Does a police officer have a legal right to open trash can without a warrant?

[Leo]

Trash cans full of recent trash suggests people still live there. If you are trying to find someone, it helps to know if the house has been inhabited lately. People are not real good at keeping their addresses updated. Look at all the posts of people complaining because they had trouble picking up a firearm with out of date ID's.

If the house had been vacated, people would ridicule the cops for delivering the notice to an abandoned house. If the trash stunk because there is a dead body in it, the whole city would be up in arms about "dumb cops" that couldn't even find a body that was in an unsecured trash can. I sure would would not go full lawyer on the Peace Officer.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

I was told that was the definition of breaking and entering was by the use of force when someone broke into my house some years ago by an atty and the police. If the door was left open and they entered then it was trespass.


Im just trying to understand what defines crossing the line.

Chuck

Feel free to look for it in Indiana Code.

 

[miguel]

That's why I pee on my trash every now and then. SURPRISE!!!

 

[KellyinAvon]

That's why I pee on my trash every now and then. SURPRISE!!!

Your neighbors would appreciate it if you didn't do that AFTER the trash was at the curb

 

[bacon#1]

Guy wants to dig in my trash go ahead. Weeks worth of baby diapers, one kid in nightly pull-ups (girls are harder) and all the rest of the stuff from a family of five. My wife was even throwing the dog poo in there for awhile. He's earned it.

 

[miguel]

Your neighbors would appreciate it if you didn't do that AFTER the trash was at the curb

Hey, I wait until it is dark before I do!

 

[Fargo]

Feel free to look for it in Indiana Code.

IC 35-43-2-1Burglary
Sec. 1. A person who breaks and enters the building or structureof another person, with intent to commit a felony or theft in it,commits burglary, a Level 5 felony. However, the offense is:
(1) a Level 4 felony if the building or structure is a dwelling;(2) a Level 3 felony if it results in bodily injury to any personother than a defendant;
(3) a Level 2 felony if it:
(A) is committed while armed with a deadly weapon; or(B) results in serious bodily injury to any person other thana defendant; and
(4) a Level 1 felony if:
(A) the building or structure is a dwelling; and
(B) it results in serious bodily injury to any person otherthan a defendant.






http://iga.in.gov/legislative/laws/2013/ic/titles/035/articles/043/chapters/002/pdf

Statute require breaking and entering. B&E has been defined going way back.

Indiana Code section 35-43-2-1 provides that “[a] person who breaks and enters thebuilding or structure of another person, with intent to commit a felony in it, commitsburglary, a Class C felony.” Breaking and entering is proved by showing even the slightestforce was used to gain unauthorized entry. Opening an unlocked door, raising an unlockedwindow or pushing a door which is slightly ajar constitutes a breaking. Utley v. State, 589N.E.2d 232, 241 (Ind. 1992). Moreover, circumstantial evidence alone is sufficient to sustaina conviction for burglary.

http://www.ai.org/judiciary/opinions/pdf/01200904jgb.pdf

Not sure where you are coming from on this. Am I unaware of some huge change in the burglary law here?

 

[PistolBob]

Maybe he was looking for old donuts....JUST KIDDING

 

[Kirk Freeman]

No idea why anyone would look through garbage like that. Not like anything found inside would be legally useful.

Other than the pill dough, the coffee filters, the tubing, the . . .

 

[Kirk Freeman]

I saw something happen today that made me a little curious. An officer stopped by someones house to service a notice of a violation of some sort. No one was home and he put the violation notice on the door knob. Next he then proceeded to the rear of the house and lifted the lids on two trash cans and looked inside. Is this legal?

No big deal for me but one has to wonder.


Chuck

Chuck, it depends. Where the cans are. Whether or not the officer has reasonable suspicion of a crime (meth is the biggie).

Was this a Slob House? Uncut lawn and filth in the yard? Maybe he was chasing a smell?

 

[BehindBlueI's]

IC 35-43-2-1Burglary
Sec. 1. A person who breaks and enters the building or structureof another person, with intent to commit a felony or theft in it,commits burglary, a Level 5 felony. However, the offense is:
(1) a Level 4 felony if the building or structure is a dwelling;(2) a Level 3 felony if it results in bodily injury to any personother than a defendant;
(3) a Level 2 felony if it:
(A) is committed while armed with a deadly weapon; or(B) results in serious bodily injury to any person other thana defendant; and
(4) a Level 1 felony if:
(A) the building or structure is a dwelling; and
(B) it results in serious bodily injury to any person otherthan a defendant.






http://iga.in.gov/legislative/laws/2013/ic/titles/035/articles/043/chapters/002/pdf

Statute require breaking and entering. B&E has been defined going way back.




http://www.ai.org/judiciary/opinions/pdf/01200904jgb.pdf

Not sure where you are coming from on this. Am I unaware of some huge change in the burglary law here?

On my phone, so not pulling up codes and case law. Breaking the plane, like a touchdown, is sufficient for residential entry and, IIRC, burglary as well per case law.

 

[Fargo]

On my phone, so not pulling up codes and case law. Breaking the plane, like a touchdown, is sufficient for residential entry and, IIRC, burglary as well per case law.

Look at Davis v. State 743 N.E.2d 751 for the In. Supreme Court holding that force of some sort must be used to constitute breaking.

That was reaffirmed as late as 2014 by the Ct. of Appeals in Henderson v. State 2014 Ind. Unpub. Lexis 1.

Indiana hasn't been a breaking the close state for a long long time.

Same is true for Residential Entry. McKinney v. State 653 N.E.2d 117.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Look at Davis v. State 743 N.E.2d 751 for the In. Supreme Court holding that force of some sort must be used to constitute breaking.

That was reaffirmed as late as 2014 by the Ct. of Appeals in Henderson v. State 2014 Ind. Unpub. Lexis 1.

Indiana hasn't been a breaking the close state for a long long time.

Same is true for Residential Entry. McKinney v. State 653 N.E.2d 117.

I suppose I'm outdated, then. It's how I was taught in the academy and how I've seen it applied.

 

[1775usmarine]

I remember watching one of those crime shows and in order to get DNA when a potential suspect wouldn't consent they would follow them till they threw something away and it was then used to make or not make a match with most matching and being used to put them away.

 

[HoughMade]

I remember watching one of those crime shows and in order to get DNA when a potential suspect wouldn't consent they would follow them till they threw something away and it was then used to make or not make a match with most matching and being used to put them away.

Throwing something away in public is clear-cut and certainly an officer can grab whatever is thrown away.

...but now we may have a chain of custody issue and possibly a contamination issue that would legally, if not actually, taint the DNA evidence.

 

[indiucky]

I suppose I'm outdated, then.

Really Matlock???? Ya think????? You're an "old soul" bro...

 

[printcraft]

Really Matlock???? Ya think????? You're an "old soul" bro...

Dang. You just called him matchlock! That's OLD!!!

 

[HoughMade]

Say what you will, but at least once in every litigator's career, they ask themselves:

 

[DoggyDaddy]

Should I be delivering my trash to local LEO's instead of paying a trash service? This is AWESOME!

I'd be all for it if they'll take my bundled branches and I don't have to use the big blue can!

 

[DoggyDaddy]

IC 35-43-2-1Burglary
Sec. 1. A person who breaks and enters the building or structureof another person, with intent to commit a felony or theft in it,commits burglary, a Level 5 felony. However, the offense is:
(1) a Level 4 felony if the building or structure is a dwelling;(2) a Level 3 felony if it results in bodily injury to any personother than a defendant;
(3) a Level 2 felony if it:
(A) is committed while armed with a deadly weapon; or(B) results in serious bodily injury to any person other thana defendant; and
(4) a Level 1 felony if:
(A) the building or structure is a dwelling; and
(B) it results in serious bodily injury to any person otherthan a defendant.

This kind of puts the lie to the stories you hear about people being sued by a burglar when they (the burglar) slip on the front step or otherwise injure themselves in the act of the burglary doesn't it?