Cubs Fan

11th Sep 2017

Home Alone (1990)

Question: When a police officer comes to Kevin's house, the officer rings the doorbell, but since he gets no answer, assumes no one is home. But in real life, wouldn't a policeman break into the house, and then search the house, and then bring the child out of the house, and take to him to his family, just in case a the child did exactly what Kevin did, hiding under the bed or couch? Also wouldn't Kevin's parents get arrested for leaving Kevin behind if the police did find out they left him behind?

Answer: To answer your first question, no. As a right protected under the Fourth Amendment, the police are prohibited from entering a private residence without either a warrant and probable cause or the consent of the homeowner. Since, as you point out, the policeman assumes no one is home, there's no cause to enter; had he heard, say, a cry for help from inside the house, that would constitute an exigent circumstance, an exception that would allow him to enter in order to help someone in imminent danger. To answer your second question, I doubt it. What happened wasn't done deliberately or out of neglect; it was an accident caused by circumstances beyond their control; accidents can, and do, happen.

Cubs Fan

He did get consent. The mother asked the police to go get him.

Fair point, but the question relates to if such an incident were to occur in real life.

Cubs Fan

Answer: No she asked for a police officer to be sent to the house to check on Kevin and make sure that he was OK.

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