Emergency Exception

When there is an emergency, an exception can be made to the defendant's 4^th amendment rights to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. A police officer can enter a dwelling and conduct a search without a warrant if the officer has probable cause and reasonably believes that the search is immediately necessary to protect life or property. Under normal circumstances, the police officer would need a search warrant. If there is no warrant, then anything seized would not be allowed as evidence, since the search would violate the defendant's 4^th amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. The emergency exception makes the evidence discovered admissible. The emergency exception is also referred to as the “emergency doctrine.”