When Police Come to the Door
HRS 803-11 — a demand for entry out loud, and the reason stated, before any door is broken
Where it is necessary to enter a house to arrest someone and entrance is refused, the person making the arrest may break doors or other barriers. Before breaking any door, they first demand entrance in a loud voice and state that they hold a warrant of arrest, or, where the arrest is lawful without a warrant, state that substantially and audibly.
Who handles this in Hawaii: Domestic Violence Action Center and Hawaii State Bar Association, Lawyer Referral and Information Service; and legal aid programs and the state offices, listed in the Hawaii directory.
After a search of a house without a warrant, the officer posts a notice with the report number, date, time, reason for entering and an officer's contact number, and secures the entrances used.
The Fourth Amendment draws its firmest line at the entrance to a home, and the Supreme Court of the United States has held where it falls in situations police meet at a door. Absent consent or exigent circumstances, officers may not enter a home without a warrant to make a routine felony arrest. Where one occupant consents to a search of a shared home and another who is physically present expressly refuses, the search is unreasonable as to the one who refused. And officers may enter without a warrant when they have an objectively reasonable basis for believing someone inside is seriously injured or imminently threatened with such injury. 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 (5)
- HRS 803-11 — Entering house to arrest
- HRS 803-39 — Notice of warrantless search
- Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 573 (1980) — Warrantless entry into a home to make a routine arrest is barred
- Georgia v. Randolph, 547 U.S. 103 (2006) — A present occupant's refusal defeats another occupant's consent
- Brigham City v. Stuart, 547 U.S. 398 (2006) — Police may enter to render emergency aid
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of October 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Hawaii attorney.