Systematic "voluntary" searches

The Boston police force is gearing up to install a new tactic to "get guns off the street" - they're going to show up unannounced, in groups of three, in plainclothes, at houses where they "believe teenagers have guns", and ask to search the premises. No proof of anything, mind you, except what the cops "believe" is going on in the house.

In my opinion, this is being done in an attempt to intimidate and bully parents into allowing them to search said house so that officers don't have to go through the incredible ordeal of getting a search warrant from a judge, which is doing things properly.

I'm kind of lost here. If they have probable cause that an illegal firearm is in a house, they don't need permission - just go get the warrant. Why is it necessary for them to badger people into letting cops barge through their houses, looking wherever and at whatever they please, especially since there will be no consequences for the teens if a gun is indeed found?

"If officers find a gun, police said, they will not charge the teenager with unlawful gun possession, unless the firearm is linked to a shooting or homicide."

The cops also pinky-swear not to bust the teens if small amounts of narcotics are found during the searches, saying they they will just confiscate them.

So, the young felon with illegal drugs and guns faces no penalty at all for committing their crimes, as long as the parents knuckle under to the demands of a surprise group of large men at their doorstep.

Commissioner Edward Davis doesn't seem to see the problem with this:

"'This isn't evidence that we're going to present in a criminal case,' said Davis, who met with community leaders yesterday to get feedback on the program. 'This is a seizing of a very dangerous object. . . .'"

And leaving an even more dangerous object on the street, if you ask me - a young person who gets caught doing very serious crimes, and who doesn't even face a slap on the wrist for any of it, just an admonition to do better in the future. How many of the truly bad kids do you think this will have one iota of effect on? They'll probably be rearmed and restocked with drugs before the task force gets to the next house.

This whole scheme sounds like a very slick fishing expedition to me. Even a criminologist who is a former Boston cop is wary of the program:

"'I just have a queasy feeling anytime the police try to do an end run around the Constitution,' said Thomas Nolan, a former Boston police lieutenant who now teaches criminology at Boston University. 'The police have restrictions on their authority and ability to conduct searches. The Constitution was written with a very specific intent, and that was to keep the law out of private homes unless there is a written document signed by a judge and based on probable cause. Here, you don't have that.'"

I agree with the professor. Nebulous claims of "There might possibly, we sorta think, be something illegal in your house" is nowhere near enough for people, even in high crime neighborhoods, to chuck their rights willy-nilly into the trash can. One can only wonder what rights these citizens will be asked to give up next, all in the name of their "safety", of course.