How not to serve a warrant

[DWalt]

Some may not have seen this story out of Houston that happened Friday. https://www.fox26houston.com/news/houston-homeowner-shoots-men-claiming-police-warrant

 

[Truckman]

I read about that one yesterday...If they weren't stupid, they wouldn't be criminals...Now they're stupid and dead......Ben

 

[mckenney99]

Some may not have seen this story out of Houston that happened Friday. https://www.fox26houston.com/news/houston-homeowner-shoots-men-claiming-police-warrant

I could say, they've been served, but I won't!

 

[LVSteve]

So much for the "bulletproof vests" they were allegedly wearing.

This is how you really foul up serving a warrant. A home suffered a heap of damage when SWAT stormed it while the owner was away. When she got back and asked Metro WTH, they asked if she knew the whereabouts of some guy they were after. She did recognize the name as the man who sold her the house five years ago, something Metro would of known had they spent five minutes looking at the Clark County website. A full on qualified immunity case is expected if Metro don't cough up in short order.

Apparently, the raid was one of three coordinated raids related to a human trafficking case. Comment from the judge who signed off on the warrants is not forthcoming, but I'll bet the word will be out to check everything submitted by LE around the valley for a while.

Homeowner left to cover damages after Las Vegas SWAT raid goes awry

What started as a peaceful morning quickly turned into chaos for southwest Las Vegas homeowner, Kim Layson, who says she's been left to cover thousands of dolla

news3lv.com

 

[Wingmaster]

I've always thought about this when real police serve no knock warrants. I would assume the chance of getting shot by a homeowner that didn't know they were cops would be pretty high.

 

[biku324]

In most states and the Federal system, warrants cannot be served after 10 PM nor before 6 AM at a home without specific judicial permission. I've served dozens and never had that permission.

Masks on cops making arrests is REALLY stupid. Undercover officers should be disguised if they will continue in that capacity but they should NOT be serving warrants.

 

[Rudi]

A wise man said, "don't be stupid in Texas".

 

[alwslate]

Several years ago a way too young pretty female was living with me. Unfortunately she had a substance abuse problem. One day a whole convoy of three squad cars showed up at my rural home to serve an arrest warrant for her. The guy banging on my front door was ready for battle, full vest , long gun. I informed the keystone cops that had they bothered to check they would have found out the dangerous 110 lb female was already in their county jail.

 

[serger]

An M18A1 will stop that.

 

[fatcat3]

I read about that one yesterday...If they weren't stupid, they wouldn't be criminals...Now they're stupid and dead......Ben

Stupid criminals go to jail (in the case dead), smart criminals get elected to office.

 

[glenwolde]

I've always thought about this when real police serve no knock warrants. I would assume the chance of getting shot by a homeowner that didn't know they were cops would be pretty high.

Also here in Houston we had the infamous "Harding Street Raid". No-knock bogus warrant. The resident fired at them and the cops killed him, his wife, and their dog. Because a cop lied when he applied for the warrant. It's so well-known it has its own Wikipedia page along with its own name.

 

[Markpixs]

One in our AO from several years ago, homeowner not charged afer shooting two officers during a wrong address raid - MD shooting

 

[Bald1]

Imagine your sitting at home watching tv with your spouse at 9pm. Suddenly there's banging and yelling at the door. Perhaps it's real police at the wrong address. Or maybe bad guys. Damned if you do. Damned if you don't. I wouldn't want to make those decisions.

 

[Buford57]

Stupid criminals go to jail (in the case dead), smart criminals get elected to office.

I think you overestimate the intelligence of many elected criminals.

 

[Krogen]

Imagine your sitting at home watching tv with your spouse at 9pm. Suddenly there's banging and yelling at the door. Perhaps it's real police at the wrong address. Or maybe bad guys. Damned if you do. Damned if you don't. I wouldn't want to make those decisions.

I'd like to ask the real cops on the forum about this. How does one respond to someone apparently serving a warrant? Particularly a no-knock warrant? I'm sure the probability of this happening to most of us here is near zero. As discussed above, though, it has actually happened with various outcomes. I see only three response options, none of them good:

1) open up and comply, maybe suffering a home invasion robbery or worse.
2) defend the homestead and stay closed up, risking getting shot by real cops who will come in anyway.
3) call 911 to summon real cops, with the delay causing negative outcomes of 1) or 2).

So what do the real police officers on the forum suggest?

 

[WR Moore]

If it's a knock and they announce/you see they're LEOs, you might consider calling dispatch to confirm. DO tell them to hang on a minute while you call to confirm. ETA: might be a valid warrant, they might be at the wrong address. While 911 is supposed to give the address, the second question they're going to ask is your addy. (First: "Is this an emergency?")

The cited lack of a LE vehicle in the OP link is what you'd call a clue. You might also check for that, although fake vehicles (usually hidden grill lights) aren't unknown.

 

[Bald1]

I've often wondered how some bounty hunters don't get shot. Some of them (at least online and tv) look like criminals themselves and don't present professionalism. I also don't know what they can and can't do legally. That could be a huge problem for them. I'm sure I'm not the only one who doesn't understand. Do they have peace officer status ?

 

[biku324]

Bounty hunters are not peace officers.

 

[Gretschguy1637]

The wrong address is unforgivable. Warrants do have stipulations.
If u are sitting on the sofa and somebody starts pounding on the door the must knock and notice and wait a reasonable amount of time (30 seconds or so) before entering.
Depending on the circumstances sometimes a case agent or the CI may need to wear a blalcava for safety sakes.

Crashing doors looks cool but there are better ways to serve a warrant. I'd rather take a bad guy away from his res than go into his home that he knows like the back of his hand.

If it's a legit warrant you should be able to tell by what u see and what you hear, police cars, police radio traffic, uniforms….we usually had uniformed officers with us so folks could see it was the real police. No knocks are not happening out in the west. It's pretty much "surround and call out…" they are safer for everyone.

 

[DWalt]

Here in Texas, bounty hunters must be licensed Texas peace officers or private investigators. The extent of apprehension authority afforded to a bounty hunter varies widely by state.