Case v. Kitsap County Sheriff's Department

The majority holds that county sheriffs may forcibly enter a home, search, and make a warrantless arrest simply because an out-of-state warrant is listed in a federal computer database. Until today, we have held that officers may consider out-of-state computer information as one element in the determination of probable cause, but we have never held that such information satisfies the warrant requirement for forcible home entries. The majority’s ruling enlarges the authority of local law enforcement officers, obscures the difference between the powders of federal and local police, and…