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

[varkam]

AP
Link

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.

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.

A police spokesman says the intrusion was justified because the officers' initial door knocks went unanswered, and they wanted to make sure nothing was wrong.

Maybe the knocks went unanswered because it was three in the freaking morning!

:eyes:

He says the kids inside -- Molde's two sons and two nephews -- were afraid to wake their dad, so the officers went upstairs.

[EFerrari]

1. That's over the top but, having been awoken by a guy on a hot prowl

who had two prior rape convictions with my kids on the other side of the wall, I would much rather have woken up to my local cops.

Seems like there should be a more gentle way to get this message across.

[Hekate]

62. I hear you. Yikes. Worst nightmare and all that. I'm glad you and the kids are okay. nt

[BeyondGeography]

2. WTF?

:freak:

[SteppingRazor]

3. Meh.

I'm the first one to come down hard on cops when they abusive their authority, but the garage door open, with keys in the truck and the door to the house also open, at 3 in the morning, is plenty suspicious enough for the cops to make sure everyone in the house is OK.

[Warpy]

12. No kidding!

A similar thing happened to me in Boston 40 years ago. One of my flatmates had forgotten to lock the door. The cops noticed the door had blown open and and came in to check that there weren't any bodies in there (a too often occurrence in that neighborhood). It was my day off and I was taking a nap and they woke me up to tell me about the door.

When I got over being creeped out, I was grateful.

[NotThisTime]

16. This happened to my friend in Boston 15 years ago, unfortunately it WASN'T the police

Roommate left the door unlocked and my friend was the recipient of an intrusion.... The cops should have entered the house given the garage open, the front door ajar, TV on, keys in car - too many odd things going on there.

[Renew Deal]

4. The cops chose to be safe than sorry.

It seems like a bit much, but it also seems like a lot was out of place.

[DesertFlower]

5. i have mixed thoughts.

remember polly klass? that was a sleep over too.

these days you can't be too careful.

[EmperorHasNoClothes]

6. Since when do police have the right to enter a residence when there's no evidence of a crime?

just because nobody answers when they knock on the door? Although it may not be wise, I'm pretty sure it's still legal to leave your garage door open and your TV on at night. :eyes:

[Renew Deal]

9. There was evidence of a potential crime.

Chances are these cops know this neighborhood well. It sounds like a lot was out of place that night.

[Occulus]

14. There was no cause for entry

By your logic, they can stroll in while I'm in the damn shower. Not good enough, by a very long way.

[pt22]

20. When I take a shower at 3 a.m. I tend to have the door closed if not locked.

:eyes:

[Renew Deal]

22. By my logic they can stroll in while you're being strangled in the shower.

They have no idea what you're doing. All they know is that things are out of order.

[arcadian]

17. Evidence of a potential crime? How?

I guess you're right, crimes potentially take place in any physical location. Please. Does not give them the right to just walk in. I would have been pissed.

[Renew Deal]

21. I probably would have been pissed too.

But I understand why they might feel that something is wrong.

[niyad]

37. WHAT potential crime? seriously, what do you mean? it isn't illegal to have

one's garage door open (stupid, perhaps, but not illegal) nor is it illegal to have one's television on, nor is it illegal to have one's front door unlocked.

it really bothers me that some people seem to think whatever the police do, however intrusive they are, however far down the road to a total police state they step, is perfectly okay. thus are the chains of enslavement forged.

[Renew Deal]

41. You know what really bothers me?

it really bothers me that some people seem to think whatever the police do, however careful they are, however much they try to help people, there's going to be some paranoid nutter screaming "police state."

If the cops drive by there every night and know what to expect, I would hope they'd react if they saw something so far out of place as what you described.

[NYC Liberal]

47. Um, if the police enter my house they damn well either better have a warrant

or hear some sort of screaming. An unlocked door in no evidence of anything, and it's certainly not enough to justify police entering a private residence with no warrant.

Breaking into a private residence (which is what these officers did) is NOT "helping" people.

[eShirl]

69. the door was AJAR, not just unlocked, at 3 AM

I don't think it was unreasonable for the cops to think it possible there could be a burglary, perhaps even in progress.

[Occulus]

67. Let's take this to its logical extreme, then, and show us all what you're willing to tolerate

Here's the narrative of the situation (and I worked a while on painting the picture, here):

On the first second past four o'clock in the afternoon on that hot, sultry July fifteenth, fifty thousand billion billion photons screamed silently down upon the small ranch home at 2230 Milford. The temperature in the shade on the east side of the house was flirting with one hundred degrees Fahrenheit, and in the sun, you could fry an egg on a rock if it didn't fry in the air first. While a bit cooler down in the grass near the stone foundation, the humidity suffocating the air was a crushing wet weight you had to drag down your windpipe and then desperately ejaculate back out again. It was the fourth such day that week, and there was no end in sight.

Every other home on the street, from bungalow to McMansion, had its shades or curtains open, from streetside mysteriously including the buildings facing west. However, at 2230 Milford, the central air had finally fallen upon its sword in its valiant, but ultimately futile, effort to keep the interior at a reasonable temperature. The drawn shades and the open garage door were thus, from the street, a harbinger of possible calamity; a puzzle, a mystery. There were unexplored shadows behind those doors and windows, shades of things uncertain and possibly dark as one of Satan's own nightmares.

What could possibly be going on behind those drawn shades? Could it be a crime?

Inside, in the kitchen, Mrs. Swanson was chopping carrots and preparing tomorrow's beef stew for her husband, Tony. She had closed the curtains in the living room because the windows faced to the west, and the heat, as it built up, was enough for her to fear that her food would be spoiled as she prepared it. She had opened the windows, as well as the front and back doors (both of which had locking screens) to try to capture the slightest wandering breeze. While mindful of the possibility that a criminal could enter her home, she was, after all, cooking: she had, and knew she had, ready access to very long, sharp, pointy objects with blades.

A twelve-inch oscillating fan cooled her face as she cut, cut, cut the carrots. Cut-scrape. Cut-cut. Scrraaape.

The Swanson home had two bathrooms; one, in the front, was used by her grandchildren and guests, and the other was her personal toilet, both in the modern and classical senses of the word. As it happened, the onions she started in on following her carrot mission did what onions often do in self-defense: they made her cry.

Blotting at her eyes over onions for the first time in forever (she had thought she'd grown out of it), Mrs. Swanson realized that they were now a bit red, and her mascara had run. She took herself off to "her" bathroom, in the rear of the home, making certain to take a knife with her, just in case. She was, after all, alone, and one just cannot ever be too careful about one's safety and security when alone in a home on a quiet street. Cat burglars, and all.

Stepping around the fully restored, antique Victrola record player, she opened the door to the home's master bedroom and walked over to her bathroom, which lay behind a second door off to the left side. The door had a tendency to swing shut because it was unbalanced on its hinges, and the room was cut off from the rest of the house besides; it was quiet enough in this part of her abode that she couldn't hear the television she had been watching in the kitchen. As she used Visene on her eyes and touched up her mascara, she realized she had to use the toilet proper.

Given the above scenario, are police officers authorized to enter when they patrol her street and see the above exterior conditions?

Because of where she was in her house, she never heard the knock on her front screen door. The police found knives on the counter, open doors but closed curtains, a car in the open garage, and yet nobody present. Five minutes later, both she and an officer were lying dead on the floor of that same bathroom in a sticky, red pool of blood: him because she tried to defend herself with a chef's knife against people she thought weren't cops, and her because she tried to defend herself against people who were cops.

(These sorts of tragedies are easy to make up because they've happened before.)

[SmileyRose]

45. i don't think we've made unlocked doors a crime yet.

I know a homeowners association of a gated community that fines people if they leave the garage door up for more than 2 hours but I'm thinking not even leaving the garage door up and the keys in the SUV are a crime in this country. Stupid maybe but not criminal.

[Skidmore]

70. By whom?

There's the potential that someone may break into my house
next year. That does not give the police the right to enter my home without a search warrant.
What's next?

[Tarc]

7. Well, I'd rather have cops waking me up to remind me to lock up

Rather than everything I own stolen and/or a knife in the ribs for good measure.

How anyone can leave their doors unlocked, especially with kids, especially especially with someone else's kids inside, is absolutely ridiculous.

[Stump]

8. Mountain out of a molehill...

Sounds like they were actually trying to check welfare and attempting to stop buglaries. No big deal in my book, good thing it was police and not a thief.

[Cleita]

10. I have had phone calls at that time in the morning asking me if I were

related to someone with my same surname that they were looking for. DH and I have had cops knocking on our door in the middle of the night asking us where certain people lived in our building. It's the joys of living in a racially mixed neighbor in the big city.

[AndyA]

11. The police could have asked a dispatcher to phone the residence

and advise the man when he answered that the police were outside and they'd like to have a word with him.

I can't imagine leaving my keys in the car or going to bed with the doors unlocked. I suppose it may have happened a few times that I'm not aware of, but I'm pretty good about securing everything before I go to bed at night, and I always make sure the alarm is armed.

[EFerrari]

13. Phone was unlisted? I don't imagine most cops want to enter

a residence -- where they don't know what to expect and where they could be held liable for a lot of things -- if they don't have to.

I'm not a big fan of this kind of entry, to say the least, but I am a big fan of welfare checks.

[AndyA]

18. I'm pretty sure the police can get unlisted phone numbers.

I'll bet they can get cell numbers as well, by doing a records search to find out who owns the property. Of course, if it's a rental, who knows. :shrug:

In this day and age, I'd be very afraid that the police would be shot dead in the darkness because the homeowner wasn't expecting them to be in the house at 3:00 am. Sounds like a good policy that's been poorly executed to me.

[EFerrari]

25. I agree that they can get unlisted numbers but most of what they do

is time sensitive. If they felt they had time to dig around for a number, they'd probably conclude further scrutiny wasn't warranted, too. Cop math. :)

I am also glad they didn't walk into anything more than some kids and a sleepy dad. :(

[Leopolds Ghost]

55. I was about to say that. Then again "not making sure your alarm is armed" is no grouns for suspicion

Unless one live in one of those gated communities on the outskirts of town with the giant stone entryways that look as if they should properly be decorated with smoking braziers and heads on pikes.

[pt22]

15. Mr. Molde is a Moran.

:eyes:

[ColbertWatcher]

19. No shit.

First, the cops have no right to do what they did, but Molde is fucked in the head.

Keys in the ignition!?

Damn.

[EFerrari]

28. I've fallen over, dead tired and not locked my door.

That doesn't make me a moran (although other stuff may, lol) that just made me 'way too tired that night.

[pt22]

31. Oh, I have too...and I was a moran on those occasions.

:D

[EFerrari]

33. LOL! You are probably right.

:)

[Leopolds Ghost]

56. Nonsense. Eccentric maybe... The society we WANT is where crime is low and doors need not be locked

Remember? (you probably don't want to live in a non-security-oriented neighborhood like that, but I live in a fairly urban area where the doors aren't aways locked and folks aren't obsessed with personal safety, and there's still petty crime, even a few beheadings and body dumpings on occasion... hell, when I was in New Orleans the doors weren't always locked on the poor side of town because nobody had more worth stealing than anyone else.)

[dorkulon]

23. "garage door was open, the TV was on, the keys to his truck were left in the ignition and the door t

This guy is lucky it was cops that woke him up!

:dunce:

[Greyskye]

24. Same thing happened to some friends of mine

They were living in Piedmont, in the hills above Oakland CA. I think at the time, there were 3 or 4 couples living in this huge old Victorian. They typically kept the front door, if not open, then at least unlocked, with a note that read "Friends - come on in" attached to it.

One night, Dave and Marianna woke up to 3 or 4 police officers shining flashlights on them in their bedroom. They were lucky they didn't wake up the guy that lived in the basement bedroom - I seem to recall that he was pretty twitchy. The cops story was that there had been a report of a break-in on the street, saw the open door, and came on it.

I'm just glad that it wasn't during one of their oh-so-excellent parties they used to hold. Technophile-Ren Faire-Pagans know how to have a good time! :evilgrin:

[Dogtown]

26. Cops were lucky,

they could have been shot.


I've forgotten to lock my door before. I've also left my garagedoor propped open hoping a missing pet would return. I'd be highly upset to find that the police had violated my privacy because my garagedoor was ajar. Locking up at night is a wise choice , but it isn't a legal requirement.

[dems_rightnow]

27. Bummer that he "feels violated"

I think that's actually a neat idea. "Lock your doors or we're coming in to tell you to lock them."

[niyad]

39. did you forget the sarcasm icon? there is no law requiring one to lock one's doors.

[Wizard777]

51. But there are laws against trespassing.

[psychmommy]

29. sorry no thanks.

i am an aa, i don't want the cops in my house. i could think it was someone breaking into my house and reach for my stick and my obit would be in the paper. they saw the kids having the sleepover, the point of going upstairs and waking the parents? too many black folks have died over a wallet or phone being mistaken for a gun. no thank you. i work for the judiciary and have a great respect for law enforcement and what they do. i also know that they see stereotypes when they look at me. no thanks.

[hfojvt]

34. then you should probably lock your door before you goto sleep

Seems like a simple enough precaution.

[niyad]

40. really? next thing we know, all the cops will have master keys, and can just come in, using any

justification they like "we saw something suspicious"

this step towards a police state doesn't bother you?"

[hfojvt]

43. that they came in an open door?

not even close to disturbing. I had the same thing happen to me a couple of times in the 1990s when I had a business and went inside for a few minutes without locking up behind me.

[Leopolds Ghost]

57. "What's this? Unauthorized repairs to your plumbing, Mr. Buttle?"

[psychmommy]

46. i sure as heck do.

someone came through my place. it must have been a teen because i woke up and scared them. i lock doors and windows now. i also have a nice stick and some mace.

[NYC Liberal]

48. What if I don't feel like locking my door? The police can just waltz into my house

in the middle of the night with no cause?

What's next, the police see a shadow in the window at 2AM and they come crashing in?

[hfojvt]

52. I think having the police waltzing into your unlocked house

would be the least of your problems. A good problem to have. Much better than a Ted Bundy or somebody who is bored or angry or desperate to come waltzing in.

[NYC Liberal]

53. Those officers are very lucky that they did not get shot.

Seriously. I wake up at 3AM and see two guys in cop uniforms standing in my room, the first thing I think is "burglary." Cop uniforms aren't too hard to find.

And anyway, regardless of their intentions, what they did was illegal. An slightly-ajar door is not probable cause. Nor is the TV being on. I fall asleep with the TV on all the time...could the cops come into my house then?

[Leopolds Ghost]

58. Peiple are forgetting that the Anglo-Saxon "castle ordinance" still applies.

There ARE places where people get shot for trespassing period, and they're given the right by courts to do that, so best to apply the principle fairly... bang on the door until someone comes down, if you're worried, or call... what would they have done if no one had been inside? Ransack the house looking for clues? Why not just secure the door and leave a note warning of crime in the neighborhood?

[gatorboy]

30. Sneaky way to get around search warrants, maybe?

"Hello sir, just a public service to tell you your door is open and- Heyyy, is that a bong?"

[KG]

65. exactly.

[Mountainman]

32. That happened to me. The local sheriff is looking for the guy that used to live where I do.

They came to our door once looking for him that's how I know their motive. The guy they are looking for is black so they did not bother with us after I told them that only my wife and I live there and we just moved in a few months ago.

I was asleep on the bed on a Sunday afternoon a few months later. I was woken by two sheriff deputies and they asked me to come into the living room. One had his hand on his gun the whole time. They showed me a picture of a black man and asked if he lived there and did I know him. I told them I don't know him but that deputies we here before looking for him. They acknowledged that because it was on a piece of paper they were holding. The one with the hand on his gun went outside the other one apologized for coming in the house. They said they knocked and no one answered. They looked in the bedroom window and saw my feet and didn't know if I was black or not.

[Leopolds Ghost]

59. Interesting. n/t

[pagandem4justice]

35. I dunno...

I'd like a bit more information on the situation, to be sure, but if all is as it has been reported, it looks like they were on their routine patrol (putting notices, etc.), and saw the garage door open. Okay, so put the notice on the garage/connecting door. Vehicle keys in the ignition, and house door open? Looks like something may be amiss, or at least like someone came home in one helluva hurry (possible domestic situation?). This gives them cause to investigate further, but imo, the mistake they made was not pounding the heck out of the door and loudly announcing themselves. They were too intent on possibly "sneaking up" on a potential intruder, and thus could have endangered themselves and the homeowners' family. So from the way it looks to me, no search/seizure violation (p.c.), but they need a write-up for procedure, re-training, and to issue a damn good apology.

:hide:

[Jed Dilligan]

36. As long as they don't use this as cover to bust the resident

for something else, I'm okay with it. But even if they see a pound of pot on the coffee table, they shouldn't be able to make a case in a situation like this.

[niyad]

38. reading the article more closely--so, was the door UNLOCKED, or AJAR? slight difference, there.

and gee, maybe it was ajar (if it was) because someone had gone outside and left it open?

[Liberal_in_LA]

42. The officers told Molde "the TV was on". Why was that part of the warning?

TV on at 3am is a hazard?

[Leopolds Ghost]

61. In MY neighborhood, they TELL us to leave the lights and TV on at night

Especially when going on a trip at Christmastime, and that is in a "gentrifying" area.

What about papers piled up on the doorstep... does that count as suspicious or merely
cause for worry about the health of a missing or elderly person?

We know cash transactions count as suspicious... and walking instead of driving
in certain neighborhoods... especially if the profile is wrong and they can't
account for their whereabouts... a mistake has been made Mrs. Buttle...

[RamboLiberal]

44. I can understand the cops doing this

But they are also lucky that they didn't awaken coming in a guy with a gun who shoots first and asks questions later. I've read of some family members getting killed this way.

[Horse with no Name]

49. I'm guessing that poking their heads in and asking the kids if everything was alright

was out of the question...and then locking the door behind them?

[AlCzervik]

50. if that was my neighbor i'd be thinking someone is dead or there's a home invasion.

i can't blame the cops for checking it out.

[LiberalPersona]

54. I'd rather wake up by cops visiting,

worried about my safety than a robber holding a gun to my face whom I didn't hear enter my home.

[TheWatcher]

60. The Baby Steps Progression Of A Police State.

This is how it always starts. It's how they condition the Public for something on a bigger scale. "It's A Public Service." "A Courtesy." "Just For Your Safety, because we CARE about your safety SO MUCH."

And they always use a simple hook in the beginning. It sounds so reasonable and harmless. It might be something that many will go along with. After all, it's so innocuous, what harm could come of it?

That's how it starts out.

And then the next step comes. Things get more invasive, more progressive. And then the next step.....

is that what is going on here? There really isn't any way to know.

But it's something to think about.

I wish I didn't feel that cynical about stories like this.

But with the level of corruption and signs of fascism that currently prevails in this country, I wouldn't discount it.

Not for a MINUTE.

[IdaBriggs]

63. Mr. Molde is a Moron.

Key parts of this article for me --

four children under 7 were having a sleepover

and

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.

Okay, television on at 3:00 a.m. with little kids -- its a sleepover. The door to his house ajar at three in the morning (so anyone can walk in and snatch my kid) = Kill. Garage door open at three in the morning (so anyone can walk in and snatch my kid) = KILL. Keys in his truck so anyone has immediate access to getting away with my kid (assuming none of the 7 year olds gets the bright idea to go to McDonald in the middle of the night themselves) = KILL.

And the fact the kids were too nervous to 'wake him up' when THE POLICE WHERE AT THE DOOR tells me they WERE NOT BEING SUPERVISED.

Why not just hand the 7 year olds some booze to go with this dangerous, obviously unsupervised sleepover? If my kids were at his house, he'd be getting an earful from me!

I hope he does get robbed. Frankly, if I were the parent of the sleepover kids, that would be the LEAST of his problems!

On second thought, I wonder where the mom was. I know I 'sleep' with an ear open for emergencies, and I can't believe his wife was letting all of this go on....

:mad:

[Algorem]

64. they should haf made him show them his papers.

[Vickers]

66. Is Lakeville, Minnesota a hotbed of crime, specifically B & E?

:shrug:

[Rex]

68. Monsters under the bed.