Police Helpfully Enter Man’s Bedroom At 3:00am To Tell Him His Front Door Was Unlocked

  •  June 24, 2008

Aren’t there, you know, laws against this sort of thing? Something about being secure in our property without a duly-issued warrant?

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.

The cops are lucky they didn’t get shot.

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  • http://Array Russell

    You know after reading the whole story and then the comments that are on this page all I can do is laugh. First if you leave your garage door open, your keys in your truck, your door open and the TV on then complain about the police entering your house after knocking and waking the slumber party up that was down stairs who were too afraid to wake the dad up then you deserve to get robbed and/or murdered in your sleep.

    The police are there to serve and protect; the sheer fact that people are whining about this shows their ignorance in what their local police are allowed and not allowed to do and what your basic rights cover. I would recommend that you read the civil code for your state/county/city and find out just what the police are obligated to do and not allowed to do before making bold assertions that you sleep with a .38 and that the officers involved should be fired, your bravado does little to impress.

  • Pilgrim

    Not only are they lucky they didn’t get shot, they’re lucky they’re not facing criminal charges.

    Here in Louisiana it’s called “Unlawful Entry Of An Inhabited Dwelling”. It’s the FELONY version of trespass.

    What were those guys thinking?

    Dumbasses.

  • Pilgrim

    Friend,

    That would be the ONLY avenue those guys have to explain their way out of this one.

  • http://SayAnythingBlog.com The_Whistler_ofnd

    The door being ajar would be suspicious. I would hope that they could take care of the problem without invading the home.

    On the other hand if nobody were to come to the door or answer the telephone what are they to do?

  • Pilgrim

    There is no way on this planet that those guys were “just doing what they’re told”.

    No supervisor is just going to tell those guys to walk into a citizen’s house in the middle of the night without sufficient cause. And the fact that his garage door is open doesn’t come CLOSE to cause.

    This was serious error.

    And Sparkie, in his usual dimwit way, said:

    the trick is to get another police force, see. to police the police. the meta police. they can have a skyscraper downtown,

    It’s called “Internal Affairs”. That’s what I do now, Sparkie, police the police. And if the facts of this case are as stated and this one had landed on my desk those two would have a SERIOUS problem.

    Very poor jugement.

  • http://www.bikebubba.blogspot.com/ Bike Bubba

    One time when I was a little younger, my fiance (now my wife) and I walked in a rural area to find a truck capable of pulling a friend’s truck out of the ditch. We walked through an open door to find a truck with the keys in it, and drove it out the open garage door to pull out the truck. When we returned it to the garage, we left a few bucks on the dash to compensate the owner for the gas we’d used.

    Lakeville isn’t quite that rural, but there are areas where I wouldn’t be afraid to leave the garage door open. I know I’ve done it a few times in Chaska without incident.

    (Minneapolis, no way…but outer suburbs, you bet)

    Pilgrim, my take is that the officers would have been entirely within their rights to leave a note for the owner, or possibly stay there for a few minutes to see if anything looked interesting, but they really ought to have gotten permission before going in. Is that about right?

    And thank God nobody got hurt there…..yes, it could have gotten ugly and quickly, too.

  • Friend of USA

    I agree the police officers went too far but then again considering this,

    “… 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.”

    It kind of looked like maybe somebody had just died.

    middle of the night, tv on, garage door opened, house door ajar, keys in ignition…

    This could well have been clues that a murder or suicide had just happened.

    The police officers are not completely wrong.

    I understand both sides, I see it as a sort of home invasion, but I also see the side of the police officers.

    It did look like the adults were either dead or gone.

  • http://www.sayanythingblog.com/ electnixon

    I added an indicator light to our alarm control panel so the bedroom lights up bright blue any time the garage door isn’t completely closed…

  • Papa Ray

    Oh now Guys. Like it stated, this was just part of a new Government program to keep us all safe.

    Those police officers were just doing what they were told, by people that don’t think Americans have enough sense to take care of themselves.

    Now if the guy would have woke up the next morning to find his truck gone and his garage cleaned out...he would have been the first to admit that he was a dumbass.

    Or would he?

    Most likely he would have ranted and railed at the lack of police protection in his neighborhood.

    Papa Ray
    West Texas
    USA

  • http://www.wethepeopleforum.com/forum/forums.asp golfmann

    Frankly, what business is it of theirs if his TV was on and his garage open?

    No DOORBELL?

    NO PHONE?

    This was a disaster narrowly avoided. If it was MY bedroom, the 38 special, combat masterpiece would have been flourished. THEN what?

  • http://boyddrivefollies.blogspot.com/ Good Ol Boy

    You know, late at night being just-awakened, I’d come out of the back bedroom with my .45 cocked, and someone shouting “Police!” would not be a good enough reason for me to lower the sidearm. So then what? I can’t help but think that this was collossaly stupid on the part of law enforcement.

  • Pilgrim

    Russell,

    Nobody said they should be fired. I said that if what the article says is factual then there should be some disciplinary action taken. That can go from verbal reprimand to written reprimand to suspension to firing.

    Further – the article doesn’t say what steps they took to wake the residents before entering the house.

    Next – did they have their dispatch call the residence? Did they speak to a neighbor to see if there was any reason for entry? Did they check dispatch history for any record of domestic distubances or histories of 911 calls from the residence? Or did they just walk in because a door was unlocked? And, if they saw or spoke to those kids – they couldn’t persuade them to wake up dad?

    Laugh all you want – officers simply cannot nor should they enter a residence just because a garage door is open.

    I’m as pro police as you can get. I’m also wary of police overstepping their bounds.

    I would recommend that you read the civil code for your state/county/city and find out just what the police are obligated to do and not allowed to do

    And I would recommend you read the Fourth Amendment. AND – I know the civil code here very well and nowhere does it say we can just walk into a house without cause.

    Also, this statement:

    First if you leave your garage door open, your keys in your truck, your door open and the TV on then complain about the police entering your house after knocking and waking the slumber party up that was down stairs who were too afraid to wake the dad up then you deserve to get robbed and/or murdered in your sleep.

    …is just butt stupid.

  • Pilgrim

    Bubba,

    A point should be made as well….if they were suspicious enough to enetr the house because they thought that something was wrong, then they should have done to tactically, and not just wandered in looking around.

    You’re right, despte the sneers of Russell. If a homeowner woke up to see two men standing in the dark in his bedroom, it could have gotten very ugly.

  • Pilgrim

    Sparkie,

    If you look into it I think you’ll find some of those officers paid the price for that incident. Suspensions and firings were involved, I believe. Not sure, but I think some prosecutions may be in the works?

    What else do you want?

  • Pilgrim

    I think you’re an idiot. Thanks for asking.

  • http://sayanythingblog.com/readers/author/sparkiearbuckle sayanything-81

    papa ray

    the lack of police protection

    the trick is to get another police force, see. to police the police. the meta police. they can have a skyscraper downtown, full of paper pushers, and a force out to protect the force. we’re going to need some politicians and lawyers to set this thing up. and some bored LL Bean types from the Connecticut shore.

  • WOOFX

    If the homeowner confronted police with a handgun and shot an officer what do you think would happen?

    If the officer killed the homeowner
    when the guy brandished a weapon.
    what do you think the consequences would be?

    What if the officer thought
    the homeowner had a weapon a shot him?

    What if there had been recent burglaries in the neighborhood?

    what if it were a known area where drugs were sold?

    The fourth and second amendments are pretty much moot nowadays.

  • http://sayanythingblog.com/readers/author/sparkiearbuckle sayanything-81

    “Unlawful Entry Of An Inhabited Dwelling”. It’s the FELONY version of trespass.

    Isn’t it funny one gets a lesser charge for robbing a business (but these guys had guns, so they’d get automatic felonys, eh?)?

    Honestly though, I would push charges. These cops are obviously feeling a little too cheeky.

  • http://sayanythingblog.com/readers/author/sparkiearbuckle sayanything-81

    No sense of humor Pilgrim.

    Seriously, would you say that short film is pretty brutal or what? Philly Police in action, baby.

  • http://sayanythingblog.com/readers/author/sparkiearbuckle sayanything-81

    What else do you want?

    Nothing.

    Now, if this clip wasn’t filmed by a newscopter, what do you think the response would have been? Honestly? The same? I am skeptical.

  • http://sayanythingblog.com/readers/author/sparkiearbuckle sayanything-81

    It’s called “Internal Affairs”. That’s what I do now, Sparkie

    A narc’s narc! Does that make you a normal civilian again, or just some kind of uber-narc? What do you think of this?

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