Oh, and being from that area myself, he's lucky he had a car, or anything else left in his garage when the cops got there.

Not a lot of violent crime in the area, but theft is very common, especially from cars and garages.

YoungSwedishBlonde: lauraleelewis: there were many more reasons for concern of the homeowner than simply an open garage door.

OMG, his mud room door was ajar!!!! EVERYONE PANIC!!!

/my German Shepard knows how to open the damn door for fark's sake

yes, and humans (a subgroup of which may include robbers) can open doors too. your point being?

MIguy

Oh snap! You better log off because I'm sure the Feds are reading this and on their way to kick in your door.

I see you're familiar with the new U.S FISA bill

Awesome. Warrantless wiretapping. Discuss?

Megain: i had some punk knock on my door this evening trying to sell me a home security system. i told him i wasn't interested. then i explained that for starters, my webcam had already saved his photo to my server, and secondly, good luck with the 3 german shepherds (and the worthless mutt) sitting obediently behind me

i think he shiat his pants running up the driveway when i said "attack" and slammed the door as the dogs went nuts barking to get out and at him

/wouldn't have ordinarily done that, but he came across as exceptionally rude and condescending about my lack of desire to buy what he was peddling
//he actually asked me what would happen if he clocked me with a tire-iron the second i opened the door
///my dogs want stupid, and i almost let them have it

You must be fairly confident to explain the details of your home security to a potential thief.

The cops were hatless.

WTF? I can leave my goddamn door open all night if I goddamn want to and this doesn't create any reasonable suspicion of anything. Go to hell, zomg police state.

cardex: they are preforming a public awareness campaign after a brutal murder / arson in the area.

i'd prefer they raise my awareness at some other time than 3am. maybe that's just me

Snowflake Tubbybottom: Heres a photo of good natured cops helping this man with the bus schedule.

Well you've convinced me. All cops are evil and out to violate our rights. Thanks for making me see the light, now please excuse me while I go barricade my home against the inevitable incursion by law enforcement.

blazemongr: Snowflake Tubbybottom: Heres a photo of good natured cops helping this man with the bus schedule.

Wow, that's not out of context at all.

/can't go to bed yet
//someone is wrong on the internet

It is but some here think that merely wearing a badge prevents one from being power hungry a$$hole.

The one point that hasn't been touched upon is why in the hell are they doing this at such a late hour? If your aim is to provide information on being sucure in your effects then do so during normal waking hours. Not only would it be more effective it would also be much better PR.

blazemongr
Waffle of Justice: /Trespassing at that hour is a bad idea whom ever you are.

"Trespassing" implies they didn't have a legal right to be there. When you're a police officer with reason to think a crime may have been committed--because the homeowner isn't answering the door and the adjacent garage is open--that word no longer applies.

So they are using the "reasonable cause, or probable cause" excuse.. guilty until proven so.

I leave my door unlocked, my car unlocked, and sometimes one of my garages open, you may even find my grill warm enough to still cook on it. If there is a cop in my house that I or my neighbor did not call he/she better have an excuse.. this "we thought something happened" is a load of shiat.

I used to live in Apple Valley MN.. not too far from Lakeville, and Lakeville has become a happy pristine community with bored police.

A home owner not answering the door at 3am.... its farking 3am..they prolly have jobs. If you were not invited to my property, you are trespassing, no matter who you are.

The cops post notices on peoples doors telling them they need to lock their doors.

Doesn't this make it easier for the criminals to see which doors are unlocked?

Snowflake Tubbybottom: Heres a photo of good natured cops helping this man with the bus schedule.



Don't fly in a plane because they all crash into buildings.

blazemongr: ManatOrr: Not saying that they lied, I'm just saying that they might be lying.

So, you're saying they lied. Because if you thought they weren't, you'd not have bothered mentioning it.

You're obviously not an engineer.

/just because something isn't likely doesn't mean it didn't happen
//just because I brought it up doesn't mean I think it's true

MIGuy:
So the police and the government are out to violate your rights but you're not worried about it? Ladies and gentlemen, we have an internet tough guy sighting.

No, but I have absolutely no trouble pointing out when they do. Is that so hard to believe? I guess so...I'm better than all LEO even though I've drank and smoke pot with them underage! WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!


Sum Dum Gai: As someone who actually closes the goddamn front door, I'd certainly want the cops to check if they saw my door open in the middle of the night, because that would mean I'd been robbed or assaulted.

Obviously, you've never heard of a MUD ROOM DOOR. If I had a nickel for everytime I left my parents garage door open after I came home from a friend's house, I'd have a dollar or so saved up.

The intrusion was justified because knocks to the door at 3AM were not answered. LOL! farkin pigs.

ManatOrr: blazemongr: MIguy: It's not a big deal as far as I'm concerned but if the door to the house was shut, the cops shouldn't have entered the home.

Cops say it wasn't.

Cops say lots of things.

Unfortunately, they're people, so they might not always say the truth.
Not saying that they lied, I'm just saying that they might be lying.


The man who left everything open and unlocked are people to, so why automatically take his side over the cops.

The open garage door was not the reason they went in, it was stated in the article that they were stopping by house's with open garage doors to drop off pamphlets letting people know that it isn't a good idea.

They went in because the door was open (that's what the cops said and if we are just gonna assume all cops lie about everything, this entire subject is a deadend because nothing said here will change your mind) and no answers to their knocks.

They finally went in and found the kids who had been awakened. From that point the cops knew nothing bad had happened, but the kids were afraid to wake the dad. So the cops went upstairs and did it. Would you rather them just leave and have the father find out in the morning that two random cops had been in his house with his kids and then just left?



The world is not so black and white that we can easily clarify everything into what is always right and what is always wrong. There will always be the need for people like these police officers to be able to express and act on their judgment.

lauraleelewis: yes, and humans (a subgroup of which may include robbers) can open doors too. your point being?

Do you morons know what a god damn mud room door is?

johntonia: I see you're familiar with the new U.S FISA bill

Awesome. Warrantless wiretapping. Discuss?

The Democrats control the House and this passed. Discuss.

Oh yeah! And the TV was on. So, like time to smash in your bedroom door because, you know, YOU'RE TV WAS ON.

LOL! farkin pigs.

YoungSwedishBlonde: No, but I have absolutely no trouble pointing out when they do.

You're such an activist.

HomeGrownCone: You must be fairly confident to explain the details of your home security to a potential thief.

yes, i am. motion-activated security cameras and a few well-trained dogs do that. fight your way past that and they deserve what they get. i think the odds are in my favor. and the point was that i didn't see any benefit from what the guy was selling, so why should i have to deal with the dumbass for longer than i had to?

wanna try it? my home address can be found easily enough if you know your way around the net. feel free to drop by and meet the puppies

Bunnyhat: ManatOrr: blazemongr: MIguy: It's not a big deal as far as I'm concerned but if the door to the house was shut, the cops shouldn't have entered the home.

Cops say it wasn't.

Cops say lots of things.

Unfortunately, they're people, so they might not always say the truth.
Not saying that they lied, I'm just saying that they might be lying.


The man who left everything open and unlocked are people to, so why automatically take his side over the cops.

The open garage door was not the reason they went in, it was stated in the article that they were stopping by house's with open garage doors to drop off pamphlets letting people know that it isn't a good idea.

They went in because the door was open (that's what the cops said and if we are just gonna assume all cops lie about everything, this entire subject is a deadend because nothing said here will change your mind) and no answers to their knocks.

They finally went in and found the kids who had been awakened. From that point the cops knew nothing bad had happened, but the kids were afraid to wake the dad. So the cops went upstairs and did it. Would you rather them just leave and have the father find out in the morning that two random cops had been in his house with his kids and then just left?



The world is not so black and white that we can easily clarify everything into what is always right and what is always wrong. There will always be the need for people like these police officers to be able to express and act on their judgment.

Interesting that you state the "world is not so black and white" immediately after implying that these people were definitely in the right.

MIGuy: You're such an activist.

Given that I'm usually the anti-Obama/Democrat/liberal person on Fark. No, I don't understand your point.

johntonia: King Smething:

Before anyone says "ZOMG POLICE STATE!!!1!" please allow me to point out that what zz9 just described is called "Reasonable Suspicion," and is a completely different animal than a SWAT team breaking down a door and charging in guns blazing on a no-knock warrant because somebody who lives there had a fraction of a gram of marijuana in their trash can.

Have you ever heard of Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution

It's attitudes like yours that are letting our basic rights get eaten away by our tyrannical Governments.

8/10

And it appears that people bit. Good job.

Oh and Megain, I love you.

He's here to help you, just ask him!
Ask the cop on the corner!
Ask the cop on the beat!
Ask the cop in the woodpile!
Ask the cop who's knock-knock-knockin' at your back door!

/poorly misquoted Firesign Thtr

"in May, a 52-year-old Burnsville man was stabbed and left to die in his burning town house ..."



That's what they do in Burnsville. Duh.

This is Lakeville we're talking about. Crime is virtually non-existent.

They don't even have sex offenders (unlike Burnsville, which has three).

Link (new window)

MIguy

Democrats = Republicans so to me that's a moot point. It doesn't matter how it passed. In my opinion, it's a bad thing.

blazemongr: When you're a police officer with reason to think a crime may have been committed--

To a police officer, there's always reason to believe that a crime has been committed.

blazemongr: MIguy: It's not a big deal as far as I'm concerned but if the door to the house was shut, the cops shouldn't have entered the home.

Cops say it wasn't.

And at 3:am, there was no one awake to confirm nor dispute their claim. However, the homeowner remembers closing, but not locking the door.

Megain: HomeGrownCone: You must be fairly confident to explain the details of your home security to a potential thief.

yes, i am. motion-activated security cameras and a few well-trained dogs do that. fight your way past that and they deserve what they get. i think the odds are in my favor. and the point was that i didn't see any benefit from what the guy was selling, so why should i have to deal with the dumbass for longer than i had to?

wanna try it? my home address can be found easily enough if you know your way around the net. feel free to drop by and meet the puppies

LOL dude, grow up.

YoungSwedishBlonde: lauraleelewis: yes, and humans (a subgroup of which may include robbers) can open doors too. your point being?

Do you morons know what a god damn mud room door is?

i live in a rural area so we've always had one, as they are sort of custom. In fact, the previous owners of our house built a shower into the mudroom for reasons no one can quite explain. it baffles us...

sorry if i indicated that i was a moron by informing you that people can, in fact, open doors. my mistake.

ManatOrr:

Interesting that you state the "world is not so black and white" immediately after implying that these people were definitely in the right.


How?

Did you take that to mean that there is never anything right to happen ever? What I said is that there isn't an issue that is always right or always wrong. Some other cops going into the house of some other guy is not always gonna be right or wrong, but instead it will be based on the surrounding issues of why they went in.

In this case I feel they were right to enter the house. In other, it might not be.


I was directing the comment to the people who are saying that police never ever ever have the right to enter their or someone else's house without a direct warrant.

THE FRONT DOOR WAS OPEN.*

The cops did not enter the guys house because the garage door was open, or his keys were in his truck. They entered because THE FRONT DOOR WAS OPEN*, which would definitely suggest something might be wrong. Once finding something that indicates something might be wrong, it was their duty to check to make sure that the residents of the house were safe.

*Caps and bold because some people seem to be deliberately ignoring this point.

Okay, for all you people who seem to be skimming the article and missing important information, or just trying to troll, here is all the facts listed in that very article that takes only a minute to read:

- It's 3 AM

- The garage door is wide open, the keys are in the truck's ignition still (truck is off though), the TV is on and visible via a window or something, the front door was ajar.

- The police KNOCKED ON THE DOOR to see if things were alright. After their calls were unheard, they proceeded to head inside.

- The police then knocked on the walls to wake up Mr. Molde (they did not stand at his bed and point a gun at him)

- The police did not issue a fine nor arrest anyone.


So let's see here. Police officers see a house that is just begging to be robbed. It's not normal to leave your garage door and front door open, and keep all the lights off in the house. They knock first to make sure that it wasn't just someone perhaps moving stuff from his truck into the garage or vice versa. When the calls go unheard, they head inside, wondering if it may be a burglary or something. Seeing that it's not, they still wake the man to inform him just how easy it was for them to walk in and that they could've done something.

This is shot down many of your "unjustifiable entry" claims, but obviously no words are going to get through the thick heads of the skulls. So please, tell me, what point did I miss which indicates that these officers were wrong and/or should get in trouble?

DreadnaughtZeta: They entered because THE FRONT DOOR WAS OPEN

There are three people in this farking world that know if the door was open and guess what, you're not one of them.

zz9: Imagine the case if the cops found this but just put a note on the door and the owner WAS dead (or worse, bleeding to death) upstairs as the cops went back to the donut shop?

Nope, sorry, the cops are always evil and nothing they do is allowed or right. Ever. If they rescue orphans from a fire then that is evil and they should die for contributing to overpopulation.

blahblahpigsblahsuckblahblaharg*froth**spit**explode*

DreadnaughtZeta: THE FRONT DOOR WAS OPEN.*

The cops did not enter the guys house because the garage door was open, or his keys were in his truck. They entered because THE FRONT DOOR WAS OPEN*, which would definitely suggest something might be wrong. Once finding something that indicates something might be wrong, it was their duty to check to make sure that the residents of the house were safe.

*Caps and bold because some people seem to be deliberately ignoring this point.


The door was ajar. That means it could have been shut, and when pressure was applied, it opened.

And quit yelling. It's late.

More_Like_A_Stain: blazemongr: When you're a police officer with reason to think a crime may have been committed--

To a police officer, there's always reason to believe that a crime has been committed.

blazemongr: MIguy: It's not a big deal as far as I'm concerned but if the door to the house was shut, the cops shouldn't have entered the home.

Cops say it wasn't.

And at 3:am, there was no one awake to confirm nor dispute their claim. However, the homeowner remembers closing, but not locking the door.

Not only that, but cops are the biggest lying scum-sucking farkbags on Earth. Usually you need to take what they say, chop 90% of it off, take the exact opposite of what's left, shake the leftover bullshiat off of it, and then take it with the world's smallest grain of salt and plenty of water to rinse.

If a cop shows up in your bedroom, no matter the time, just answer the questions and all will be fine. If you resist, then a tazzering you can expect. Just remember not to set yourself up... Next time!

MIguy: LOL dude, grow up.

wow - what a mature response

/wait, what?

lauraleelewis:i live in a rural area so we've always had one, as they are sort of custom. In fact, the previous owners of our house built a shower into the mudroom for reasons no one can quite explain. it baffles us...

sorry if i indicated that i was a moron by informing you that people can, in fact, open doors. my mistake.

So if the police see that your garage door is open, they just have a right to walk into your garage, see that the TV is on, which my dad watches frequently does since he works on cars in our garage often, and then sees that the mud room door is open (something my f*cking German Shepard opens often) and just can barge into our house because a few conditions are met.

Jesus Christ, you people are retarded.

If anyone knocks at my door at 3 AM, there is no way in hell I'm going to answer the door. Yeah, the cops meant no harm, but they had no business entering the person's house. If I was him, on Monday I'd be paying a visit to my attorney. Cops need to learn the rules before they enforce them. The whole "reasonable suspicion" shpeel is typical police bullsh*t that they say every time they screw up. I dare a cop to enter my house w/o a warrant or invitation.

MIguy: DreadnaughtZeta: They entered because THE FRONT DOOR WAS OPEN

There are three people in this farking world that know if the door was open and guess what, you're not one of them.

Guess what? You're not one either.

The guy said he thought that he remembered closing the door, but hell, he almost certainly didn't remember leaving his keys sitting in his truck in his open garage either. Somehow I doubt that he'd deliberately do that. At least not the combination of the two.

The most reliable witnesses we have are the police officers. And though I am not inclined to automatically believe everything a cop says is true, in this case, it almost certainly is, considering all the rest of the facts.

Judging by what information is given in the article, the police were justified in their entry, simply to ensure that the residents were alright. There is absolutely nothing in the article to indicate that they are lying.

YoungSwedishBlonde: It's Lakeville, Minnesota. The police probably didn't have any stray black people to arrest for no reason at that time of night. They rarely make it south of the Minnesota River.

Then you have never been to Burnsville. I worked for Dakota Co in soc. services for several years, and it seemed everyone we dealt with in Burnsville had a former address in north Mpls, Brooklyn Center/Park, etc....

DreadnaughtZeta: The guy said he thought that he remembered closing the door

Jesus farking christ that's not what he farking said.

he said he remembered leaving the doors to his house unlocked, but closed.

Where the hell is the word "thought" in that sentence?

It pisses me off that the cops entered the man's house without his permission. There needs to be limits on what government officials can do without permission from the owner. If cops can enter a house without your permission just because the garage door is open, it can eventually cops having the right to go anywhere any time for any reason. If people want cops to play babysitter for them, the government should be required to have a signed paper from them giving them permission to enter their house at 3 am on such a lack of probable cause that a crime is taking place. While some cops may be looking out for your best interests, we still need to be protected from the occasional "bad cop"

Alt_Login: If a cop shows up in your bedroom, no matter the time, just answer the questions and all will be fine. If you resist, then a tazzering you can expect. Just remember not to set yourself up... Next time!

When a cop showed up in my bedroom (by opening the door without knocking) I immediately asked him with a crooked grin just asking for a punching "What would you have done if I was masturbating right now?"

When he asked me for my ID, I told him I was subletting, and unless he had a warrant out for me, he should probably leave my room.

The cops were somewhat unpleasant to me for the duration of their stay.

Perhaps a more in depth article is needed here: Link (new window)


Lakeville police say they'll continue to leave notices on unsecured homes, saying burglaries in the city have dropped in the past year since they started reminding residents to be more careful.

If they feel that they were in the clear on this one why presumably will they only leave notices on future unsecured homes rather than enter and search?