I was reading this story about a new plan in Boston:

Boston police are launching a program that will call upon parents in high-crime neighborhoods to allow detectives into their homes, without a warrant, to search for guns in their children's bedrooms.

The program, which is already raising questions about civil liberties, is based on the premise that parents are so fearful of gun violence and the possibility that their own teenagers will be caught up in it that they will turn to police for help, even in their own households.

In the next two weeks, Boston police officers who are assigned to schools will begin going to homes where they believe teenagers might have guns. The officers will travel in groups of three, dress in plainclothes to avoid attracting negative attention, and ask the teenager's parent or legal guardian for permission to search. If the parents say no, police said, the officers will leave.

If officers find a gun, police said, they will not charge the teenager with unlawful gun possession, unless the firearm is linked to a shooting or homicide.
...
If drugs are found, it will be up to the officers' discretion whether to make an arrest, but police said modest amounts of drugs like marijuana will simply be confiscated and will not lead to charges.

As I read the entire story, one question kept popping into my head.  Why do the police need to do this?  If the parents are so concerned about gun violence that they're willing to let the police search their child's bedroom... why can't the parents do the searching?  It is their home, and their child after all.  Maybe it's just me, and my basic distrust for the government, but I would never let a police officer enter my home unless they either had a warrant, or I had specifically called them to investigate a crime which took place in my home.

As a parent, I would feel perfectly free to search my own child's room if I thought they had guns or drugs there... without the help of the police thank you very much.  This is a waste of money pure and simple, because any parent who would let the police search their child's room is also the type of parent who would search it themselves.  So what's the point?  I also agree wholeheartedly with this fear:

Critics said they worry that some residents will be too intimidated by a police presence on their doorstep to say no to a search.

And your ability to say no to a search is what the 4th Amendment is all about.  Sadly, many people don't know that.  However, just because people don't know that, doesn't mean we should create government policies which take advantage of that ignorance.  What is troubling here is that they are advertising this as a simple way to get guns off the street no questions asked... but there are a lot of cases where "police discretion" is taken into account before charges are brought, but after you've given consent to the search.  How convenient.