Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Late night LEO visit

A few nights ago at about 1:00 a.m. my dog was really raising a ruckus. I got up without turning on any lights and made sure my wife didn't either. Then someone is shining a flashlight in through my windows. I could see someone on the porch and then that person knocked. I asked in a very loud voice who are you. I could see a car in the driveway but not enough to make out what kind or anything else. Then he announces he's a deputy of our county and that he was investigating a 911 hang up call from this location. Made from a land line. My first thought was someone kin to me died. We don't have a land line in the house and I told him that and my shop phone went dead the day before from the water company digging into the line. I opened the door then. He then said there was a call made from here again. I offered to let him check the shop phone himself and mentioned again it was dead. I told him the only way it could have been mine was by the line shorting out somewhere. He seemed skeptical. After asking me several questions he left.

The phone tech guy came by a couple of days later and I told him the story. He said the line most likely did short out and that it happens all the time. I called the sheriff's office to let them know all of this and she told me they get allot of these where the line shorts out. I've been thinking about all of this since and it makes me uneasy the way the officer handled himself. I suppose he was looking at things that there could be a crime in progress and someone made the call but got cut short. Allot of reasons and thoughts but here I am seeing someone shine a light in my house and how do I know it's not some whack job intent on shooting us. Most of my interactions with LEOs have always been positive and I have never been arrested to have a criminal record. It also makes me aware of how a knock in the night might not be what we might think.

Handled that way could have gotten the deputy killed, and consequently, you killed.

I've become hard of hearing lately, and understanding cops screaming orders and obscenities as fast as they can would be garbled gobbledygook to me.

At least the officer was professional and you handled things calmly. They’re supposed to be skeptical.

After you have enough encounters with LEO, you learn to not go to the door.... Keep the door locked.... and talk to them thru the window. And, stand back from the window when you do...

Ain't this the truth.

Guess 911 hang ups don’t get investigated anymore.

The audacity of the deputy to knock is absolutely absurd.

Where did anyone say that?

How would you rather the responding deputy have handled it? Thumbs in his pockets with a howdy doody grin on his face, his one and only round his his breast pocket?

How does a short in a telephone line create a 911 call?

Never answer the door for LEO and NEVER talk to the cops, never.

You have NO obligation to assist them in their investigation and no obligation to talk to them.

They are not your friend and they are NOT the good guys.

If LE gets a 9-1-1 call from a residence they are obligated to investigate. If you don't answer the door then how would the officer outside know that there wasn't someone injured inside and unable to answer but needed immediate medical attention? Or maybe there was some sort of violent attack of some sort going on and upon his arrival, the attacker was holding the people inside quiet by force? If the officer just shrugs and walks away and then later it is discovered someone in that house died from a medical emergency or had been murdered how does that reflect on the LE officer and agency? If you want to escalate the situation just yell "go away" from inside and refuse to answer the door. Knowing all the possibilities that could be happening how would YOU handle such a situation?

LE is not responsible for your safety... They came, they looked, nothing suspicious was going on, they drive away.

How does the deputy know that your wife isn't tied up in a back room and you were beating her ?? My guess is you two are not on a first name basis. I had a guy who refused to let me in the house and he wouldn't bring his wife to the door and talk to me. As it turned out, he had her in the basement beating her. Their son was home and he answered the door but he didn't say a thing about what was going on. His dad must of really had him intimidated.

kwg

Beat me to it.....I am not in the habit of being overly cooperative with LEOs beyond what is legally required but after I verify that it actually is a cop at my door at O dark thirty especially, I am going to speak to the officer to avoid any escalation of the response. In the OPs scenario it would probably be something spoken through the still locked screen door along the lines of "No one here knowingly called 911, there is no emergency, its just the wife and I here, I can have her to come to the door as well if you REQUIRE, but please remain outside.

Not your/my problem.

Never answer the door and never talk to the police, ever.

This, of course, is the problem. "How would the police know??? They don't know you're innocent!" Whether it's a screwed up phone line, or somebody calling to "swat" you, or whatever, people ARE being killed by police who "don't know you're innocent". I don't know a solution.

It’s surprising that nobody got killed. Someone shining a light in the windows makes this a “game on” situation. If the car is not identifiable, then there’s no way to know it is a LEO. Some stranger saying so doesn’t mean much. The OP knew there was no 911 call, so that explanation sounds like BS. Calling 911 himself to verify would be the correct action, but who thinks clearly when awakened by the dogs to find a situation like this?

That wouldn't be such a bad idea.

Good reason for Leo to get a welfare check order and bust in a front door?

Damned if they do,
Fùcked if they don't!

Why in thee hell any(good)one wants to become a cop, I don't understand.
Used to be, they were hated by crooks, feared by many.

Today, even those who call for law and order, hate the Fuzz.

How does a cop properly respond to that call.
Looking around on the down low is dangerous and could pass off a resident.
Any knock is a problem.
Insisting on entering and searching is a No-Go.
If he doesn't search, and Jeffy Dahmer is cutting up his winter meat supply in the
kitchen, he didn't do his job.

Folks like to use pension concerns as a joke for cops.
Heck, that pension might be all the job has going for if.