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

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

www.cnn.com

LAKEVILLE, Minnesota (AP) -- A Lakeville man says he feels violated after two police officers woke him up at 3 a.m. to tell him his door was unlocked.

Their surprise visit was part of a public service campaign to remind residents to secure their homes to prevent thefts. Usually, officers just leave notices on doors.

But they went further in Troy Molde's case on Thursday. Police entered the house where four children under 7 were having a sleepover, and then went upstairs to Molde's bedroom.

(visit the link for the full news article)

I'm not sure if I am getting this right. The cops in this case were probably initially interested in the open garage, but the article says they 'usually leave notes on doors' of unsecured homes. Do you suppose this extends to turning doorknobs on random houses to see if a door is actually locked?

I have a feeling I would be pretty pissed to find a cop on my doorstep in the middle of the night checking to see if I have locked my door. I just wonder exactly how far they are taking this 'public service campaign'.

Anyone ever heard of similar programs by police?

www.cnn.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Edit: sp

[edit on 21-6-2008 by SystemiK]

Homeowner should have shot the cops.

They broke numerous laws by entering his house.

reply to post by slackerwire


Feeling a bit trigger happy are we? Last time I checked, shooting a cop for 'breaking numerous laws' was not advisable. In fact I'm fairly certain they didn't break any laws at all.

I would like to know more about this public service campaign though if anyone here lives in the area.

Sounds pretty silly to me. I mean the only reason you lock the door is to keep undesirables out of your house, but if the cops are about your neighborhood anyway like they should be, there is no need to have them locked. You want to try to prevent crime by having a presence of watchful cops doing patrol, but just checking peoples doors seems like they are not watching anything else.

Maybe I am wrong, but cops seem to just sit in one spot and not get out and patrol a whole lot. I guess maybe they are always on call for stupid stuff.

Originally posted by SystemiK
reply to post by slackerwire

 

Feeling a bit trigger happy are we? Last time I checked, shooting a cop for 'breaking numerous laws' was not advisable. In fact I'm fairly certain they didn't break any laws at all.

I would like to know more about this public service campaign though if anyone here lives in the area.

How about trespassing for starters? Breaking and entering?

Need more?

How about the countless violations of Constitutionally protected rights?

Lets see, 3 am, 2 intruders enter your house and start shining flashlights on you while you're in bed. Justifiable self defense case there.

I think it is unfortunate that these police officers are receiving so much criticism for attempting to make their community safer. No, they should not have entered the house, but - in my view anyway - it is better them than thieves/rapists/child molesters.

Originally posted by SystemiK
reply to post by slackerwire

 

Feeling a bit trigger happy are we? Last time I checked, shooting a cop for 'breaking numerous laws' was not advisable. In fact I'm fairly certain they didn't break any laws at all.

I would like to know more about this public service campaign though if anyone here lives in the area.

Regardless bro, I would have shot him to death for comin in my house like that. No one comes in my house at 3am without me knowing. If they do I got a big .40 cal for em. Cop or not. All I gotta do is say it was dark and i thought someone was in my house and i felt like my life was in danger...and couldn't see well but I saw he had a gun so I shot the hell out of him......oh, but then I turned the light on and saw it was a cop...damn...my bad.

EDIT: And before anybody goes flamin me for that, I just wanna say that my doors would be locked. I don't know about you, but I was raised in the bad part of town and taught to lock my doors and protect my family. There is not a person on my block that wouldn't do the exact same thing. So don't judge me unless you live where I live.

[edit on 6/21/2008 by Mad_Hatter]

Go around putting notes on unlocked doors? Are they being sponsored by the thieves or something?

Thanks for telling all and sundry that my house is unlocked, copper.

Good thing that the cops did not call SWAT team to close this guy's door.
If police came to my house and asked me to keep my door close i ,well i will not shoot them, but personally i will be very very displeased.
This is just creating fear in my opinion. If person lives in high-crime area he will not leave his door open. And if he lives in peaceful neighborhood - this is not police business to check for open doors - it will be best for all if they divert more workforce to crime areas instead.

They lucky the homeowner hadn't just got up to use the bathroom and saw them sneaking around with their flashlighs and shot them without asking a question. That is what I woulda done. He would have been justified too.

Unless they're going to knock on it during business hours or an legit emergency I don't want them anywhere near my door.. and going up to someone's bedroom? What would happen if I saw this intruder's shadow in the darkness and took a baseball bat to him in self defence? I'd get charged with attempted murder or assaulting a police officer. Whats next.. spot checks to make sure smoke alarms are working properly?

If I forgot to lock my door thats my business.. they're just using this "community service" as an excuse to bully people.

[edit on 21-6-2008 by riley]

Yeah I wouldn't have blamed him for shooting them if he heard them wandering round his house. I know the cops feel they're doing a good thing, but the police shouldn't get involved in people's personal lives so much. Who cares if they've got a uniform on, they should leave people to their own privacy in their own homes. Maybe leave a note through the guy's letterbox, but don't intrude on his property.

I can think of at least four cases where young children have been taken in the middle of the night during sleep overs and never seen again. We don't know what the cops saw when they looked for problems with an open garage door. Thats one of the very usual ways folks end up with home invasions and rapes. The cops might have seen the kids sleeping on the floor with the door not locked. They probably rang the door bell to tell this guy and the door bell might not be working. They very well could have saved some children from harm. With all the murders and mysterious disaperances in that area in the last three years, you might want to cut these cops a break and wait for the whole story!!!

Zindo

[edit on 6/21/2008 by ZindoDoone]

reply to post by malganis


A cop on patrol sees an open door. Is it a crime in progress, or just a careless homeowner? What obligation does the cop have to investigate the open door?

yeah.... thats definatly a shoot first ask questions later case...

i personally would force the issue of illegal search and have them not only removed from the force but charged with the crime of trespassing and b&e . they had no way of knowing about any children being in the home unless they were trespassing .
i think the guy was stupid for leaving the doors unlocked in the first place but at the same time it's no one's business but his own if they were . those cop's need to count their blessings because if that were my home the story would have turned out way different than it did .

I live near Lakeville MN and I have to say that news didn't sit well with me at all ! I have never heard of this happening and have never heard of this so called "campaign"
Lakeville is not a bad place, so having to call for this kind of activity from police, especially if you consider Minneapolis.
Wow...not liking it at all.
and your right..Shoot now...ask questions later !!

And what if the homeowner had a large dog? What would the cops have done if they were suddenly charged by an angry rottweiler while they were creeping around this mans home? Would they have shot the dog in self defense? I think they probably would have.

If someone is walking around in my home at 3 am, creeping down dark hallways and such I would shoot them without asking any questions.

Did the police officer's exceed the limits of their power? Probably

I can see that they might have been concerned with the open garage door, and in all honesty they might have had a lapse in judgement, I think that a quick call to dispatch with the guy's address, a welfare call to the house from dispatch could have alerted the homeowner, if the dispatch call went unanswered, then they might have had some concerns to go a step further, unanswered knocks on the door at 3AM isn't an invitation to enter the home IMO.

They went a little too far in this case, but that doesn't rise to the level of violence that has been posted previously, I think killing the cops for this is a little over the line don't you think?

It should be considered a "wake up call" to the homeowner that he just might want to secure his home a little better, especially if his children have some friends over for a slumber party....

....next time it might not be the police who stroll into his home when the door is open.