ATF agents place video camera on utility pole outside suspect's home, giving them a 24/7 live feed that can be viewed remotely and which they operate for eight months without a warrant. Is that a "search" under the Fourth Amendment? First Circuit, sitting en banc: Three of us say no. And three of us say yes, but the agents can't be expected to have known that (and no matter that the gov't didn't initially raise its good-faith argument below). So the lower court order suppressing the evidence is reversed.
http://media.ca1.uscourts.gov/pdf.opinions/19-1582P2-01A.pdf
Why not just get a warrant?
Gets you different results, I guess. You don't get 8 months of surveillance with a warrant, you get a search. No guarantee you'll find anything, even if the guy has it. If you search him before you try surveillance, he'll be more paranoid. Plus this is lower effort.
My job is hard and yet here I am... not trying to take away my neighbor's rights