A few minutes ago (9:30 P.M. U.S. Eastern Time) a town police officer knocked on my door. I did not open the door at first. I told him hello and he told me to open up. I asked him what for. He said he was called here and he needed to come in. I asked him if he had a warrant. He said he didn't need a warrant, that he could force the door and I would be responsible for the damage.
I didn't open the door but I went into my mother's room and woke her and told her. She told me to let him in. I did so. He said our downstairs neighbor (we live in a two floor apartment) had called the police department and claimed that we had stairways down to her apartment, we were spying on her through our vents, and that we had climbed down into her walls and vandalized her stove.
He did a check in the rooms and found nothing, of course. After, my mother requested a police report as a record of this event. He gathered some basic information and left. Before he went, he told me that if he is called to a place on the report of a complaint he does not need a warrant.
This country, eh? If my mother had not told me to let him in I probably wouldn't have done it. And I would have been responsible for the damage of his forced entry too.
I didn't open the door but I went into my mother's room and woke her and told her. She told me to let him in. I did so. He said our downstairs neighbor (we live in a two floor apartment) had called the police department and claimed that we had stairways down to her apartment, we were spying on her through our vents, and that we had climbed down into her walls and vandalized her stove.
He did a check in the rooms and found nothing, of course. After, my mother requested a police report as a record of this event. He gathered some basic information and left. Before he went, he told me that if he is called to a place on the report of a complaint he does not need a warrant.
This country, eh? If my mother had not told me to let him in I probably wouldn't have done it. And I would have been responsible for the damage of his forced entry too.