Sean Tubbs has quite the story of a late night police incident at his house. Highlight:
“Let me see your hands!” shouted the officer. I was still clutching the stick in my right hand. I immediately dropped the stick and opened the door all the way to show that I wasn’t armed. The police officer had been ready to shoot, but he lowered his gun. He didn’t take both hands off of it, though. Right behind him were two other men, possibly more.
Is it ok for police officers to declare entry into your house at gunpoint when they suspect that a robbery might be taking place? Maybe they weren’t police officers, who knows? Read the story, tell Sean not to worry and let us know your thoughts!
Related posts:
- November Is Seatbelt Optional Month (Police Only)
- Why Charlottesville Police Rock….
- Belmont gunshots not investigated
Farmers hauled off to jail over price tags and now this? What is the world coming to?
What happens if a police officer shoots you in your own house wrongly? Conversely, what if you shoot a cop in self-defense?
There are multitudes of examples in which kick-doors (home invasion by criminals) were facilitated by impersonating law enforcement officers. Just yelling that you’re a cop through my door isn’t good enough to open it. I want to see a badge number through the window, at which point I will call the Albemarle County police station to determine the veracity of the hollered claims.
I don’t believe that the War on Drugs is a good enough excuse to kick in my door without warning. If my door’s getting kicked in, regardless of what the perpetrators are yelling or what they’re wearing, my first instinct is to use the 12 gauge that I keep for just such a reason. The safety of law enforcement officers means nothing to me when compared to the safety of my family.
Of course, if they wish to follow the professional route and get a warrant that requires knocking on the door, I will be an example of cooperation.
Ethan, there have many examples of such. Normally, what happens is that an investigation is performed and unless the police can come up with a good reason (hint: there is none), then the family usually gets a settlement. Very few are ever prosecuted, even when the mistakes made border on the criminal.
While the local constabulary (Ablemarle and C’ville LEOs) have been quite professional and polite the few times that I’ve interacted with them, I’ve seen several reports of abusive, unprofessional and incompetent behavior. One of the most recent is a cop almost hitting people near the downtown mall and arresting them for almost getting hit. Another is the wheelchair-bound dude that was crossing the street when the cop almost (or did) hit him. Of course, the victim was charged.
Often when the police fuck up, their first instinct is to arrest the victim in order to appear that they were in the right. When this happens and the victim’s charges are thrown out, nothing happens to the officer that fucked up.
People would have a far better view of law enforcement if they didn’t so often protect their own even when they’re own have stepped on their dicks and the dicks of the citizenry. I firmly believe that if there’s a cop that is aware of police corruption or abuse and does nothing about it, he’s just as corrupt as the dirty cop. That kind of paints most cops with the same brush, unfortunately. This means that even if an officer has a high moral standard, is professional and competent, he’s no better than the dirtbag cop that he’s aware of and does nothing about.