Ep. #279: Can police go into a backyard for a noise complaint?

📌 Police officers' conduct in entering defendant's house in middle of night without warrant, in order to turn down loud music that was disturbing neighbors, was subject to Fourth Amendment standards, regardless of whether that conduct was primarily directed at abating loud noise rather than enforcing the law.

Specifically, under the particular facts of this case, we must consider whether an ongoing and highly intrusive breach of a neighborhood's peace in the middle of the night constitutes “exigent circumstances,” and therefore justifies a warrantless entry. As always, we must make this determination in light of Fourth Amendment principles and precedent, and we must be mindful of the needs of the community and society's expectation of the legitimate role of the police....

To the extent, therefore, that the case law addresses situations analogous to the one with which we are confronted, these precedents suggest that a late night disturbance of the peace might well present exigent circumstances that would justify the Canton officers' warrantless entry into Defendant's home. In addition, we believe that the policies which underlie the various traditional exigencies lead to this same result. We previously cited three important considerations in a typical “exigent circumstances” inquiry: (1) whether immediate government action was required, (2) whether the governmental interest was sufficiently compelling to justify a warrantless intrusion, and (3) whether the citizen's expectation of privacy was diminished in some way. Applying these principles in this case, we find that each of these considerations indicates that the warrantless entry into Defendant's home was justified by exigent circumstances.

10 First, the Canton police officers undoubtedly confronted a situation in which time was of the essence. The officers testified that they arrived at Defendant's residence in the middle of the night in response to complaints from neighbors, and that they could hear loud music at least a block away from the home. Upon their arrival at the scene, they were confronted by an irate group of pajama-clad neighbors. Had the officers attempted to secure a warrant, it is clear that the aural assault emanating from Defendant's home would have continued unabated for a significant period of time. Thus, if we insist on holding to the warrant requirement under these circumstances, we in effect tell Defendant's neighbors that “mere” loud and disruptive noise in the middle of the night does not pose “enough” of an emergency to warrant an immediate response, perhaps because such a situation “only” threatens the neighbors' tranquility rather than their lives or property. We doubt that this result would comport with the neighbors' understanding of “reasonableness.” Further, because nothing in the Fourth Amendment requires us to set aside our common sense, we decline to read that Amendment's “reasonableness” and warrant requirements as authorizing timely governmental responses only in cases involving life-threatening danger. United States v. Rohrig, 98 F.3d 1506, 1520–21 (6th Cir. 1996)

[T]his court feels that the most compelling argument for warrantless entry was made by the city when it brought this court's attention to Rohrig. While it appears that the Eight District has not embraced the reasoning in Rohrig, this court could not find any case law that has rejected it. Moreover, it appears that other Ohio appellate courts have recognized the governmental interest cited in Rohrig ; acknowledging a police officer's duty to preserve the peace. State v. Namay, 106 Ohio Misc. 2d 72, 77, 735 N.E.2d 526, 529 (Mun. 2000)

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