Reading a Search Warrant
HRS 803-37 — the officer announces and demands entry, and posts a notice after the search
A search warrant is a written order, or one issued on an oral or electronic statement as the law allows, made by a judge or magistrate and directed to an officer, commanding a search for particular articles believed to be held illegally or meant to be used to commit an offense.
Who handles this in Hawaii: Hawaii State Bar Association, Lawyer Referral and Information Service; and legal aid programs and the state offices, listed in the Hawaii directory.Holding a paper like this? Read my paper can read one for you, free with an account.
- An officer may enter the place to be searched without asking where it is open.
- Where it is shut, the officer declares the office and the business and demands entrance, and may break in if not immediately admitted.
- Inside, the officer may demand that a closet or other closed place believed to hold the property be opened, and may break it if refused.
After any search of a house, store or other building, with a warrant or without one, the officer posts notice of the search giving the report number, the date, the time, the reason for entering, and a contact number for at least one of the officers, and secures every entrance used.
How a warrant is served is also measured by the Fourth Amendment. The Supreme Court of the United States has held that whether officers knocked and announced their presence before entering is part of whether the entry was reasonable, and that the knock and announce principle forms part of that analysis rather than being a rigid rule without exceptions. Those holdings are a floor: a state's own constitution and statutes can give more protection than they do, never less.
Sources for this section (4)
- HRS 803-31 — Search warrant; defined
- HRS 803-37 — Power of officer serving; notice of search
- HRS 803-39 — Notice of warrantless search
- Wilson v. Arkansas, 514 U.S. 927 (1995) — Knocking and announcing is part of whether an entry is reasonable
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of October 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Hawaii attorney.