Wilson v. Arkansas

Wilson v. Arkansas confirmed the common law requirement for authorities to knock and announce themselves before conducting a warranted search. The ruling was less than ironclad, however, as the Court specified that the knock and announce requirement could be ignored in cases where police officers' lives or evidence would be endangered by giving suspects advance notice of the arrival of the authorities. In the final analysis, its chief impact was to clarify the circumstances under which knock and announce requirements could be ignored by authorities.