Cops pay 3 a.m. visit to tell man his door is unlocked

You know...so many things could have gone wrong in that situation...
Police should have known that also !
There's got to be more to this...gonna see if I can dig anything up.

reply to post by Wakingup


Good idea, i did find this local article which gives a more in depth description of the event:

here's a snip from the end of the piece.

www.twincities.com
Police say many crimes originate with open garage doors.

Last month, a 52-year-old Burnsville man was stabbed and left to die in his burning town house after two assailants entered his home at 4:30 a.m. by way of an open garage door.

The suspects, who stole the man's car to escape, entered the garage and home through unlocked doors. Police have not found the assailants.

Leaving a door hanger for residents is a method used by other police departments nationally, Vonhof said. It can help create a police presence.

Lakeville police gave Molde a reminder he won't forget anytime soon.

"I haven't figured out what I should do with it yet," Molde said.

Heres a link to the article in our local newspaper...
I still think this is just wrong....they could of handled this different IMO

www.twincities.com...

don't know if I did that right

reply to post by JacKatMtn


Ya beat me to it :-) thanks :-)

still is very interesting

reply to post by Wakingup


It does give a better description of the event, but though it tries to paint the police in a better light, I still think a call from the dispatcher should have been attempted before they decided to enter the home.

Like most of you, this event just doesn't sit well with me, good intentions or not.




[edit on 6/21/2008 by JacKatMtn]

My main concern with this story was that the local police may have been roaming neighborhoods and putting hands on doorknobs to check if they were locked. Obviously this was not the case.

They went too far and it was poor judgement in entering the house. What it comes down to for me is whether their statement of finding the door to the house 'ajar' was the truth or if they simply stated that to cover their asses (something we will never know).

I'm down town USA, in a supposed "bad neighbourhood" where the sheriff's chopper circles daily.

Nonetheless, I keep my front and back door UNLOCKED every night.

My back door, I keep WIDE OPEN while I sleep.

I REFUSE TO LIVE IN FEAR OF MY FELLOW COUNTRYMAN.

However,

I have two dogs trained to stay inside... In strategic locations throughout my home one can easily pick up a 3' pry bar, a steel pipe, an axe, a pitch fork, a mini sledge, or any other of my heavy hittin' tools for "condemned building repair". I sleep with a 10" hunting knife bedside, and I'm deadly accurate up to 25 feet throwing distance.

MY PERSONAL PROPERTY STARTS AT MY PROPERTY LINE, where the flowers start and the side walk ends.

You cross that line uninvited, make your way past my dogs and up my stairs...

Dare to push the curtain aside and wake my naked wife at 3 am uninvited... I can promise that will be the last civic duty anyone will do.

ORDER AND RIGHTS,

Sri Oracle

reply to post by JacKatMtn

even if the man didn't answer his telephone at that hour does not in any way shape or form give the police or anyone else for that matter the right to enter his home . those officers are in my opinion are no better than the same people they are supposed to protect us from . they are criminals and need to be locked up like any other person would for entering the mans home uninvited .
when the police can enter your house without a warrant or just cause we then live in a police state and might as well give up the rest of our rights to them .
does this sound a little like sadam or stalin to anyone other than me ??????

two thumbs down

reply to post by ironman433


I can see where you are coming from but it does seem a little too emotional of a response, but you may have had some bad experiences with the police to weigh your reaction to, I haven't had a bad experience with law enforcement so I can't use it to fuel my emotions in this matter, I am sure it is different based on everyone's personal experiences.

Like I said, I too find this hard to swallow, and if this violates the local policy the officers' involved should be reprimanded and penalized, I don't know enough about the local policy to make that judgement.

I do know that it appears that the police are trying to put themselves in the best light concerning this incident and that's nothing new.

I just don't go along with "police state", and "all cops are bad" sentiment that many do, I think there are good police officers and I think there are bad police officers, it would be unfair of me to judge them all based on the reports of the bad.

The BAD make headlines, WHY?, it's more intriguing to read/see, it strikes at emotion, reports on the good efforts are bland.. and somewhat boring.

I look at them on a case by case basis, in this case there was probably something wrong, but not knowing their protocol I can't state it as fact.

More info is needed for me to slam the officers in this case.

What would the cops have done if they saw a pile of coc aine sitting on this guys coffee table? how about if they found piles and piles of stolen property?

Arrest him?

Charges would be thrown out right away.

reply to post by Sri Oracle

I REFUSE TO LIVE IN FEAR OF MY FELLOW COUNTRYMAN.

.. two dogs trained ... throughout my home one can easily pick up a 3' pry bar, a steel pipe, an axe, a pitch fork, a mini sledge, or any other of my heavy hittin' tools ... I sleep with a 10" hunting knife bedside...

Nope.
No contradiction there.

I think you need to "refuse" to live in fear a little harder.

reply to post by JacKatMtn


i hear what you are saying and all emotions aside what they did in any state of the union is called trespassing , breaking and entering and or illegal search . what they did is no different than what a criminal would do no matter how many ribbons and bow's you wrap it up in .
it is your god given right as an american to leave any one of your doors and windows unlocked or open without fear of the police entering your house except if marshal law has been imposed . therefore it is not only a violation of the mans rights as an american it is a crime that anyone would be prosecuted for any other time except for this one, obviously . those cops under any other reason than a law is or has been broken do not under any circumstances have the right or obligation to enter your's or anyone else's home at any time.
like someone said earlier if the man would have killed those officers thinking they were burglar's the guy would be on his way to jail .

There is only ONE way to deal with pigs that violate the law, and that is SHOOT THEM TO DEATH!!! Those filthy pigs broke MANY laws: Trespassing....they should never enter private property without a warrant unless there is a clear EMERGENCY, which there was NO, ZERO proof of in this case....then they entered the house, whioch automatically calls for killing them both. THEN, they crept thru the house and entered a bedroom...my God, how much reason is needed?

If it had been anyone else..anyone NOT wearing a tarnished badge, they would be shot and the cop groupies here would be saying " Wonderful"...but since it was COPS that BROKE the law and illegally entered a private home at 3 am., they defend the filth. Sick.

There is NO excuse for this, and had that been me they would be burying a couple of porkers today instead of people wondering what the policy is....what a nation we live in these days. This is clean cut and obvious:

The FILTHY cops entered private property with ZERO probable cause that anything was wrong....guessing and MAYBE and " Gee, we wanted to check on them" is BOGUS and we all know it. The filth doesn't give a damn if anything was wrong...they just wanted to violate the mans house and privacy and didn't give a damn if the laws are on opur side. This makes me so mad....God, why can't I ever get a cop to give me an excuse? I WISH I would wake up and find a couple of cop goons in my bedrrom...they would be very quickly dispatched to the infernal realms along with the rest of the filth that violates our rights..

If ANYONE defends these scumbag cops and their ILLEGAL entry to private property then I hope those same people get violated by the scum so badly that they never recover....maybe then they will wake up and smell the swine invading our lives...how DARE a filthy pig enter private property with NO legal justification? Unreal. They deserve death.

Ummmmm.......WOW.

Could you be a bit more specific? I'm not quite sure where you stand on this issue...

From the OP's link,


I believe wholeheartedly in personal liberty free from infringement, but
in this case, if this report is accurate, and I were this irresponsible, I would have to be grateful to the Officers for helping my dumb ass.

reply to post by FewWorldOrder

and if you were in the shower getting ready for work and couldn't hear the door knock . does that make it any better . or what if you were scared to open the door because you thought it might be a burglar ready and waiting with a firearm ? would that make it any different ?
if thats the way you feel than why haven't you called the station and let them know it's o.k. to enter your house anytime they please ? doesn't make much sense now does it ...
anyone who feels deep down in their heart that it's o.k. for the police or any other part of the government to enter your house without permission should seriously think about taking up residence in a communist or fascist country where they dream every night that they lived here where the police don't have the right to do so .
my god what ever happened to the people in america who could stand on their own two feet and think for themselves ? the more citizens who leave it in the government's hands to do the thinking for you are only helping them take away our basic rights ......

This is terrible, I can not stop thinking of how many times we have forgotten the keys on the door and gone to sleep, to the realization that we just let the door and keys for anybody to invite themselves in.

reply to post by ironman433


I understand your point, and I don't condone any 'goin around turnin' on door knob, police public safety campaign', but the particular facts in this case...; 3 in the morning, four kids under seven years-old in the house, I mean, if it was my neighbor I'd probably go check it out myself, maybe it's just me...?

reply to post by marg6043


Oh my goodness! I'm so happy to hear [sort of] that I am not the only one who does that! When I was single and lived alone in an apartment, it was my M.O. to leave the keys in the door on a regular basis. Whenever I couldn't find my keys, I would just go to the front door and there they would be in the keyhole. Fortunately I had good neighbors who I befriended and at least once a week they would knock on my door and say, 'Here Ash. You left your keys in the door again!'



As for the original post. Although the police officers weren't using wisdom in this case and although I can understand shooting middle of the night lurkers first and asking questions later, some of the comments to this thread still surprise me. Wise? No. Well intentioned? I believe so. It's nice to hear about police officers at least trying to do a good deed for the public. Let's hope they learned their lesson. Entering the home and bedrooms of the occupants exceeded the bounds of good judgment but at the same time, nobody deserves to die for trying to do a good deed, even if the attempt was botched. Just my two cents.

If I saw my neighbors garage door open at 3am I would think something
is not right.

Isnt it good that the cops spotted the garage door open before any
burglars or murderers did. The man left everything open with a bunch
of kids in his house. How responsible is that?? Thats an open invitation
to molesters, thieves, murderers.

If he lived by himself, fine, leave everything open.
Come on, why doesnt he thank the cops . could anyone be sure that if
the cops didnt do anything, that maybe an hour later some molester would
happen to go by, then everyone would be saying, what are the cops on patrol doing??

stop crying your rights were violated, you have kids and responsibilities, just be thankful a molester didnt get to your house first.