Cops pay 3 a.m. visit to tell man his door is unlocked
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/06/20/rude.awakening.ap/index.html
I have never liked movies where someone who is not expected walks up to a door that’s ajar, and are like “Hello? … Hello?” and then walk in and start looking around. I’m like “Just because it’s open doesn’t mean you can just walk in there”. And of course, the next scene usually involves them finding the person horribly murdered or something.
This particular situation is in such a gray area, I can’t even figure out what I think about it. I am inclined to think the cops shouldn’t have gone into the house. If someone had called the cops out of concern would be one thing, but for them to just decide to check it out because they happened to be there on a campaign to remind people to be more secure is another.
“The officers told Molde his garage door was open, the TV was on, the keys to his truck were left in the ignition and the door to his house was ajar.” So, the house was more unsecure than average. Considering he was having a sleepover and there were (unsupervised?) children in the house, maybe it was lucky that it was a cop who walked in instead of some serial child-molesting rapist-murderer. It’s also probably lucky that he got a somewhat nice cop instead of some of those other cops who would rough up children and taser people for the slightest confusion. “What? You’re waking me up at 3am? Who are you?” “Sir, you seem a little drunk [zap]“
So, yeah, I have mixed feelings about this one. The guy shouldn’t have left so many things unsecure – keys in your ignition? I know it happens (I’m looking at you, Ryan!). TV on? The kids were there having a sleepover trying to stay up all night. Garage door – not important if nothing of value was in there, and the door to the house from the garage was locked. Door ajar? Not usually a good idea, especially at 3am with semi-supervised kids in the house. But, the cops shouldn’t have just walked in unless something was reported as wrong, or obviously wrong – an unanswered door isn’t enough evidence in my opinion. But in this case, it was possibly a good thing.
June 24, 2008 at 8:35 am
Yea, I heard about this, and it took me a minute to think about it too. Finally, I decided: The police performed a warrantless search here and should not have.
If there was an actual robbery, the owners can call the police when they wake up in the morning, come home from vacation, etc. If there was, say, a murder where the whole family was killed – eventually neighbors would call the police.
A door being ajar, or a TV being left on, is not obvious sign of a crime being committed. In the end, the reward for failing to achieve “door conformity” is a warrantless search with a trigger-happy officer who has a license to kill anyone he perceives to be a threat — even if they are not. That’s not a good thing for your kids to be subjected to, considering how many unarmed kids get shot by cops every year.
So screw that cop. Homeowner should sue.
June 24, 2008 at 9:15 pm
I don’t think the police should have entered the house without a warrant. I did appreciate the police waking me up on morning to let me know my truck door was open and wanted to make sure someone hadn’t broken into it.
I had another incident last year where the police had my house surrounded (they thought it was abandoned and had a call from someone who saw me inside it). I didn’t know it was the police and got my gun. Luckily they announced themselves, otherwise it could have gotten bad. They all jumped back in fright when I opened the door (that also could have been bad). : )