Digital Commons Network^™

Police spend an estimated two-thirds to four-fifths of their time on “community-caretaking” activities having little or nothing to do with the investigation of crime. Such activities include checking on persons who may be hurt or ill, ensuring that highways are clear and safe for travel, and generally offering assistance to members of the public who need it. When these community-caretaking functions require police to access places where people reasonably expect privacy, the Fourth Amendment requires that they be performed “reasonably.” The Supreme Court, however, has left the specifics of this reasonableness standard undefined, and lower courts have done little to …