Evolution of the “Community Caretaking” Exception for Residential Entries

From the Classroom
The Evolution of the “Community Caretaking” Exception for Residential Entries
By Ray Hill
Professor Emeritus, Santa Rosa Junior College

In the late 1960s, I recall a dispatch: “13-L-7.Welfare Check at 976 Diablo Ave. Neighbor reports she has not seen her other neighbor for two days. Car is parked in the driveway. No answer to phone calls or knock at the door.”

In those cases, we went to the home, knocked at the door, and if no answer, we circled the perimeter of the home and sometimes made entry in the least destructive manner. The motive was never to find evidence. We never even thought we were violating the Fourth Amendment or that we could be civilly liable for entry. A welfare check was just part of routine field procedure. More often than not, we solved the call and very rarely “plain viewed” any contraband inside the residence.

But those were the old days. You’re reading a different script today. The U.S. Supreme Court and California Supreme Court have “unequivocally rejected” any argument to expand a “community caretaking exception” to justify a warrantless entry and/or search of a home (Caniglia v. Strom (2021) 593 U.S. 194). Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court overruled a Montana Supreme Court decision ....

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