I got home yesterday, stopped at the end of the driveway to check the mailbox, the drove up the driveway (200') to the house, only to realize the home alarm was going off. I called the alarm company and they said the panic had been set, and Law Enforcement was on their way (I realized later I must have set it off on my FOB when I checked the mail). Since I can't carry to work (my employer exempted themselves from the parking lot law) I went in and went straight for the gun safe and grabbed my Sig Sauer and put it on - searched the house briefly and then went out and waited for Sheriff deputy to arrive (took 12 minutes, but we are rather rural). He arrived, and I met him in the driveway. I told him I had went in and got my carry pistol, and briefly showed him - he looked casually and agreed that I must have accidentally set the alarm myself. My concern is this ... the panic alarm is a non-recallable alarm, which means distress in the house. He never offered to sweep the house, or verify my identity as the owner of the house. I started thinking - what if I were the bad guy? This officer just assumed all was well and left. He was quite pleasent and casual about the whole thing, and I would love to encounter him elsewhere - but the fact that this was a panic alarm still has me thinking? Anyone agree with my concern, or am I just reading too much into this?
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Interesting LEO encounter
- Thread starter skseifert
- Start date
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IndyGunworks
Grandmaster
i would agree but i wasnt there so maybe he saw something that gave him enough information to make an informed decision not to verify your residency status.
40calPUNISHER
Master
- Apr 23, 2008
- 2,333
- 48
I would contact his department and inform them of the situation. Let them know how you would have liked them to handle that incident. It could save a life later on down the road...
They get so many of those calls that I think they do approach them rather casually. I would feel a little uneasy knowing that my panic alarm was set off and that a guy standing in the driveway wearing a gun can tell the cop that everything is ok. I would have thought an ID check or quick look around would be mandatory.
When you called the alarm company, you gave them your passcode to inform them all was well and nothing was amiss. Perhaps the Sheriff's Department telephoned the alarm company back and they alerted the dispatcher that the homeowner was indeed home and all was well...or the alarm company called the department and told them. Just an idea.
I agree that it would have been nice if he'd at least checked your Driver's License just to see it really was you. My sife set off her parents' alarm a few months ago and then couldn't remeber the 'codeword' when they called the house. Lucily they believed her enough to call her dad on another line and comfirm that she really was their daughter and belonged there!
In the same vein, I got pulled over a couple years ago for speeding on Rockville rd on teh West side. The cop sat in his car, filled out the ticket, walked up to my door, handed me my ticket and said "directions for payment are on the back" and walked back to his car. After he left, I got kinda pissed off thinking, What if I'd just carjacked this truck and had a body in the bed underneath the tonneau cover! Never asked for licens, registration or even asked my name! probably the quicketst $85 the city's made in awhile!
Doug K
In the same vein, I got pulled over a couple years ago for speeding on Rockville rd on teh West side. The cop sat in his car, filled out the ticket, walked up to my door, handed me my ticket and said "directions for payment are on the back" and walked back to his car. After he left, I got kinda pissed off thinking, What if I'd just carjacked this truck and had a body in the bed underneath the tonneau cover! Never asked for licens, registration or even asked my name! probably the quicketst $85 the city's made in awhile!
Doug K
Maybe both officers follow INGO and didn't want to violate anyone's rights by asking for their "papers".
Both officers more than likely ran your plate, which told him you had a handgun permit. This in turn notified the BMV to send your pictures to his laptop and notified the ATF to download your firearm inventory to his laptop. With your picture and gun inventory he could verify it was you with out asking.
The police are damned if they do and damned if they don't.
I had a somewhat similar incident a few years back. I had come home from college one weekend to surprise my mother for her birthday. As I opened the garage I noticed that her car was not there so I figured she must have run to the store and Id just go in and wait on her. So I opened the door and all i heard was beep,beep,beep,beep I thought oh %#%$ I have no idea the code or password next the phone rings and its the alarm company asking me the top secret code, huh I dunno. After explaining the situation the alarm shut off........ Only for one minute tops. As Im looking for my phone to finally call my mother, I hear ding dong. Yep you guessed it your friendly neighborhood LEO. I explained to him the situation. But he wanted to look around a bit to just make sure. I invited him in with open arms. It didnt take long as soon as he saw my ugly mug plastered all over the place in pictures he was content that everything was ok. Needless to say mom was happy to see me and to this day ill never forget that code and password
I know that if an alarm company gets the okay than our dispatcher will notify us by radio that we can disregard, or they will advise us that someone on scene has the pass code, or what ever the situation is. Good possibility that the LEO had already been advised that the situation was okay prior to his arrival. but who knows, I know it becomes easy to treat alarms very laid back since we take about 2-4 false alarsm per shift. In fact I can only think of one alarm that was a legit break in. Either way, just my two cents.
i understand everyone's point of view, but let's just say he wasn't the homeowner and had forced the passcode out of the homeowner at gunpoint...... feel like the officer could have at least asked for some type of ID...... i know some people would be up in arms about this.... but would make me feel safer honestly.... knowing that they officer is looking out for my safety...... considering the fact that he was out on this call because of an accidently set off alarm which would have been homeowners fault
we have a passcode and a distress code. The alarm company is programmed to treat the distress code the same while on the phone with the homeowner as if it was the passcode. Of course they let the police know it was a distress code.
I've only had one panic alarm set off and IPD (at the time) was afraid to go in the yard because of the big bad bassets.
neighbor went in and verified for them all was well. Our daughter set it off when she left for school.
I don't think so.
I find it ironic that how far the police go is determined by what mood the officer is in at that moment.
I am less than impressed with the responses of IMPD. Of the last 5 calls I or my tenants have made, only one received a response commensurate with the type of call. And on two occasions, the officer(s) never even exited their vehicles. Not even to make contact with the caller.
Joe Williams
Shooter
- Jun 26, 2008
- 10,431
- 38
What I think it funny is that if the officer had insisted on seeing ID and clearing the house, many of the same folks in this thread talking about how the cop should have done just that would probably been up in arms about the jackboot violating rights.
I depends on just what the officer did. I could understand the officer wanting some ID, to see if the address matched, for example. I wouldn't agree with the officer demanding entry to the house, unless there was obvious signs of forced entry. Even then, if the identified homeowner refused to allow entry, I wouldn't think the officer should force the issue.
Sounds like good guy who used his experience and common sense, if the alarm was not going when he got there then someone knew the correct code, I don't think the bad guy would hang around to chat, you could have offered your ID to verify being the homeowner and requested a walk through.
My alarm company treats a distress/panic alarm as a non-recallable alarm, and does not ask for any passcode. Their philosophy is that if you pressed the panic alarm, they want the police to show up to verify all is good - even if its a false alarm. I doubt the Sherrifs deputy was informed that I had called the alarm company.
grunt soldier
Master
skseifert, let me just point out that no matter what if you called and gave the passcode the alarm company called and tried to cancel the alarm or for sure let us know hey it was the home owner and we got proper pass code. we at impd have a no cancelation for panic alarms but no matter what either dispatch or control definitely told the officer that the alarm comp called back and wanted to cancel or that the home owner was on-scene and had a good code.
did you give him the address or you name and code any info a bad guy wouldn't have had. a lot of people don't realize the info they give up initially to the officers right off the bat. you already mentioned that you told him you had your gun and had checked the resd. any other info you gave him right away that you might have forgot about or just didn't realize you gave.
either way next time ask him to check or say hey can i speak to your supervisor and explain your concerns. but next time they roll up guns out and want you to lay face down, cuff you up, put you in the car, then check your residence don't complain cause thats the opposite to where your at, especially when you tell the officer hey i am armed and checked the residence and didn't see anything. not trying to cause drama just pointing out the opposite to what occurred
did you give him the address or you name and code any info a bad guy wouldn't have had. a lot of people don't realize the info they give up initially to the officers right off the bat. you already mentioned that you told him you had your gun and had checked the resd. any other info you gave him right away that you might have forgot about or just didn't realize you gave.
either way next time ask him to check or say hey can i speak to your supervisor and explain your concerns. but next time they roll up guns out and want you to lay face down, cuff you up, put you in the car, then check your residence don't complain cause thats the opposite to where your at, especially when you tell the officer hey i am armed and checked the residence and didn't see anything. not trying to cause drama just pointing out the opposite to what occurred
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Agreed.
I'm actually starting to feel sympathetic for Denny347 and company. And that's not in purple.
