As a general principle, for police to come in your house and get you would violate the U.S. Constitution. Over the years, however, the courts and state statutes have developed several exceptions where the police can enter your home to get you. Most exceptions are based on consent and warrants. The area which results in the most debate is warrantless entries in people’s homes based on exigency (emergency situations).
Police Entry & Consent
If you consent to the police to come into your home, they can come in and conduct any activities that you have consented to. Let’s say the police come to your door and express a concern about drug dealing in your neighborhood. They ask you if they can come in the house and look around to make sure that drugs are not stored in your home. If you consent, they can enter and search, even without a warrant. If they find drugs and decide to arrest you, you cannot take back your consent after the fact. You must withdraw your consent before they find any illegal items that would justify your arrest. If you refuse to allow the police to enter your home, they are required to obtain a warrant to enter.
Police Entry & Warrants
Warrant requirements vary slightly by state, but usually they must be based on probable cause. The police needn't have enough evidence to convict you of crime: they only need enough that a reasonable person would believe that you probably did some criminal act. If the police have an arrest warrant and you answer the door, the police may enter to serve, or execute the warrant. Some states have specific procedures that police must follow for a forced entry into your home based on warrant. A forced entry is used when the police know you are in the house, but you are refusing to come out.
Another warrant which could result in the police entering your home and getting you is a search warrant. A search warrant must also be based on probable cause. But it must also specify the items or things that the police are searching for in your house. For example, if police want to look for stolen big screen television sets, but then search the drawers in your bathroom for drugs, they have exceeded the scope of the search warrant. If you are present and the police find illegal items, like drugs or marijuana, in your home, the police can then arrest you.
Police Entry & Exigency
If the police do not have a warrant or consent to enter your home, they must provide you or the court with a valid excuse for the warrantless entry into your home. Warrantless entries are usually justified by emergency or exigent situations. The courts will consider several variations of emergency situations, including:
a. Whether the police were actively pursuing you and you ran into the house to escape. This is known as the hot pursuit doctrine. Just because you made it to “home base” doesn’t mean they can't finish their game of tag and arrest you in your home.
b. Whether they reasonably believe that someone is in danger. This is known as the community caretaking function. Essentially, if someone is hurt or is in the process of being hurt, the police can enter a home to protect the injured person.
If you are concerned that police entered your home to get you in violation of your rights, you should contact a criminal attorney in your jurisdiction to review the warrant requirements or exceptions applicable in your state. Failure to contest an unwarranted entry into your home can result in a waiver of your rights permanently.