Police at the door....just seems odd

[DisneyScraps]

Our doorbell rings a little while ago. I hear my DBF talking to someone, I was getting dressed so didn't go to the door. It was a police officer. Had a police car, uniform and a clipboard. Asked if we were having any problems, Jay said no, and the officer asked his name and wrote that down but what seems odd to me was he also asked Jay what his birthday was. He gave it to him. The officer wrote it down and left. He didn't go to any of the neighbors houses.

This just seems weird to me. DBF said no biggie we have nothing to hide. no, we don't but I still feel a little uncomfortable about it.

Lisa

 

[RitaZ.]

Call the non-emergency number at your police department; explain what happened and ask if they sent an officer to your home. They may not give you specific details, but they will tell you if the officer had a right or reason for doing what he did.

 

[JessicaR]

Make the call to your local department and confirm the officer.

 

[dis-happy]

Police or sheriff? A sheriff might be trying to deliver a subpeona and the whole exchange could have been an attempt to verify where someone with the same name lives.

I'd also be wondering if they are tracking down a hit and run, or who knows what else. Personally, I wouldn't be answering questions in that situation without more information.

 

[AKL_Megs]

My husband says this is commonpractice. When he goes to ANY house for ANY reason, he references the name and birthday of the person he made contact with.

Your husband had every right to ask WHY the officer wad there, and it is odd that he didn't say why he was there.

Could one of your neighbors called on your house? Maybe someone saw or heard something suspicious? Perhaps tge officer saw or heard something as he drove by and was checking your welfare?

If you are really bothered, call your PD, they can tell you some info, or send that officer back to further answer questions. But if whoever may have called requested "no caller contact" or called anonymously, they may not be able to tell you WHO called.

 

[MickeySP]

I would definitely verify that is was an real PO. Too many scams out there.

They may not say why but should be able to confirm the visit.

 

[tvguy]

My husband says this is commonpractice. When he goes to ANY house for ANY reason, he references the name and birthday of the person he made contact with.
.

They call it FCing someone here. Field Contact. Cops are supposed to include name, birth date, and address of everyone they contact during an investigation.

I would definitely verify that is was an real PO. Too many scams out there.

They may not say why but should be able to confirm the visit.

We'll they're good at it if they got not only the uniform, but a marked police car too.

 

[lttlmc3]

An officer will always ask for a name and date of birth for a warrant check. It's standard to check warrants on anyone the officer comes in contact with. If you are concerned, don't hesitate to call and ask for the supervisor on shift and ask him any questions you may have. There are many many situations that may come across that would cause an officer to have to do this.
It's funny because I'm sitting here typing this as I'm working at our PD. I'm a dispatcher surrounded by these guys every day.

 

[mrodgers]

My guess is investigating looking for a dead body buried in the backyard....

My doorbell rang one day about a year after we bought my house. It was a detective, not a uniformed police officer. He was looking for the previous owner.

The story is, wife disappeared back in the 80's and it is still an open case. Every couple of years, this detective visited the previous owner and didn't know he had moved and we moved in.

He asked some interesting questions. Asked if he could look in the basement and asked if we noticed if there was any fresher looking cement poured for the floor.

2 years later, same detective rang the bell. Said there was a canine unit in the area that is trained on finding human remains and would it be alright to have the unit brought in to wander the property. I thought my daugher, 3 at the time, would get a kick out of that. The detective said that a helicopter at some point would fly over and maybe circle the area. Said it would be up in the sky and just circle the neighborhood and fly off.

I get a call from Wifey at work a few days later. "Yeah, the helicopter flew over the house," she tells me. I asked if the kid got to see it. Yup, couldn't miss it. She said a black helicopter with POLICE real big on the side flew down about 20 feet up from the house, circled the house about 3 times, then flew off! She said it flew down so close she thought it was going to land in the driveway!

3 days after that, I've got the detective's car and a police cruiser out in my driveway. There's 3 police cruisers and a Suburban K-9 unit vehicle parked on the road in front of the house. There are 6 uniforms and the detective wandering around my yard and a german sheppard running around sniffing everything.

Very interesting. Yes, my 3 year old daughter was loving watching out the windows.

After all that, then they let the neighbors know what was going on. It would have been nice if the neighbors knew before a police chopper was circling around my house within spitting distance and before I had police all over my yard.

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

So now I have to ask: Did they find anything?

 

[trip]

I almost never answer my front door when it is someone I don't know. (I can see who is at the door without being seen.) I screen my phone calls also.

Question -- do you have to answer the door if a police officer is at the door?

 

[JessicaR]

I almost never answer my front door when it is someone I don't know. (I can see who is at the door without being seen.) I screen my phone calls also.

Question -- do you have to answer the door if a police officer is at the door?

No. Unless they have a warrent.

 

[OceanAnnie]

So now I have to ask: Did they find anything?

I want to know too!

 

[Imzadi]

My guess is investigating looking for a dead body buried in the backyard....

The detective said that a helicopter at some point would fly over and maybe circle the area. Said it would be up in the sky and just circle the neighborhood and fly off.

I get a call from Wifey at work a few days later. "Yeah, the helicopter flew over the house," she tells me. I asked if the kid got to see it. Yup, couldn't miss it. She said a black helicopter with POLICE real big on the side flew down about 20 feet up from the house, circled the house about 3 times, then flew off! She said it flew down so close she thought it was going to land in the driveway!

3 days after that, I've got the detective's car and a police cruiser out in my driveway. There's 3 police cruisers and a Suburban K-9 unit vehicle parked on the road in front of the house. There are 6 uniforms and the detective wandering around my yard and a german sheppard running around sniffing everything.

Very interesting. Yes, my 3 year old daughter was loving watching out the windows.

They needed a helicopter to look for a 10 yr old buried dead body? What taxes paid for that?

I almost never answer my front door when it is someone I don't know. (I can see who is at the door without being seen.) I screen my phone calls also.

Question -- do you have to answer the door if a police officer is at the door?

I don't know if you have to answer. But the police are always suppose to identify themselves, loud & clearly. That's why on TV shows, you always hear them yelling though the door that they are police.

You might want to answer. But, I don't think you are required to let them in. Several years ago, I had a loud & persistent knock at the door. Usually I don't answer if I'm not expecting anyone. Especially after watching the original Death Wish movie, how Charles Bronson's wife was murdered and the daughter was turned into a vegetable, by accidentally opening the door to delivery people they were expecting, only it turned out to be rapists & robbers.

Nope! I don't answer the door after that. I was here during the real Death Wish era the movie was patterned after.

Anyway, something different about this knock made me shout out, "Who is it?" from inside, not even near the door. I heard someone answer something on the other side. But, I couldn't hear what he said clearly, since I was too far from the door. For some weird reason, I decide to peek though the peep hole.

"Who is it?"

"It's the police!" He says louder. I'm peering out the peephole to see some Ricky Schroeder-like, young officer, with his hand at his hip, acting like he might have to draw his gun. I guess my response isn't the usual way people answer doors.

I open the door. The poor guy was as nervous & scared as I was.

He asked if I had dialed 911. No, I hadn't. Then I remembered I was cleaning the phone earlier. I must have accidentally pressed the emergency autodial for 911. Since I hadn't known I made a call, I cleaned the phone for few minutes before hanging up. maybe all they heard was muffled sounds. The call was logged and they had to send an officer out to check since they couldn't verify what was wrong.

The poor kid thought he might have been entering a domestic violence situation. I wondered why they didn't give him back up, since they didn't know what the situation was.

He was so relieved to find there was no real 911 call.

 

[mrodgers]

So now I have to ask: Did they find anything?

The answer to that is............ no

They asked the brother, who is beside us, but down the road (live out in the country, I can wave out in the yard naked to him and he wouldn't know I was naked ) if they could enter his property as well, and the brother refused. He owns the few hundred acres of field behind my house, so now we wonder.....

It's been a running joke every year now tilling up the garden. I come inside after digging up the garden and my wife asks me if I found the old lady yet.

 

[Dee77]

They needed a helicopter to look for a 10 yr old buried dead body? What taxes paid for that?




I don't know if you have to answer. But the police are always suppose to identify themselves, loud & clearly. That's why on TV shows, you always hear them yelling though the door that they are police. You might want to answer. But, I don't think you are required to let them in. Several years ago, I had a loud & persistent knock at the door. Usually I don't answer if I'm not expecting anyone. Especially after watching the original Death Wish movie, how Charles Bronson's wife was murdered and the daughter was turned into a vegetable, by accidentally opening the door to delivery people they were expecting, only it turned out to be rapists & robbers.

Nope! I don't answer the door after that. I was here during the real Death Wish era the movie was patterned after.

Anyway, something different about this knock made me shout out, "Who is it?" from inside, not even near the door. I heard someone answer something on the other side. But, I couldn't hear what he said clearly, since I was too far from the door. For some weird reason, I decide to peek though the peep hole.

"Who is it?"

"It's the police!" He says louder. I'm peering out the peephole to see some Ricky Schroeder-like, young officer, with his hand at his hip, acting like he might have to draw his gun. I guess my response isn't the usual way people answer doors.

I open the door. The poor guy was as nervous & scared as I was.

He asked if I had dialed 911. No, I hadn't. Then I remembered I was cleaning the phone earlier. I must have accidentally pressed the emergency autodial for 911. Since I hadn't known I made a call, I cleaned the phone for few minutes before hanging up. maybe all they heard was muffled sounds. The call was logged and they had to send an officer out to check since they couldn't verify what was wrong.

The poor kid thought he might have been entering a domestic violence situation. I wondered why they didn't give him back up, since they didn't know what the situation was.

He was so relieved to find there was no real 911 call.

IIRC you watch Criminal Minds, right? They don't always identify themselves as FBI, the episode that I am thinking of is the one when Hotch's wife is murdered, when they went to Foyet's apartment, they went in under the guise of being the landlord.

Police also don't identify themselves when they have a "no knock" warrant.

Glad your situation with the 911 hang up worked out alright.

 

[Planogirl]

I would always answer the door if a policeman is knocking IF I can clearly see the uniform and the marked car. There could be many reasons why an officer would make an appearance and it might be vital to know some of them.

To ease your mind, I would call the police department. They should be able to tell you something.

 

[Imzadi]

IIRC you watch Criminal Minds, right? They don't always identify themselves as FBI, the episode that I am thinking of is the one when Hotch's wife is murdered, when they went to Foyet's apartment, they went in under the guise of being the landlord.

Police also don't identify themselves when they have a "no knock" warrant.

Glad your situation with the 911 hang up worked out alright.

Wow! I didn't know there was such a thing. I guess I watch too many Law & Orders, too, where they always announce themselves, even as they are breaking in. I guess I always figured that's to cover themselves, too, so people don't accidentally shoot them coming through the door, unannounced, saying they didn't know who they were.

I would have (bleep) my pants, if the cop broke down my door because he thought I might be in danger since I didn't answer the door.

 

[3 MEN AND A BOAT]

our local city officials used police and fireman to go door to door and gauge how people would vote on an annexation into the city. the people who said they would vote no had lines drawn around them so as to not be included into the proposed area and anyone who said they would vote yes were placed on the map along with Wal-mart, Lowes, Sears, Target, multiple car dealers, along with many other major retailers/restaraunts. It was/is considered a major tax grab by the city. It was ridiculous, an area with propbably 10,000 people got all the major stores voted in by 400-500 people.

 

[KristaTX]

DisneyScraps - Did you call to find out why they came by?