Do the Chicago police need a search warrant to enter a home?
Robert J Callahan: Absolutely they need a search warrant to come in your house. Does that mean they’re not going to come in your house if you confront them with the fact that they don’t have a search warrant? Not necessarily. We’re living in Chicago and this is just a reality of police work in Chicago. They will later on say you consented to allow them to come into your house without a search warrant because if you consent to have the police to come in your house then they don’t need a warrant.
So what they will do is they will be very aggressive about this. People say, “No you can’t come in my house. You don’t have a search warrant, I know my rights” and the police force their way in anyway. What you should do under those circumstances is, believe it or not, call 911. Call 911 and say, “There are some police officers trying to enter my house without a search warrant and I’d like a supervisor to come over here”. This, in my experience, will stop the police dead in their tracks. They’re not allowed to come in there without a search warrant and if a supervisor is coming they back off right away.