Editing Search warrant (section)

===Exceptions===
{{main|Warrantless searches in the United States}}

Certain searches do not require a search warrant. For example,

* '''Consent''': a warrant is not required when a person in control of the object or property gives [[consent]] for the search.
* '''[[Hot pursuit]]''' of a [[felony|felon]] (to prevent a felon's escape or ability to harm others);
* '''Imminent [[Spoliation of evidence|destruction of evidence]]''': where evidence might be destroyed before a warrant can be properly obtained;
* '''Emergency searches''': such as when someone is heard screaming, yelling, or calling for help inside a dwelling; or
*'''Search incident to arrest''' (to mitigate the risk of harm to the arresting officers specifically).<ref>[{{SCOTUS URL|oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/02-811.pdf}} ''Groh v. Ramirez'', 540 U.S. 551, 564–65 (2004)]</ref>
* '''Public safety''': a warrantless search may be permissible in an emergency situation where the public is in danger.
* [[plain view doctrine|'''Plain view''']]''':''' evidence is in the plain view of law enforcement officers, from a lawful vantage point (with similar exceptions that include plain smell, where the officer detects an odor that clearly indicates the presence of contraband or criminal activity).

In a plain view case, the officer is legitimately on the premises, his observation is from a legitimate vantage point, and it is immediately obvious that the evidence is contraband. The plain view rule applies, for example, when the officer has pulled the suspect over for a seat belt violation and sees a [[syringe]] on the passenger seat.<ref name="Findlaw1">{{cite web|title=Fourth Amendment: Annotation Four|url=http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment04/04.html|work=Annotations to the Fourth Amendment|publisher=FindLaw|access-date=29 April 2013}}</ref>

====Protective sweep====
If the subject is arrested in a home or vehicle, police may perform a protective search to make sure that there are no weapons within the vicinity.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Joseph|first1=Paul R.|title=The Protective Sweep Doctrine: Protecting Arresting Officers from Attack by Persons Other Than the Arrestee|journal=Catholic University Law Review|date=1983|volume=33|page=95|url=http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/cathu33&div=9&id=&page=|access-date=11 September 2017}}</ref> For example, they may search for weapons in the room where they arrested the subject of a warrant, and conduct a "protective sweep" of the premises if they reasonably suspect that other individuals may be hiding.

====Rental properties and hotel rooms====
With rented property, a [[landlord]] may refuse to allow law enforcement to search a tenant's apartment without a search warrant, and police must obtain a warrant under the same guidelines as if the tenant were the owner of the property.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Landlords, Tenants, and Police Civil Liability|journal=AELE Monthly Law Journal|date=June 2009|volume=101|issue=6|page=101|url=http://www.aele.org/law/2009all06/2009-06MLJ101.pdf|access-date=11 September 2017}}</ref>

People who are occupying rooms at hotels or motels have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their rooms. However, a warrantless search may be possible if the hotel guest has property in their room a considerable period of time after the scheduled check-out time.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Miller|first1=Jason C.|title=Do Not Disturb: Fourth Amendment Expectations of Privacy in Hotel Rooms|journal=Seton Hall Circuit Review|date=2010|volume=7|page=269|url=http://scholarship.shu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1048&context=circuit_review|access-date=11 September 2017}}</ref>

====Motor vehicle exception====
As first established by ''[[Carroll v. United States]]'' (1925), police are allowed to [[automobile exception|search a vehicle without a search warrant]] when they have probable cause to believe that [[evidence]] or [[contraband]] is located in a vehicle.<ref>Regini, L. A. (July 1999). "The Motor Vehicle Exception: When and Where to Search." ''[[FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin]]''. 68, 27–33.</ref><ref>Hendrie, E. (August 2005). "[https://www.fbi.gov/publications/leb/2005/august2005/august05leb.htm#page22 The Motor Vehicle Exception]." ''FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin'', 74.</ref> When police arrest an individual shortly after the individual has exited a vehicle, the police may conduct a full search of the suspect's person, any area within that person's immediate reach, and the passenger compartment of the recently occupied vehicle for weapons or any other contraband. However, ''[[Arizona v. Gant]]'' (2009) limits such searches to circumstances where the arrested person could have accessed the vehicle, or when the vehicle could contain evidence of the crime the person is arrested for.<ref>{{cite web|title=Arizona v. Gant, 556 US 332, 129 S. Ct. 1710, 173 L. Ed. 2d 485 (2009)|url=https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=16930540025490515536|website=Google Scholar|access-date=11 September 2017}}</ref> As per ''[[Collins v. Virginia]]'' (2018), the exception does not apply when the vehicle is within the home or [[curtilage]] of the home of its owner.

====Border search exception====
{{main|Border search exception}}
Under [[Border search exception|The Border Search Exception]] custom and immigration officers are not required to have a warrant or [[probable cause]] to conduct [[Search and seizure|searches and seizures]] at [[Borders of the United States|international borders]] and their functional equivalents.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Coletta|first1=Christine A.|title=Laptop searches at the United States borders and the border search exception to the fourth amendment|journal=Boston College Law Review|date=2007|volume=48|page=971}}</ref>

This doctrine is not actually an exception to the [[Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourth Amendment]], but rather to the Amendment's requirement for a warrant or probable cause. Balanced against the sovereign's interests at the border are the Fourth Amendment rights of entrants. Not only is the expectation of privacy less at the border than in the interior, the Fourth Amendment balance between the interests of the Government and the privacy right of the individual is also struck much more favorably to the Government at the border. This balance at international borders means that routine searches are "reasonable" there, and therefore do not violate the [[Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourth Amendment]]'s [[proscription]] against "unreasonable searches and seizures".