Suppose police have a warrant to arrest me for a minor offense, like failure to pay fines.
If police come to my residence and I quietly hide they go away.
If they see me at the window or I speak with them through the locked exterior door will they break in if I refuse to open the door?
It depends on the type of warrant. Failure to pay a fine is not necessarily an arrestable offence.
The Police Scotland Warrants Standard Operating Procedure (710 kB PDF) states:
5.3 Whilst there is no legislative requirement for Officers to physically possess the warrant to force entry / effect arrest, it would be considered best practice if a forced entry is anticipated. There may be instances where this is not practically possible to obtain the warrant in time or it may be geographically challenging to do so. Possession of a scanned copy of the warrant would be good practice on such occasions, again where the circumstances permit.
and
5.5.1 By virtue of Section 135 Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 an apprehension warrant implies authority, where it is necessary for its execution, to break open shut and lock fast places. Entry into any house or building, therefore, may be affected by any constable in order to execute the warrant in accordance with its terms and only as a last resort.
and
5.6.1 An Extract Conviction/Means Enquiry Warrant (back fine warrant) is issued by the Clerk of Court when an accused person fails to pay the fine imposed within the period allowed for payment. This extract is a sufficient warrant for the apprehension of the accused, but unlike an ordinary warrant of arrest, it does not authorise a constable to break open doors in order to affect arrest.
Sheriff officers are not police - they are closer to what in England and some parts of the USA would be termed bailiffs, used for civil recovery of debts etc.
From https://www.mygov.scot/your-rights-sheriff-officers/
Forcing entry
If a sheriff officer has permission from the court to enter your home or workplace but you don't let them in, they are allowed to use 'necessary reasonable force' to get in.
This means they're allowed to get in by:
- forcing open a door
- breaking a lock
- breaking a window
If you try to stop the officer entering your house or workplace, you could be charged with breach of the peace.
Addendum for clarification: Unless the officers are lazy or otherwise unmotivated, they will break your door and arrest you. It is impossible to answer what they will do, only what they are allowed to do.
