WHEN TO BUST DOWN A DOOR

Many people might find it difficult to answer the door within 20 seconds,
especially is they are taking a shower. Nonetheless, 20 seconds strikes us
as a reasonable time for police to wait before knocking down the door to
serve a warrant on a suspected drug dealer. That, in effect, was the
unanimous ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court last week. Although the justices
did not cite a specific time limit, they did say the brief delay was
adequate in the case on which they ruled.

At issue was whether the police moved too quickly to break into the
apartment of LaShawn Banks, a suspected drug dealer. Banks had emerged wet
and naked from the shower to find armed police in his living room. He
contended that the police had not given him a fair opportunity to answer
the door.

But the argument of police apparently was more compelling to the justices.
The unanimous opinion noted that waiting much longer than 20 seconds to
break down the door gives a suspect time to flush evidence down the toilet.

Justice David Souter, writing for the nine justices, said while "this call
is a close one, we think that after 15 or 20 seconds without a response,
police could fairly suspect that cocaine would be gone if they were
reticent any longer."

Police are required to announce their presence before beginning a search.
Failure to do so, except in cases where they have reason to believe a
suspect would be dangerous, is a violation of the fourth Amendment ban on
unreasonable searches.

But police also have to be able to do their jobs. They can't expect to
capture evidence if they allow too much time for suspects to answer the door.

While legal scholars say this ruling gives a great deal of deference to
police, it seems more accurate to say that it defers to enforcement of the
law by providing reasonable limits on police procedures.