Warantless Firearms Searches in Boston

The Boston Globe reports that Boston police are starting a new program to fool gullible citizens into agreeing to warrantless searches of their homes.

The program involves a group of plainclothes officers showing up at the front doors of unsuspecting citizens and pressuring them into agreeing to warrantless searches of their homes to determine if their children have access to firearms.

Police will target citizens based mainly upon calls to an anonymous tip line.  This successfully skirts Fourth Amendment guidelines regarding probably cause.

Unlike a search with a warrant, the District Attorney will be able to press charges for unrelated crimes uncovered during the course of the search.  This includes drug possession, but could also include anything ranging from possession of pornography by a minor to a whole range of DSS (Department of Social Services) violations.

Citizens who are uneducated enough to fall for the chicanery could very well find their children in police custody and find themselves charged with neglect or as accessories.