nyc: If a neighbor calls the police because of marijuana smell, can a police officer first enter your home and second can they then place you under arrest? This is in NYC.|||Yes they can if the SEE something when you answer the door. Otherwise then can not enter your home without a warrant to search or a warrant for arrest. If the police come to your door, step outside your house and shut the door behind you. If they ask to search ask them if they have a warrant to search, ALWAYS ASK FOR A WARRANT!!, this only applies to your home though, it does not apply to your vehicle.|||In NYC, possession of and smoking marijuana is illegal. If your neighbor calls the police, they can come investigate. They can't enter without your permission, without a warrant, without an emergency situation, or without probable cause. In the case you describe, the officers who investigate the call would come to your door. If they smell marijuana, they have probable cause to enter. If they find marijuana in plain sight at that point, they can arrest you, but not on smell alone. Your best bet would be to simply not answer the door to the police in the first place. You have no legal obligation to answer the door at all to anyone, so use that right. If the door is closed, there is a less likelihood that they can smell it from outside. If they can't smell, they have no probable cause and they can't come in without permission.|||Yes. The courts have already ruled that a person has NO reasonable expectation of privacy with regards to smells. If the officer smells marijuana, that provides them with probable cause to search the residence, and possibly, depending upon what is found (the evidence found would have to support an arrest), arrest the people in there.|||They cannot search your home without a warrant, or some firsthand evidence that a crime is being or has been committed. If a neighbor calls the police and says they smell marijuana, that's not probable cause, because the smoke could come from anywhere. Now, if the police knock on your door to ask if you've smelled something, and you answer with bloodshot eyes, and they get a big old cloud of marijuana smoke rolling out into the hall, that *might* count for probable cause :) So, in that case, *could* they? Yeah, they might could. *Would* they? Really, really unlikely, unless you give them some reason for wanting to give you a hard time, like being rude, loud or aggressive. If you want to take this to the extreme, we can do so. In the unlikely event the police ask to enter your home, you are well within your rights to politely (and repeatedly) refuse, with no other explanation than that you would prefer not to have visitors. What often happens is officers discover physical evidence (weed and paraphernalia, not smoke) not by "probable cause", but by simply asking to come in, or even look around, and the tenant being too afraid to appear guilty by refusing. A perfectly natural refusal to let strangers, even policemen, into your home , cannot be construed itself as probable cause, and the protection of the private residence under the Fourth Amendment is pretty stridently defended. For that reason, truly, unless it's a really slow night, or there are multiple or repeated complaints, along with loud music and noise, it's unlikely someone will come out and get that aggressive. Now if you have a neighbor who is bothered by smoke, for the sake of your neighbor's comfort (and that of guests, and the general atmosphere of your home) it might be nice for you to invest in a filtering ashtray, or a filtering fan that can clear the air of any kind of smoke, like cigars, cigarettes, or smoke from the oven making brownies. :) I'm pre-asthmatic myself, and have been very grateful to friends who turn on the filter when I visit.|||Yeah, anywhere anything is illegal. If an officer observes someone he believes is a minor drinking alcohol in their own home he can go in and make sure they aren't because that's probable cause. If a crime is being committed he enter your home and he can arrest you.|||If the officer can verify that the smell is coming from your apartment, that constitutes just cause and can legally search your home. Yes, you could be arrested.