Reply #152: I dont think you understand what a warrant is

[Pierre.Suave]

A cop gets a warrant when they suspect a crime has been, or is being, committed.

not after all the investigation is done.

lets go back to my previous example...

say the little old lady across the street, sees them carrying all the growing materials into their house, shortly after watching 60 minutes or some tv show about drugs, it doesnt matter, but she sees this and calls the police...

so the police decide to investigate...

so they may monitor phone traffic, maybe e-mails and in the course of this investigation discover that the people inside the house are using throw away phones, and encrypted e-mails...

coupled with the report of the old lady seeing the grow materials being carried into the house, they go to a judge with probable cause that a marijuana operation has began in that house.

all that, would be perfectly legal. Even if you're not doing anything illegal inside the house.