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

I think if the homeowner was to pull a firearm out, well, let me just say it may have ended a lot worse for him.

Point of interest.

If this man had shot one of the officers thinking he was an intruder. Would he have been done for murder? Or more interestingly, if the homeowner had lost the gun battle and been killed himself, would the police have faced charges for causing a dangerous situation resulting in death of a civilian?

[edit on 21-6-2008 by ImaginaryReality1984]

reply to post by Mad_Hatter


You got that right. One day I had the police at my house because they were wanting to have a chat with me for a certain reason, Not anything serious and they were telling me how they were at my house in the middle of the night shinning flashlights through all my windows looking to see if I was home when I was out of town for the weekend.

I told the officers that they were very stupid, Then they asked why? I said well my dog if home would have flipped out and then next thing you would have seen was my Remington 12 GA pointing at your flashlight. I told them to not do that again and they looked at each other and agreed that they were pretty stupid after I told them that.

You should have seen the look on their faces when they realized that I wasn't joking. Then they told me not to point my gun at police and I said how can I see you with a flashlight in my face and your on my land and I'm in my house and I will do what ever I want with my gun to protect my house and the people in it.

These cops while obviously had good intentions they did something very stupid as they should have just yelled for the owner of the house to come to the door while another covers the rear of the house to make sure a burglar does not run out the back.

How would the police explain shooting the home owner if he sent a barrage of bullets at the cops in his house? They would have been found guilty for murder.

reply to post by josephine

josephine your right when you suggest that it was irresponsible what the man did by leaving the garage open . but at the same time the police would never have known that there were children in the house if they weren't trespassing onto the mans property . as for the officers doing a good deed, where is the line drawn ? if not at trespassing onto your property and illegally entering into your home, then where ? where would you draw the line ? would you draw the line that if they were to walk in on you and your significant other fully nude and making love to each other ? or how about in the shower ? or even how about in front of the television eating dinner ?
the line is already drawn out by the laws that have been in effect since the inception of this country . and for no illegitimate reason should that line be crossed by the police .
for all of you who think it's o.k. for them to enter your house under those circumstances i emplore you to call them and let them know that it's o.k. for them to come on in anytime they feel that your not securing your home to their standards so we can all find out how you feel about it after a couple of entries by them .

reply to post by AshleyD


My daughter does it all the time at her apartment and when she comes visit, she has a key to my home.

My son also leave the keys on the door and me once in a while.

My husband gets upset because since the foreclosures in the area we are having a wave of very scary people walking the streets all the time.

9 years ago our neighborhood was all about family with littler children riding bicycles and walking.

Now is becoming very scary.

Originally posted by josephine
that maybe an hour later some molester would
happen to go by, then everyone would be saying, what are the cops on patrol doing??

Uhhh...so rapists and child molesters typically just drive around at 3am and target houses that have an open garage door? Thieves may decide to steal stuff out of the garage, but I can't imagine how it would be an invitation to sex offenders (especially if the garage was full of power tools and other manly items).

The open garage door signalled there "may" have been something wrong, that a crime may have already occured, but it surely is not a welcome matt for child molesters.

That sort of thing just wouldn't happen in Atlanta, if the cops had to enter a house they would be locked and loaded and expect the worst (and rightfully so, it would be a very dangerous thing to do around here).

[edit on 21-6-2008 by Sonya610]

Ya know I kinda think it's a good idea, but why didn't they knock/pound/ring the doorbell? I wouldn't mind a police officer knocking on my door at 3am to let me know my door isn't locked. We had an officer pound on our door just the other night around midnight(we don't have a doorbell) because someone smashed out our car window and he noticed it while patroling the alley we live in.(Which I really hope they catch the a-hole who's been causing trouble... smashing windows, car mirrors, broken beer bottles all over the ally, course it could be some guy from the bar on the corner too.)

They weren't justified to enter the house tho... not unless they thought something was wrong at least. If a cop entered my home they'd be met with a hyper active collie who's bark is worse than her bite.

I also am known to act first and question later as well, specially when I am just awakened from sleep. I was staying at my Aunt's house once and I felt someone looking through the window... then I heard the back door open, and saw a guy sneaking through the house towards my cousin's room. I instanly thought protect the kids, I grabbed a baseball bat that the kids left lying around and ran into the guy in the hallway. I don't know what I said, but the guy too off running like a mad man. Here the next day we find out it was my cousin's best friend. He needed to talk to her because a close family member got really sick that night but didn't want to wake the rest of the family up. He said I was ready to whack him with the bat and then ask questions. Funny thing is I don't really remember much of what I did, just what he was doing where he was, that I had a bat and my cousin's were sleeping in the area he went to and my mind was yelling at me to protect them. So I can understand the act first mentality if you think your family is in danger. My body just went into a mode of it's own.

reply to post by SystemiK


where i live i wouldn't dream of leaving the house doors unlocked at night or for that matter even during the day unless i am out front of the house while at home.

one thing for sure this guy will never forget to lock his doors again before going to bed----and i'm glad he didn't wake up with a fright and shoot the cops----which some others might have done while 1/2 asleep.

if my wife would let me----i'd have a german shepherd just in case---but --i'm not allowed.

reply to post by yahn goodey


but if you had left it unlocked on accident would you condone the police entering your house without permission ??

couldn't they have just rang the doorbell?

Originally posted by slackerwire
Homeowner should have shot the cops.

They broke numerous laws by entering his house.

That would certainly hold up in a court of law!

They did break the law.

Unwarranted search of a property!

Now, my question is.....Are these "cops" scoping the unsecured homes out?

As in looking for a weak place to ROB!

All a cop would have to do is tell some kid to go rob that house, and he would get a cut!

What other motivation would there be to enter a house at 3am?

I would also say, SHOOT THE COPS!

reply to post by ironman433


i don't agree with anyone thats not family entering anyone's home without permission-----you would think that of all people cops would know better than that but maybe these guys were missing something in their upbringing or police training?

I had a girlfriend one time a few years ago. I never wanted to give her a key and I worked odd hours so I would leave the door unlocked for her on nights she "felt the need" to come over. BOY would those cops have seen a sight on one of "those nights"! I say let em in!

reply to post by yahn goodey

very good . and i whole heartedly agree with you yahn . my home is wide open to all but not without permission first .

Wow?!

Has anyone on here been a cop or is a cop, worked in law enforcement etc. ?

I have.

The police were justified. There is a concept called "Probable Cause".
They found the garage door open, keys in the vehicle, and tried knocking and received no response.

If I had been there I would of done the same thing. I have had comparable situations involving federal property and commercial property. I would of been worried a crime was in progress and someone's life could be danger.

So I cannot believe all of the Hate here against the officers. I know there are some cops, federal agents and military police around the country that do really stupid things at times, but that is not everyone. There are still good people in law enforcement.







[edit on 21/6/08 by MikeboydUS]

Originally posted by MikeboydUS
Has anyone on here been a cop or is a cop, worked in law enforcement etc. ?
I have.

I don't think this is about hating cops (yes there are cop haters here but many are not). I don't have a problem with cops, but if they decided to walk in my house at 3am it would be a BIG problem.

I have dogs, if one of them were hurt or killed because some cops with an over active imagination started thinking that an open garage door may signal a Manson type murder scene I would be very very upset indeed. It would be a very bad situation and in all likelihood someone would end up hurt or dead.

Maybe these were small town cops that were a bit naieve, but it was a really dangerous thing to do. There were several people in that house, if there was just ONE individual that was not capable of waking up to the sounds of yelling, knocking, a bullhorn, whatever that would be different.

Edit -- Plus entering federal or commercial property with cause is WAY different than entering a private home with people sleeping, and homeowners that may freak out because they fear for their family members.

[edit on 21-6-2008 by Sonya610]

reply to post by MikeboydUS


DUDE!

It was 3am!

Im sure they wernet pounding on the door, otherwise they would wake the occupants up!

No, you see, they knocked softly so they could enter the home!

If you thought a robber was in the house, would you, Knock on the door, and enter, or POUND on the door, yelling "THERE IS A ROBBER IN YOUR HOUSE"? then enter?

Come on man, this isnt very logical!

These cops are in the wrong! Its as plain as day!

I'll admit, I've only skimmed thru this thread, but I feel I need to add a few things, being that I live in Lakeville.

1 - The same thing happened to me to an extent - the Lakeville PD knocked on my door several years ago to tell me my car interior light was on and the door was locked. Long story short, the police are there to anso PREVENT crime. While I didnt break any laws, they didnt want someone breaking into my car and taking anything

2 - The news article is misleading. The police DID knock on the door and rang the door bell - and no one answered! Thew saw a couple of the kids inside, felt the needed to investigate further and woke up one of the kids to get an adult - and the child refused because he didnt want to wake up his dad.

Due to the circumstances, I feel this was justified by our city PD. Again, because they were not only making sure a crime hadnt already been committed, but to also PREVENT a crime from happening. Just 1 month ago, in the next town over, in Burnsville, and man's house was broken into due to an open garage door at 3am. The inturders also stabbed the man, set his house on fire, and left him for dead.

3- I dont think the guy who was woken up has good parenting / supervising skills. In today's day & age, I am very protective of my children and ALWAYS make sure everything is locked at the end of the night. I could go on about parenting skills, but this isn't the thread.



[edit on 21-6-2008 by Spoontoad]

reply to post by Spoontoad


So it is a small town type environment. That is very nice, i guess a lot of posters (myself included) don't have that type of mindset. Sounds like there is an upsurge in violent crime and everyone (the police and the civilians) are a bit freaked, they will get used to it!

reply to post by MikeboydUS


maybe you missed something while you were in cop school mikeboyd .
probable cause
and incase you were sleeping on this day too .fourth amendment
you have just shown the world that your one of this type of cop that we are speaking of .

[edit on 21-6-2008 by ironman433]