Generally speaking, how bad do you have to fuck up for a police officer to show up on your doorstep looking for you? Would they not bother unless it was an arrestable offense?
A few days ago an acquaintance of mine apparently made a bit of a show of himself at a local political rally, part of it involving some stupid car stunts (probably some flavor of reckless driving). Today, two CA Highway Patrol officers showed up at his home wanting to talk to him.
I am generally of the opinion that if the cops come out looking for you, and you legitimately fucked up, plan on going for a ride, even if only to be processed and released.
Legitimately fucked up as in, yes it was you, not your roommate borrowed your car and they are one your doorstep because the car traced back to you after your roomate did something illegal while he had the car.
The guy on FB is downplaying it even more than I did, referring to them as a “perfectly legal set of manuvers”
You don’t. They can be coming to notify you that one of your relatives has been in a bad accident, or to ask questions about a crime which took place in your neighborhood.
“Looking for you” and “looking to arrest you” are two very different things.
I had a friend at my house the other night who had bugged out when he and his wife got in a fight. The wife, who has some mental problems, called the cops to tell them she thought my friend “might come try to take the kids.” (My friend was going to do no such thing.)
The cops called him on his phone then an officer came to my house, the next city over, at like 1 AM, to give him some paperwork to sign. My friend wasn’t going anywhere, the cops were not interested in taking him anywhere. His wife’s concerns were noted but also noted to be unfounded.
This is what I first thought of when I read the title.
My sisters death was the reason for one such forray up my road by the local officials.
In many places I have lived, I have helped out at various youth venues. Boy & Girl scouts, FFA, and Little League are some of many I have been involved with. When one of these youth got into trouble, they often used me for a reference. I got many visits from both uniformed and plain clothed LEOs to discuss the teens reputation.
CPS also has come to my place for the same reason. Quite a few young folks have me to thank for “getting off” easy. Many of them had minor lapses in judgement and deserved a second chance.
I have also been a witness to an armed robbery, so yes, “looking for me” and “looking to arrest me” are two different things.
You are well aware, I am sure, that the degree of “bad behavior” is not the only issue at play here. He did this in front of news cameras!! That may be the deciding factor in his problems. He did a stupid thing in front of news cameras, in front of politicians that want to get reelected! He really screwed up! They may feel that they need to be seen “dealing” with him. Oh Man!! I would not want to be him.
In front of politicians who were upstaged & may be tight with the police, possibly on a local/state police oversight/funding committee, so essentially the police’s boss. Those types of Orwellian pigs (the politicians, not the police) are more equal than you or I.
As an example, Philadelphia had a Traffic Court, it came out (with indictments & a corruption trial) that the politically well connected somehow, surprisingly (:rolleyes:), managed to *not *get convicted of motor vehicle violations as frequently as the common person.
It depends. Cite = Jesse Matthew
At the time Jesse Matthew was only a person of interest in the disappearance of UVA student Hannah Graham. He went to the police station & said he wasn’t talking to them w/o a lawyer so they let him go since they didn’t have enough to charge him. He ‘peeled out’ of their lot & they issued a no-bail, extraditable, nationwide warrant for his arrest for being a fugitive from justice for reckless driving! Do you really think if they didn’t think he was involved with her they would have bothered with him at all? He made a little mistake (reckless driving) which opened the door for them being able arrest him & ‘inventory’ his car when they probably didn’t have enough for a search warrant beforehand. Smart move on their part because he’s now been charged with abduction with intent to defile & now that they believe they found her body those charges might be upgraded.
If a citizen makes a complaint to the police about you, they will come and knock on your door. To ask you your version of what happened, or to politely inform you that you have been named in a trivial or frivolous complaint. If you fuck with them, they can get grouchy. It’s part of the pervading flow-chart paradigm of modern organization. Police reports have to be filled out, and if no contact is made with a person of interest, explain why not.
I’m not certain, but it sounds like he was with a bunch of other kids and “someone” let the brake loose, and the cars started rolling. I think only a couple of cars went off the rails. Even now my mother tries to minimize it. No big deal, right? :rolleyes:
He was a minor, and it couldn’t be proven that he was the one who pulled the brake, so he just got a stern warning from some dark-suited men we’re assuming were above the local level of law enforcement.
My mom claims I was there when all this happened (I’m 5 years older than him; my brother was maybe in his early teens?). I was probably studying in my room and wondering what all the noise was about. Such a geek. :o
I don’t think there’s a single answer, even in the case where they’re showing up because you broke the law, rather than any other reason. Could be that they’ve already filled out the arrest forms at the station and reserved a cell for you (with the DA right now putting the finishing touches on his case).
Or they could be showing up to say “Look, your little stunt was illegal. It’s not so bad that we’re going to bother arresting you this time, but don’t do it again, or we WILL charge you.”
A friend did that years ago here in Ohio. He was only nine.
A police detective called me the other day about a link on an old community-oriented website I still have up but goes unmaintained. The link was pointed to a porn site as the url had changed hands. The detective had fielded some complaints and called me. Logged in and fwd’ed my url to another site. No problem.
Old Russian saying: if you want to be in business, make friends with the police.