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Is it legal for a cop to search a house or an apartment without a warrant?

All a cop has to have is probable cause. They can just say they smell pot, that's probable cause, then they search the place, if they find drugs they can make an arrest.

Public Comments

1. You answered your own question - correctly, by the way. What's up with that?
2. YEA' WHAT DUDE ABOVE SAID NEXT TIME DON'T ANSWER THE DOOR THEY CAN'T KCIK IT IN JUST FOR THAT
3. My understanding is that it's not quite that simple. Simple probable cause is merely the foundation for a warrant to search, but not for a warrantless search. Probable cause is for the judge signing the warrant to decide. However, a police officer can search a home if he/she has the permission of the owner or legal resident. In the second place, he/she can search a home without a warrant if they have a reasonable suspicion that a crime is in progress that requires their immediate action to prevent injury or death to a person or persons. Beyond that, it gets murky. One thing is for sure: even if there is an illegal search that turns up an illegal substance like pot, you will not get your pot back. Any criminal lawyers out there that can provide more insight?
4. Not all burglars are road sweepers
5. Not only can they enter with probable cause (or consent), they can search any person the find there (for weapons) for their own protection, make any arrests based upon things found in "plain sight" or upon initial frisk, and THEN search the entire house (without a warrant) for "fruits of the crime" or other evidence that may have been hidden there by a person arrested in the house. Many LEAs have policies to "secure" the house (and suspects) until a warrant is issued, as a double-check on the process by which the search is expanded.
6. Not in Australia no such thing in Australia as probable cause No piece of paper no entry