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Old June 2, 2014, 07:45 PM   #11
5whiskey
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Join Date: October 23, 2005
Location: US
Posts: 3,649
Quote:
Presence of police vehicles is a decent clue
Partly true... but not a hard and fast rule. Sometimes police utilize unmarked cars or park around the corner. Most people will likely *KNOW* if "police" knocking on the door with a search warrant is not legit. Like has been said, if they knocked on my door I wouldn't be too willing to open up. I do know that the wrong house has been hit before...

Calling 911 immediately is a good idea. LEOs serving a search warrant will have to check out at the address they're serving it at. The dispatcher will know if there is legit LEO presence there, and if your "police" are not legit then they can notify you of such and seen the real ones on the way. If I were normal, law-abiding, Joe schmuck Dudley Do-Right that knows the cops shouldn't be serving a warrant on me because I haven't done anything, I would likely grab a gun, a phone, and hole up in the closet furthest from the door. Hopefully the 911 dispatcher can tell me if the police are legit or not before they reach my position. If they are? Put the gun down and everything will be sorted out (you'll probably get a modest settlement for the wrong house being hit). If they aren't? Stay on the phone and ask the dispatcher to let you know when the cops get there. If anyone reaches you before then... well, you know what to do.


EDIT: Forgot to add that this was REALLY common in the Chicago/Minnesota and surrounding areas a while back... probably like 10 years ago they had a ring of guys doing this that had hit quite a few houses. It's worth thinking about if you hear "Police, Search Warrant," but you know there is absolutely NO reason why the police should have a warrant for your house. Mistakes do happen, but not that often.

Last edited by 5whiskey; June 2, 2014 at 09:03 PM.
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