United States | News & Politics

They can 100% tell you verbally through the door "You are under arrest," and at that point, staying inside your house is obstruction. This idea that by making it physically difficult for the cops to put their hands on you, you're putting yourself in a better position legally or practically, is 100% wrong.

Lol, no they cannot..... Not unless they have an arrest or search warrant.

From your own source

"If the police do not have a warrant, you can: Greet them outside after exiting through another door if you think they might try to force their way into your home. Speak with officers with the door ajar and secured by a chain lock. Decline to answer the door at all."

They are well prepared to deal with physical obstructions. In general, being antagonistic to the police or putting obstacles in the way of them doing basic things like talking will motivate them to make your life more difficult, which they definitely can do.

It's not the door that is obstructing them, it's the 4th amendment. Keeping the door closed just makes it a lot more apparent if they decide to disregard your constitutional rights.

Personally, I think people place way too much emphasis on the "arrested" part of the equation and way too little on the "charged and building the case" part.

Keeping police out of your residence is a pretty good way from having them collect evidence to build a case against you. To obtain a warrant they have to present evidence to a judge that there is a reasonable cause to breach your rights.

If you stay inside, they leave and issue a warrant for you because they never got a chance to talk to you, and then pick you up later, for example, you've gained absolutely nothing.

If you go to step outside and they falsely claim that they witnessed something inside that provides reason to enter your home you may lose your 4th amendment protections.

This is why in the source you posted it specifies that if you want to talk to them with the door ajar to keep it locked with a chain. Police are know to put their foot in the door, or stand in the doorway so that if you attempt to close it on them they can claim you assaulted them.

think encouraging people to be physically obstructive with the cops tends to build habits that can serve them very very poorly in the future.

Lol, utilizing your rights is not "physical obstruction".

f you don't believe me, here are some law offices' professional explanations, which honestly are kind of better than what I said. What I said is just a clear simple guideline based on my understanding.

You didn't read these, or you didn't comprehend what you read. You should not be advising anyone about their rights if you have no idea about how the 4th or 5th amendment function.