Scenario, you are sleeping at night!

Im pretty amazed that anyone would be in the position in the first place. I know some arent animal people or maybe cant have them, but there are other alternatives.

I also think an alarm that goes off before they even get close to the door is important, and actually better than one on the door. Its at least a little more proactive, where the other is all reactive.

At least if you have warning and can be up, a quick call to 911 (if you have it) can at least confirm if its the cops or not, and maybe cut that headache (for both of you) off at the pass.

If not, well, here, unless a Trooper is right down the road, its about a 20-30+ minute response time when you call.
 
Riverside P.D. did exactly this in 1994,,,

It was actually a joint thing between the Riverside County Sheriff Department,,,
And the Riverside Police department.

The problems were multi-fold,,,
The warrant was for a single address,,,
The property had 4 cabins, each with a separate address.
So essentially the warrant was invalid because it didn't specify which cabin.

This was a night bust and they decided to go in anyways,,,
They chose the incorrect cabin as their target.

There were no flashing lights,,,
They kicked in the door and entered the building,,,
I don't know for sure but I would bet they were yelling "Police".

The occupant thought he was being invaded,,,
He got his pistol from the night stand and fired a round into the floor,,,
The cops returned fire and hit him in his bed twice but there were over 100 rounds fired total.

The upshot of this was that the D.A. filed charges of attempted murder of a police officer on him,,,
They offered him a plea deal that was a felony but would have only entailed probation,,,
He got a good lawyer and several years later got a huge settlement.

This is a here-say account but a fairly accurate one,,,
The owner of the 4 cabins was the chief dispatcher for the U. C. Riverside Police Department,,,
He was my ex-wifes supervisor (she was a dispatcher) and a pretty close friend of mine at the time.

So it can happen,,,
What to do is anyone's guess.

Aarond
 
This is the reason I have ceiling mounted remote control MGs at all entry points.:D

This is really kind of silly. If they are screaming "Police!", there are beaucoups of them, and they have on uniforms, its probably the Five-0.:rolleyes:

One guy kicks in your door? Burn him down. Police operate in packs during raids. One cop isn't going to try to be Captain America and raid a house alone.

If they're packing AKs they probably aren't cops.

You have a better chance of hitting the Powerball than such a thing ever happening (either a wrong address by the law or robbers impersonating the police).
 
Aaron, let me get this straight... The owner was the Chief Dispatcher and they didn't think to inquire of him which one the subject lived in? That is moronic beyond all belief.
 
Before complying I would try to look out the windows to see if there were any Police Cars there if I had time.I would also try to shine a powerful light on the folks coming thru the door and hope I had a split second to make a choice of which way to go.
 
Hello Ben Towe,,,

The owner was the Chief Dispatcher and they didn't think to inquire of him which one the subject lived in? That is moronic beyond all belief.
Click to expand...

He was chief dispatcher for the U. C. Riverside Police Department,,,
That's the University of California at Riverside Campus PD,,,
Not the City of Riverside Police Department.

But you are correct about the moronic part,,,
When they got there and realized they had an invalid warrant,,,
They should have stood down, got a new warrant, and raided the correct cabin.

Each cabin had a separate mailing address,,,
1234A S. Oak St,,,
1234B S. Oak St,,,
1234C S. Oak St,,,
1234D S. Oak St.

The warrant listed 1234 S. Oak St,,,
California law states warrants must be for a specific building
That's why the guy eventually won a huge settlement based on physical harm suffered and harassment under cover of authority.

The harassment was for the D.A. charging him with a felony,,,
So the bad warrant stuff would go away.

Aarond
 
What if you are sleeping in the middle of the night and you hear what seem like your door being kicked in. So you get up and you hear "It's the police, we have a warrant and let me see your hands” My question is what do you do? Do you comply or engage?
Click to expand...

Best comply at this point, no early warning bark, no camera, no motion sensored lite to warn you. Just a kicked in door while you are rubbing yer eyes trying to wake up and figure out what the heck is going on.

Draw a gun and you will more than likely get shot up.
 
You have a better chance of hitting the Powerball than such a thing ever happening
Click to expand...

Maybe so, but that dosn't stop people from buying powerball tickets. Shouldn't stop you from considering the possabilities either.
 
Similar thing happened in Florida...

... Volusia County, IIRC, in 1986.

Sheriff's SWAT team executed a no-knock on a home where informants said major drug deals were going down. Adult male home-owner had fallen asleep while watching a movie, with a .25 auto in his pocket. He woke up to the door crashing in, and his wife and kids screaming. First officer into the room took a .25 round; unfortunately for the officer, it didn't hit his vest, but instead entered in the arm hole of the vest, went through his armpit, and killed him.

Other SWAT members showed good discipline, and did NOT shoot the home-owner.

Search of the home found one or two small marijuana plants in the high school aged son's closet; small ones, personal use size. Parents were unaware.

Powder found in the home was found to be back powder. Home-owner was a painter, who had chronic back pain from a fall from some scaffolding.

Other than the plants in the kid's room, nothing was found.

Sheriff wanted charges brought. DA obliged and filed. One of my college profs helped the defendant with pro bono representation. They plead self-defense against an unidentified threat. They used the no-knock warrant as part of the defense.

Defendant was found Not Guilty.

IIRC, the defendant was quite upset when he realized that he had shot a cop. He had no reason to expect the home invaders to be police, as he had no knowledge of his kid's pot. Even if he had known about it, there wasn't enough there to justify a SWAT team. He thought he had felons breaking into his home.

But sometimes the SWAT raid is for real.

I'd concur with those who say barricade, and call 911 to verify. I'd also concur with those who recommend alarm systems and dogs, because if you don't have a warning, and the reaction time it provides, your list of options gets very short.
 
If it was really police or SWAT, there'd probably be a flash-bang or three going off before you have a chance to get out of bed. (You were sound asleep, right?) They would have control of the situation and if you were to be pointing a gun at them when they came through your door you will be in a world of hurt.

So, prepare for the amateurs if you feel you must. But be ready to comply with the authorities if they smash your door by mistake.
 
Those types of mistakes should NOT happen. The people responsible for that mistake should be held accountable. To charge the homeowner is utter nonsense. On the other hand, If I told the authorities that my inlaws were growin pot.............hmm.:rolleyes:
 
This happened to my brother. He was standing in the kitchen making a peanut butter sandwich. The door busts open & the house is full of cops. Someone had reported a burglary in progress @ the house next door. Cops got the wrong house.

There was a rancher killed by police in southern Az. on a bad tip of a drug deal. He heard the noise, got up, grabbed his gun & was shot. No drugs found.
 
"WHAT IF" Scenarios like this one are crazy .. best just to comply... if something like this did ever happen, and best if this thread was closed. A little too paranoid if you ask me.
 
Why is being prepared paranoid? If paranoia saves my life someday, then being paranoid seems like a good idea. Why would the thread need to be closed??? I fail to see your point. Did you even read the posts?
 
When this scenario plays out whether cops or bad guys, you either get down or get shot unless you clearly don't have a weapon on your person in which case you'll end up on the ground anyways. Heck you probably have a better chance in surviving if its the bad guys coming in if you don't comply. Usually the police knock on the door with the warrant or have a loud speaker or whatever its called; obviously that isn't always the case though.
 
While I doubt this scenario would happen??? I do agree with the "bolt hole", and have our bedroom as kind of a "safe room". We live on a farm in the middle of nowhere so I doubt the local Sheriff's are going to mistake XXXXX's farm for BBBBB's farm on the warrant. The first thing I would do is look out the window and see if there are a bunch of police cars out front, then dial 911, and ask "Hey Whats Up?". If I don't see a bunch of cars with blue and red lights on out front then we're still dialing 911 and calling in the Cavalry. Whether they are Sheriffs or BG's they're going to be a bit irritated by the constant flashing strobe lights and the noise from the alarm system.:D
 
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OK it did happen once. I am not the least bit concerned with it happening. I have a million things that can happen to me that are more likely to happen that that scenario
 
@ Mrgoodwrench

Yes sir I did read all the posts... lots of great and different answers. This is a very odd situation. One that I just don't see having a good ending if you don't comply. I was just giving my input. I think if people bust your door down yelling police. It's best to comply. I don't see the need for THIS scenario to be addressed on TFL however. We could literally write a book of what if scenarios... and this one is just crazy.... I apologize if I offended you or anyone else for that matter. I will comply with the police. You do as you please sir.
 
Easy, shoot them until they aren't moving anymore. Until I see and read a warrant they are thugs breaking into my home. I'm not doing anything illegal and if they think I am they can give me a call and we can talk about it like adults.

Sadly, the only way such antics will probably only stop once police start being shot and killed in greater and greater numbers for pulling such stupid stunts and juries acquitting homeowners who face charges for defending themselves.

No-knock warrants have to be one of the dumbest idea ever devised, dumber than a diesel powered alarm clock, not quite as dumb as a razor-wire slinky. You are introducing violence into what should be a non-violent situation. You are attacking someone where they are the least vulnerable, in their home and where they have a massive defenders advantage. Their actions also fit the MO of that of criminals. Not to mention that many of us here have extensive collections that criminals would find very attractive, making such a door crashing event far more likely to be that of a criminal.
 
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