The point raised by the questions posed in the middle of p. 262 is that the community caretaking function is contingent on motivation. It applies when law enforcement or other government agents are acting not to solve crimes but solely out of concern for the public welfare. Clearly, the release of a biological agent would pose a threat to the public’s health – and not least of all to the health of those living in the house – meaning that police could take actions to prevent the spread of the contamination or reduce its effects. The principle, indeed, is very much the same as with putting out a fire. Thus police or other officials could enter the home without a warrant. The more troublesome aspect of a biological attack, however, is that – by its very definition – it is the product of criminal activity. This is not the case with any of the scenarios mentioned in the text, as fires and foul odors can just as easily result from natural or accidental causes as from a criminal enterprise. For example, in the furniture store fire, neither the police nor the firefighters who originally entered the premises had any real reason to suspect wrongdoing, making it easier for a court to determine that they acted with a caretaking motive. In the event of a biological attack, on the other hand, the two motivations – caretaking and law enforcement – are much harder to keep separate. When emergency responders (probably HAZMAT teams) enter the contaminated house, they might need to seek out facts about how and when the agent was released, acting in a manner that closely resembles an ordinary criminal search. Given the urgency involved in such a situation, a court might give the officials a fair amount of leeway as far as the Fourth Amendment is concerned, but one could not say in advance just how far that leeway would extend. Accordingly, the outcome of a Fourth Amendment challenge can be…………

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