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Doing research for a fictional book, and I'm wondering what kind of "evidence" my characters could fabricate in order to make the DEA (or any other relevant agency) run a raid on a building. The characters are two NYPD detectives, and FBI agent, and a private investigator. I'm keeping the kind of building unspecified, since it doesn't matter for the plot. Thus, if the answer is building-specific, you may answer in regards to whatever building type you have knowledge about.

Per the title, I am interested in the NYC jurisdiction.

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  • Do you mean "raid?" "Razzia" isn't an English word, unless you mean "a hostile raid for purposes of conquest, plunder, and capture of slaves, especially one carried out by Moors in North Africa."
    – cpast
    Oct 22, 2022 at 4:13
  • @cpast Yes, I mean raid. Wow, I really though razzia was an English word. I'll fix that, thanks!
    – user110391
    Oct 22, 2022 at 4:16
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    Who or what are your characters? Police? Drug dealers? Ordinary citizens? Criminals engaged in some other enterprise? City officials?
    – Paul Johnson
    Oct 22, 2022 at 7:48
  • Related: Search warrants for the property of people not suspected of a crime
    – user35069
    Oct 22, 2022 at 9:02
  • Most such warrants would be issued by a state judge and searches conducted by the NYPD. If you're specifically interested in federal law, there would have to be some element of the suspected crime that triggers federal jurisdiction and interest.
    – phoog
    Oct 22, 2022 at 9:04

2 Answers 2

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A statement by a previously reliable informant that drugs are being processed or stored in a warehouse would probably suffice to get it raided. That meets the probable cause standard, at least.

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    I recently watched a youtube channel about a guy in Texas who created a fake "grow house" (EG rented a house, covered the windows, added bright grow lights, placed a small non-drug plant under the lights, set up various security cameras), and sat back and watched what would happen. Eventually the house was raided by the local police, and the warrant was based on an "anonymous informant" having been in the house and seeing drugs. Which was of course a complete lie. The guy had done this expose corruption in the police.
    – Peter M
    Oct 22, 2022 at 21:34
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A detective or an FBI agent would just need to ask a judge for a search warrant and swear that a previously reliable informant had stated that drugs were being stored there. Of course when the raid turns up nothing at all the detective might have some hard questions to answer, starting with "who exactly was this informant?"

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