My run in with the cops

[Deeko]

Originally posted by: tomywishbone
You're lucky you're still alive. The officer could easily have "Been in fear for his life and the life of others" and shot you dead, no questions asked.

:roll:

lets not go too far with this

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: ryan256
The putting down your cat thread made me think of this. I wasn't going to post it originally but I'm curious about ATOT's opinion.

I'm in the process of searching for a house. I am doing the search on my own and not using a real estate agent. 2 weeks ago I was out on my motorcycle looking around in several neighborhoods at properties for sale. I stopped at a few and looked around the outside of the house to decide whether or not I wanted to call the sellers real estate agent and take a look inside. As I'm leaving one a cop pulls up, flashes his light, gets out, & asks me what I'm doing there. A legitimate question.
Me: "I'm looking around at houses for sale in this area."
Cop: "Then who is your real estate agent and why aren't they here?"
Me: "I don't have a real estate agent. I'm doing the search on my own."
Cop: "In that case you have no reason to be here and you need to leave right now."
(this was not a gated or closed community btw)
Me: "I have no reason to stop at 2pm on a Saturday afternoon at a house that has a For Sale sign in the yard?"
Cop: "No you don't. You get a real estate agent and have them show you the property."
Me: "Why should I pay a real estate agent several thousand dollars to find houses for sale when I can do that on my own?"
Cop: "Because thats what you do. If we get another call about you scoping out the area we are going to arrest you."

Now I can understand he wanted to make sure that I wasn't a burglar trying to case houses to rob. But at the same time I have a very legitimate reason to be stopping at houses for sale in broad daylight. And why do I have to spend thousands on a real estate agent when I can go find houses for sale just fine on my own? 'Because thats what you do'? BS!

You don't pay the realtor. The seller does.

 

[poopaskoopa]

You need to watch Brett Darrow's videos and learn how to piss off cops and get away with it.

 

[Injury]

Originally posted by: IcebergSlim
I want to quickly take your side but the owners had no previous knowledge of your visit, you were tresspassing and the cop may have been witness to similar instances where perps were staking out homes with for sale signs posing as buyers.

Originally posted by: Deeko
The cop is wrong to inform you that you that you need an agent...but you were wrong to be walking around their yard. Call them first.

Originally posted by: hungfarover
If you're interested enough in the house to warrant walking around their front and back yards just call the agent. If I were a neighbor of theirs I would've called the cops too.

That's pretty much the truth right there. Not to mention that simply looking at the outside of a house doesn't do squat in terms of helping you decide if you want it or not. You can't judge a book by it's cover.

edit to clarify: You can't judge the whole house off of walking into the back yard any more than you can by just standing on the sidewalk.

 

[Chryso]

Originally posted by: thepd7

Note: I have done the exact same thing as the OP, gone around back, checked things out at a house that was for rent. However, if a cop stopped me I am not going to think that he is the one in the wrong.

You could probably get away with it if there was a "For Rent" sign in the yard.
But walking around the back of a for sale house is pushing it.

 

[Caecus Veritas]

hmm... OP, you seem to be walking a fine line. usually, sellers require buyers to schedule an appointment through agents they hired to view the house, rather than random people peeking into the house. Of course, exposure to more buyers is helpful, but then again, there's the big issue of security, as well as streamlining the efficiency of selling.

if you're just driving by and taking a look from your car, i don't think it'd be as much of a problem. but when you're randomly on their property, looking at this and that (even IF there is a sign saying their selling), that's a problem from the seller's POV in terms of security. what you shoulda done was to take the phone number of the seller's agent and scheduled an appointment if the property further interested you.

btw, the cop was right in asking you to leave and to come back with the seller's agent if you wanted to look at the property.

 

[pyonir]

LMAO. I love you guys an your "get his name and badge number!" Always can count on a bunch of those in any thread related to a cop.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: skulkingghost
That is ridiculous, what a "welcome to the area." You should have gotten his badge# and reported him.

QFT, but I am willing to bet there is more to it.

Were you dressed in some way that would cause alarm, was your bike presentable, were you checking windows, etc...

I would have reported the cop. I was in a similar situation on the Island of Palm Beach. Targeted because of my saturn more than likely with a side exhaust.

Cop drew his weapon on my wife and I in front of Citibank. He did not have his lights on nor gave us instruction until we got out of the car.

We had a potential lawsuit, but that wasn't our goal. We reported the officer and he had a list of complaints from many people that did not live on the island but worked on it. Some got tickets every day from him for trivial reasons.

I was told they were handling it internally, but I should have no problem in the future.

 

[ryan256]

Originally posted by: Injury
Not to mention that simply looking at the outside of a house doesn't do squat in terms of helping you decide if you want it or not. You can't judge a book by it's cover.

Actually yes it does. It helps me cross off houses that I would not want and gives me a shorter list of agents to call for those I want to look at more closely.

 

[Injury]

Originally posted by: ryan256

Originally posted by: Injury
Not to mention that simply looking at the outside of a house doesn't do squat in terms of helping you decide if you want it or not. You can't judge a book by it's cover.

Actually yes it does. It helps me cross off houses that I would not want and gives me a shorter list of agents to call for those I want to look at more closely.

Any view you need to determine that you can get from a 30 second look from the sidewalk. What does walking around the back do to sway your decision that the front just can't show?

 

[OutHouse]

jesus, how about how big the back yard is in. the condition of the house not facing the street, lots of things..

 

[jlee]

Originally posted by: alkemyst

Originally posted by: skulkingghost
That is ridiculous, what a "welcome to the area." You should have gotten his badge# and reported him.

QFT, but I am willing to bet there is more to it.

Were you dressed in some way that would cause alarm, was your bike presentable, were you checking windows, etc...

I would have reported the cop. I was in a similar situation on the Island of Palm Beach. Targeted because of my saturn more than likely with a side exhaust.

Cop drew his weapon on my wife and I in front of Citibank. He did not have his lights on nor gave us instruction until we got out of the car.

We had a potential lawsuit, but that wasn't our goal. We reported the officer and he had a list of complaints from many people that did not live on the island but worked on it. Some got tickets every day from him for trivial reasons.

I was told they were handling it internally, but I should have no problem in the future.

Trespassing is trespassing. Your story appears to be rather irrelevant to the OP.

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: Citrix
jesus, how about how big the back yard is in. the condition of the house not facing the street, lots of things..

yeah then make appointment with the agent.

 

[CanOWorms]

Originally posted by: CadetLee

Originally posted by: alkemyst

Originally posted by: skulkingghost
That is ridiculous, what a "welcome to the area." You should have gotten his badge# and reported him.

QFT, but I am willing to bet there is more to it.

Were you dressed in some way that would cause alarm, was your bike presentable, were you checking windows, etc...

I would have reported the cop. I was in a similar situation on the Island of Palm Beach. Targeted because of my saturn more than likely with a side exhaust.

Cop drew his weapon on my wife and I in front of Citibank. He did not have his lights on nor gave us instruction until we got out of the car.

We had a potential lawsuit, but that wasn't our goal. We reported the officer and he had a list of complaints from many people that did not live on the island but worked on it. Some got tickets every day from him for trivial reasons.

I was told they were handling it internally, but I should have no problem in the future.

Trespassing is trespassing. Your story appears to be rather irrelevant to the OP.

I doubt that trespassing is trespassing. I imagine that having a For Sale sign may invite a more lenient "trespass" than not having one.

 

[Pantoot]

Originally posted by: Marlin1975
If you really wanted to push things i would have gotten his name and then called the person selling the house and told them you were harresed by a cop.
If I was a seller i would be pissed, esp. in this market.

And no he was not in the wrong. When a house is for sale it is pretty much expected to be looked at. We had people walk around our house when it was for sale. We did not care, its for sale we want people to look.

For all we know it was the homeowner who called the cops, which is the usual response to an uninvited guest lurking around the back yard.

 

[jlee]

Originally posted by: CanOWorms

Originally posted by: CadetLee

Originally posted by: alkemyst

Originally posted by: skulkingghost
That is ridiculous, what a "welcome to the area." You should have gotten his badge# and reported him.

QFT, but I am willing to bet there is more to it.

Were you dressed in some way that would cause alarm, was your bike presentable, were you checking windows, etc...

I would have reported the cop. I was in a similar situation on the Island of Palm Beach. Targeted because of my saturn more than likely with a side exhaust.

Cop drew his weapon on my wife and I in front of Citibank. He did not have his lights on nor gave us instruction until we got out of the car.

We had a potential lawsuit, but that wasn't our goal. We reported the officer and he had a list of complaints from many people that did not live on the island but worked on it. Some got tickets every day from him for trivial reasons.

I was told they were handling it internally, but I should have no problem in the future.

Trespassing is trespassing. Your story appears to be rather irrelevant to the OP.

I doubt that trespassing is trespassing. I imagine that having a For Sale sign may invite a more lenient "trespass" than not having one.

It was more lenient - he wasn't arrested.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: pulse8

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman
Were you on their property, trespassing?

Important question. :thumbsup:

Yup. The OP had me until he said that he was looking around the outside of the house. That's really suspicious behavior and I don't blame the cop for seeing it as such.

I wouldn't have demanded the person get an agent, but rather advised them that if they wanted to see any parts of the house that they should contact the seller instead of snooping around on his own.

I think the reason he told him to get an agent is because the agent would be sure to follow the seller's instructions regarding notification when you want to look at the house. If the OP had gotten permission from the homeowner directly to look at the house, he wouldn't have had a problem (with or without an agent). Snooping around the outside of a house without an agent looks suspicious.

i wonder if maybe the owner called the police and said something about no one can look at their house without an agent and the cop just didn't communicate it correctly?

 

[meltdown75]

i didn't read the whole thread, but that cop sounds like a tool.

 

[thepd7]

Originally posted by: Turin39789

Originally posted by: thepd7
LOL at all you people saying the OP should have gotten a badge number.

So if I am crook casing a house that has a for sale sign I look different than someone interested in a house that has a for sale sign?

If I am casing the house is that illegal, can they arrest me for that?

Also, so if I have a for sale sign in front of my house you can just come look the in windows and check things out, but if I don't you can't?


People, please think about the answers to these questions before you keep bashing a cop legimately doing his job to keep a neighborhood safe from trespassers.


Note: I have done the exact same thing as the OP, gone around back, checked things out at a house that was for rent. However, if a cop stopped me I am not going to think that he is the one in the wrong.

The cop wasn't wrong for checking, the cop was wrong in saying the OP had to get an agent and not come back without one or he would be arrested.

I'd get the badge number in case I got stopped when I came back again.

you could get a badge number all you want but you would still be arrested (correctly Imight add) if you came back and were trespassing like the OP technically was.

I agree the cop was wrong in saying you have to have an agent, what he should have said was "you have to have permission from the homeowner", which normally involves an agent or going while the owner is home.

 

[Pacfanweb]

If you're just driving around, looking, and maybe stopping to get the info sheets out of the boxes next to the For Sale signs, nothing wrong with that.

Definitely, as others have said, you aren't supposed to be walking around people's yards. I would still stop in front of houses and get the info sheets all day long, and dare a cop to arrest me for that.
But yeah, he was talking about you walking around the yards. That's not legal.

 

[imported_Baloo]

Originally posted by: CanOWorms

Originally posted by: CadetLee

Originally posted by: alkemyst

Originally posted by: skulkingghost
That is ridiculous, what a "welcome to the area." You should have gotten his badge# and reported him.

QFT, but I am willing to bet there is more to it.

Were you dressed in some way that would cause alarm, was your bike presentable, were you checking windows, etc...

I would have reported the cop. I was in a similar situation on the Island of Palm Beach. Targeted because of my saturn more than likely with a side exhaust.

Cop drew his weapon on my wife and I in front of Citibank. He did not have his lights on nor gave us instruction until we got out of the car.

We had a potential lawsuit, but that wasn't our goal. We reported the officer and he had a list of complaints from many people that did not live on the island but worked on it. Some got tickets every day from him for trivial reasons.

I was told they were handling it internally, but I should have no problem in the future.

Trespassing is trespassing. Your story appears to be rather irrelevant to the OP.

I doubt that trespassing is trespassing. I imagine that having a For Sale sign may invite a more lenient "trespass" than not having one.

Well now, in such case, you'd think at the very least one would walk up to the door and ring the bell, not walk around the yard uninvited. Trespassing is tressassing, and it is against the law.

 

[MrChad]

Originally posted by: alkemyst

Originally posted by: skulkingghost
That is ridiculous, what a "welcome to the area." You should have gotten his badge# and reported him.

QFT, but I am willing to bet there is more to it.

Were you dressed in some way that would cause alarm, was your bike presentable, were you checking windows, etc...

I would have reported the cop. I was in a similar situation on the Island of Palm Beach. Targeted because of my saturn more than likely with a side exhaust.

Cop drew his weapon on my wife and I in front of Citibank. He did not have his lights on nor gave us instruction until we got out of the car.

We had a potential lawsuit, but that wasn't our goal. We reported the officer and he had a list of complaints from many people that did not live on the island but worked on it. Some got tickets every day from him for trivial reasons.

I was told they were handling it internally, but I should have no problem in the future.

Wait, wait, wait.




You have a Saturn with side exhaust?

 

[RadiclDreamer]

I'd ask him on what charge

 

[FoBoT]

yeah, that is crap, but you can't really do anything about it

i would take it as a favor, if they have that attitude, i wouldn't want to live there

find a "Friendlier" community

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: waggy

Originally posted by: skulkingghost
That is ridiculous, what a "welcome to the area." You should have gotten his badge# and reported him.

not sure on that.

he was traspassing.

i don't see how checking a property that you might purchase is trespassing. he'd be an implied invitee, if anything.