just finished doing 5yrs for a similar incident. Just a guess here but I imagine upon his arrest he knew he was caught red handed so he started telling the cops whatever might interest them. I'm sure he told the cops my friend might run an unlicensed pharmacy, for lack of better words. The stolen property was held as evidence in the b&e case, which is normal. About 5 days later the police call my friend and say they want him to open the safe in front of them. He refuses because there's a couple of thing inside if you know what I mean. A few more days go by and a detective shows up at my friend's house telling him that they opened the safe and he had 2 choices, either set up his guy or they would summons him in on 4 counts of possession with intent. He refused to set anyone up so they summons him in on 2 class b's a class c and a class d all with intent. I want to know if they had any right to just open up a safe. The safe required a key as well as a 4 digit passcode so they must have pried it open. Do they need a warrant to do this? They have yet to produce a search warrant for anything. There was also a decent amount of cash in the safe. If he gets off on the criminal charges they will have to return the money right?
I am wondering if police can legally search a victim's property or do they have to get a warrant first. A friend of mine had his house broken into by a neighbor. There was a witness and the police arrested the person and recovered the stolen property, which was a flat screen tv and also a small fireproof safe which was locked. The suspect has a long record and just finished doing 5yrs for a similar incident. Just a guess here but I imagine upon his arrest he knew he was caught red handed so he started telling the cops whatever might interest them. I'm sure he told the cops my friend might run an unlicensed pharmacy, for lack of better words. The stolen property was held as evidence in the b&e case, which is normal. About 5 days later the police call my friend and say they want him to open the safe in front of them. He refuses because there's a couple of thing inside if you know what I mean. A few more days go by and a detective shows up at my friend's house telling him that they opened the safe and he had 2 choices, either set up his guy or they would summons him in on 4 counts of possession with intent. He refused to set anyone up so they summons him in on 2 class b's a class c and a class d all with intent. I want to know if they had any right to just open up a safe. The safe required a key as well as a 4 digit passcode so they must have pried it open. Do they need a warrant to do this? They have yet to produce a search warrant for anything. There was also a decent amount of cash in the safe. If he gets off on the criminal charges they will have to return the money right?