CA10: “No trespassing” sign doesn’t deny implied license of a police officer to approach a house to ask questions

Even a “no trespassing” sign doesn’t deny implied license of a police officer to approach a house to ask questions of the occupant. United States v. Carloss, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 4547 (10th Cir. March 11, 2016):

… Defendant-Appellant Ralph Carloss contends that two police officers violated the Fourth Amendment by knocking on his front door, seeking to speak with him. Ordinarily a police officer, like any citizen, has an implied license to approach a home, knock on the front door, and ask to speak with the occupants. Carloss, however, claims that “No Trespassing” signs posted around the house and on the front door of his home revoked that implied license. We conclude, to the contrary, that under the circumstances presented here, those “No Trespassing” signs would not have conveyed to an objective officer that he could not approach the house and knock on the front door seeking to have a consensual conversation with the occupants. Nor did the officers exceed the implied license to knock on the front door by knocking too long. We also uphold the district court’s factual finding that Carloss voluntarily consented to the officers entering the house. Therefore, … we AFFIRM the district court’s decision to deny Carloss’s motion to suppress evidence that the officers discovered as a result of their consensual interaction with Carloss, after he responded to their knocking.