If the police search your home or your property, without your consent, they must have a warrant. They will provide you with information about this when they perform the search. If law enforcement has a search warrant for your home or property, you should remain silent. Do not make any statements, even to direct questions, and ask for a lawyer. Follow the police’s directions and do not resist their instruction.
Once you grant permission for a search, it cannot be taken back. If an officer threatens to get a warrant if you refuse a search, you have the right to wait for him or her to obtain the warrant. When you grant consent, you waive the right to force law enforcement to run their search through a magistrate (the person who decides whether the police can legally search your home or property). You also waive certain rights protected by the 4th and 5th Amendment.
