Cops pissed in my cereal

[der affe]

that could be the bad spot in your arguement.

were you smoking before or when they came to the door or entered the house?

if so or they smelled pot smoke, even though YOU produced a medical MJ card, that does not give others at the house the right to smoke too unless the also have cards. that alone may be enough for probable cause to enter. if you were by yourself, it might be a different story. i am not a lawyer though. that still did not give them the right to run wrecklessly through the house breaking things all willy nilly....i think, again not a lawyer.

as far as your neighbor calling the police, like was said before, be happy they cared enough to do that.
they don't know you, they see cars there so they call the police (that is the police's job). i would not expect my neighbor to confront someone at my house when i was not there. i would hope they would call the police though as i would do the same for them.

when my neighbor first moved in next to me, she called the fire department because there was massive smoke comming from the back of my house becuase i was smoking a huge brisket, she came over after they got there and apologised and told me how embarased she was.
i told her not to worry about it, i was more happy that she was observant and cared enought to call the FD. i also brought her and her tripplets some brisket whe it was done.

[Earendil]

A lot of the stuff mentioned is a black and white interpretation of the law, when shit goes down, let me tell you- all those laws are thrown out the window at an officers discretion. My mothers a lawyer, and is filing a claim for reimbursement. However when I spoke to an officer, he said that they aren't responsible for damages on a call- they were doing their job and had to deal with the obstructions in their way.

[puts on devil's advocate hat]

We do not want an officer responding to a crime worrying about how his action will effect his personal finances and whether he can feed his kid. He just be worried about causing human's harm, or death, for his OWN sake, not because he will be criminally punished.

I personally don't want to ever call the cops with the hope that they WILL brake my door down to help me, and have them not do it because they just had a kid and they can't risk causing damages.

We expect cops to be in tough situations, situations in which it is impossible to make the correct decision 100% of the time. It's going to come with the job. Every so often I make mistakes at work, and my boss doesn't take it out of my paycheck. Why? Because mistakes are BOUND to happen.

I do not want a pansy-ass police tip-toeing around trying to do me some good when my, my loved ones, or my property are in danger. Get shit safe, and get it safe fast.

Ineffective cops would be very bad. Just look at the recent London riot-looting, or any looting during a natural disaster. Most of that is carried out because people know the police are busy/overwhelmed. It's sad, but a certain percentage of our population is kept in check because they think they will get caught. Take that away, and people start doing stupid shit.

[Hat Off]

How the officers handled the situation was very poor indeed, and did not follow the law. The DEPARTMENT should pay for damages, and if the officers are costing the department money due to hazy legal situations, they can be replaced.

Also, there is a question about how much harm can be done to an innocent in order to punish the guilty. And in my mind it's quite low. It's certainly not tit-for-tat. It really sucks that it was you that bit the innocent bullet this time. And it sucks that the cops weren't more professional.

[Rsully70sev]

Yes, I agree- I'm not angry with the neighbors at all, but they should have exercised some level of common sense. What squatters park a GTO, STI, and BMW in the driveway? I realize they were looking out for the property's best interest, but come on.

I see, and agree with what you're saying Jake, but I shouldn't have to go to the ends of the earth to cover my ass when visiting my parents property. I wasnt expecting to prove my innocense that day. I mean, I don't get a written note from my dad when I borrow his car.

I'm sure they are going to argue that the house wreaked like marijuana, but when an officer commented on it, I showed him my medicinal papers. So my house CAN smell like marijuana all I want, ending that "probable cause."

A lot of the stuff mentioned is a black and white interpretation of the law, when shit goes down, let me tell you- all those laws are thrown out the window at an officers discretion. My mothers a lawyer, and is filing a claim for reimbursement. However when I spoke to an officer, he said that they aren't responsible for damages on a call- they were doing their job and had to deal with the obstructions in their way.

[Streichholzschächtelchen]

Find someone that shares your feelings towards the police in the media. Doesn't channel 4 have a people behaving badly segment? That guy would be all over this if you could find similar cases of this happening.

[Pac1373]

Not being American or a Lawyer I can't say for sure one way or another, but I thought that there were search and Seizure laws to protect people in this type of circumstance?

the Police were not invited to enter the premis, should they not then require a warrant to do so? what probable cauze are they citing to enter?

sounds like a shit ton of cops in the US are just a bunch of "Bro's" hiding behind badges...
these guys just invite themselfs in to poke around and fuck up someones day, that is not cool.

at the same time, they really can't all be bad(cops), seriously, cops are required to run society somewhat smoothly.

as far as neighbours go dont hate on em, thank god you have some that bother to look out for your Families property, although you got caught SOL in this case, what if it had been a bunch of meth-head squaters or some shit, pissing in closets and leaving upper deckers?

Edit* didn't mean to sound like all Canadian Cops are all awesome, that is SO not the case..

shitty deal tho.

[mRodiek]

Yeaaah Im pretty damn sure they cannot barge in without probable cause of illegal activity. Entering the house alone is a lawsuit (they didnt know your not the owner) and Im no attorney but at minimum they should pay for damages.

I also agree with contacting local papers & news shows, give them names n pictures of damage, they will apologize

[TurboJake]

Well....
In all legal and real technicality, they didn't need to obide to your word. You're not the owner of the house, and without being the owner of the house you only have permission to be there. Not necessarily control the actions going on within.

It sucks. Yes.
It's wrong. Yes
They had probable cause. The persons at the house are not the owner, and the owner's main residence is 45 minutes away.

If you had written and recorded permission to act on the current owners behalf, it would be a completely different story.

[Dermeister3]

They had no probable cause to enter your house, unless they saw something illegal when you opened the door.

Small claims for damages is your best bet. And if they did find anything illegal while in the house (and didnt see it while out of the house), any incriminating evidence is excluded from prosecution because of the 4th amendment.

"One of the cops basically told me I'm SOL and they aren't responsible for damages during a search. " They had no probable cause to enter the house for the search. A call from a neighbor is not enough to enter a house that is owned by someone, whether they are inside it or not.

[slammin.e28]

Step one: Become cop.
Step two: Find out cops who raided your house.
Step three: Wait for them to retire.
Step four: Perform raids on their houses.
Step five: ????
Step six: Profit.

[DEV0 E30]

....................^OP........................... ...........................^Accused next door neighbor

I laughed, because I was thinking this too.

But seriously, do not waste any time or energy.

Get rolling on local news, maybe even an elected official, and your father's lawyer. Get a copy of the police report, etc etc etc.

Any BS altercation with police you should (sadly you basically have to nowadays) get their badge numbers and names. If you can cite names and actions they can't hide behind anonymity the way they can if you don't have that information.

Good luck and keep us updated.

I would be out for blood.

[NKRoberts]

the largest gang in the country

yeah they are all dickheads

[mrsleeve]

I've come to the conclusion (through personal experiences) that all our police force is, is a legalized mob.

We pay them protection money, they tell us where/when/what we're able to sell, if you hurt one of them your fucked.

the largest gang in the country

[Sagaris]

....................^OP........................... ...........................^Accused next door neighbor

[dannyyisntt]

I've come to the conclusion (through personal experiences) that all our police force is, is a legalized mob.

We pay them protection money, they tell us where/when/what we're able to sell, if you hurt one of them your fucked.

[sweet6e30]

go to the local papers, news, media, etc, get an article about this, EMBARESS the hell out of the local police . contact a lawyer, you can definetly sue for damages.