Cite as: 540 U. S. 31 (2003)
Opinion of the Court
that, if circumstances support a reasonable suspicion of exigency when the officers arrive at the door, they may go straight in. Id., at 394, 396, n. 7.
Since most people keep their doors locked, entering without knocking will normally do some damage, a circumstance too common to require a heightened justification when a reasonable suspicion of exigency already justifies an unwarned entry. We have accordingly held that police in exigent circumstances may damage premises so far as necessary for a no-knock entrance without demonstrating the suspected risk in any more detail than the law demands for an unannounced intrusion simply by lifting the latch. United States v. Ramirez, 523 U. S. 65, 70-71 (1998). Either way, it is enough that the officers had a reasonable suspicion of exigent circumstances.3
III
Like Ramirez, this case turns on the significance of exigency revealed by circumstances known to the officers, for the only substantive difference between the two situations goes to the time at which the officers reasonably anticipated some danger calling for action without delay.4 Whereas the
3 The standard for a no-knock entry stated in Richards applies on reasonable suspicion of exigency or futility. Because the facts here go to exigency, not futility, we speak of that alone.
4 Ramirez and Richards v. Wisconsin, 520 U. S. 385 (1997), our cases addressing the role of exigency in assessing the reasonableness of a no-knock entry, involved searches by warrant for evidence of a felony, as does this case. In a different context governed by the Fourth Amendment, we have held that the risk of losing evidence of a minor offense is insufficient to make it reasonable to enter a dwelling to make a warrantless arrest. See Welsh v. Wisconsin, 466 U. S. 740 (1984). Courts of Appeals have applied Welsh to warrantless entries simply to search for evidence, considering the gravity of the offense in determining whether exigent circumstances exist. See, e. g., United States v. Aquino, 836 F. 2d 1268, 1271- 1273 (CA10 1988); United States v. Clement, 854 F. 2d 1116, 1120 (CA8 1988) (per curiam). We intimate nothing here about such warrantless entry cases. Nor do we express a view on the significance of the existence of a warrant in evaluating whether exigency justifies action in
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