# Police officer taking pictures of my house **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 23, 2022, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-officer-taking-pictures-of-my-house/968422 "2022-07-23T13:31:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2022, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-officer-taking-pictures-of-my-house/968422/21 "2022-07-23T15:50:22Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > Well I agree with the OP that it is weird and justifys his questioning the officer and his venting in the post. Its making my breakfast more enjoyable. šŸ˜ > > Iā€™ve lived in small rural towns and the cops there were either total assholes or just some local guy that needed a job. Small towns are well, small towns and strange shit happens. > > A cop from a major city department doing this would set me off like Mightey\_Mouse. Thanks. Itā€™s different for sure. And we are not in a small town. The closest small town is 4 miles away (500 people). We are in unincorporated county jurisdiction. The LEO that took the pictures worked for another small town 15 miles away. I guess you take any gig you can get to put food on the table. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2022, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-officer-taking-pictures-of-my-house/968422/22 "2022-07-23T15:52:22Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > BTW, I assume the photos are in case your house is lost in a wildfire? A lot of it Iā€™m sure. If I remember it correctly, it also stated they wanted to know about siding and broken windows (?). Iā€™m sure they want to know about roofing material too, but was not stated in letter. Iā€™ve gone to a steel roof. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2022, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-officer-taking-pictures-of-my-house/968422/23 "2022-07-23T15:58:07Z")
> [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#): > > As a side note, Iā€™ll say that underpaying the police is a really bad idea. Yep, a local cop (chief) did some time in prison a few years ago when he was caught selling confiscated guns and town ammunition to supplement his lousy pay. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2022, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-officer-taking-pictures-of-my-house/968422/24 "2022-07-23T16:02:34Z")
Does anyone say this if a cashier making $8/hour nicks a few fivers out of the till? ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2022, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-officer-taking-pictures-of-my-house/968422/25 "2022-07-23T16:08:19Z")
Water department people usually donā€™t carry guns and are unlikely to be looking for probable cause to report to whatever law enforcement agency the OP is under > [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > If this was a water department truck being used zero people would feel obligated to invent reasons why itā€™s plausibly proper. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2022, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-officer-taking-pictures-of-my-house/968422/26 "2022-07-23T16:15:38Z")
Itā€™s highly inappropriate for a a county employee to use their county vehicle for personal business. What other side gigs is he up to in his stealthmobile? Door dashing? Selling satellite dishes? Iā€™d be wanting to strike up a conversation and probably ask the guy why he isnā€™t he using his personal vehicle and is he off duty? And point him to the trespassers up the road and ask him to move them along first. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2022, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-officer-taking-pictures-of-my-house/968422/27 "2022-07-23T16:16:50Z")
Lots of people say that cashiers should make more money, so Iā€™m not sure what point you are trying to make here. And when a cashier has the authority to arrest you for any reason they can think up, and qualified immunity if they do so in a way that injures or kills you, then the comparison would have some validity. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2022, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-officer-taking-pictures-of-my-house/968422/28 "2022-07-23T16:43:00Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Lots of people say that cashiers should make more money, so Iā€™m not sure what point you are trying to make here. I have yet to hear from law and order folks that a cashier stealing is somehow justified by their low pay, and if we paid them double they wouldnā€™t steal. Literally 20 years in retail, and 30 years of my dad in retail, never heard it once. Thousands of cashiers terminated for stealing and hundreds prosecuted. Not once have I heard that we should pay them more. Yet a Police Chief steals and we are talking about his low pay. Fuck that. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2022, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-officer-taking-pictures-of-my-house/968422/29 "2022-07-23T17:57:28Z")
> [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > I have yet to hear from law and order folks that a cashier stealing is somehow justified by their low pay, Okay, but Iā€™m not sure what your point is. It was not stated that police are _justified_ in their actions due to how much they get paid, so your analogy makes no sense. > [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > if we paid them double they wouldnā€™t steal. I mean, if we _did_ pay cashiers more, they would have less need to supplementing their pay illegally. > [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > Not once have I heard that we should pay them more. Did you miss a significant chunk of the 2020 campaigns, the fight for 15, calls for raising minimum wage? > [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > Yet a Police Chief steals and we are talking about his low pay. Fuck that. No one said it was justified due to the low pay offered to law enforcement, only that if we offered higher pay, then we could attract people to the positions of better character. This not only decreases their incentive to steal, but also decreases the chances that they are abusive towards the people they are supposed to be protecting and serving. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2022, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-officer-taking-pictures-of-my-house/968422/30 "2022-07-23T18:04:38Z")
> [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > Yet a Police Chief steals and we are talking about his low pay. Fuck that. A former police chief who did some time for his theft. We can speculate about motive, but he went to jail, as it should be. But yes, you get what you pay for, both in retail and in policing. Low pay in both cases could result in theft. Doesnā€™t excuse it in either case. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2022, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-officer-taking-pictures-of-my-house/968422/31 "2022-07-23T18:07:54Z")
And, I think itā€™s highly improper for the cop in the OP to be doing a side hustle, wearing his uniform and carrying a sidearm, and using his employerā€™s vehicle. If heā€™s doing some moonlightling, thatā€™s okay, if itā€™s permitted by his contract with his employer, itā€™s off-hours, heā€™s not holding himself out as a cop by wearing a uniform, and heā€™s not using his employerā€™s vehicle. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2022, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-officer-taking-pictures-of-my-house/968422/32 "2022-07-23T21:28:00Z")
I have a different take on this. Maybe the wife didnā€™t feel safe doing the job by herself, esp because the OP says homes can be quite isolated in his area, and people can be rightfully very suspicious nowadays. I would feel uncomfortable doing that job, myself. So she wanted her husband to accompany her. But the husband figured that homeowners would be even more suspicious of a man and woman going around together taking photos of houses. So he figured wearing his cop uniform and driving a cop car would let people know it wasnā€™t some sort of scam. The issue of cops not responding between 11pm and 7am is a whole separate issue. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2022, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-officer-taking-pictures-of-my-house/968422/33 "2022-07-23T21:39:50Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > So he figured wearing his cop uniform and driving a cop car would let people know it wasnā€™t some sort of scam. No, it would tell people that they were under police surveillance. Much better. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2022, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-officer-taking-pictures-of-my-house/968422/34 "2022-07-23T22:30:13Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Did you miss a significant chunk of the 2020 campaigns, the fight for 15, calls for raising minimum wage? Not to stop them from stealing, which is what is being implied about the police chief. If you paid the police chief double, heā€™d just look for a way to steal more. I have seen zero evidence on my life that paying people more makes them more honest. Iā€™ve worked for companies where people making millions have fiddled the books to make millions more. And people making tens of thousands have fiddled the books to make tens of thousands more. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2022, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-officer-taking-pictures-of-my-house/968422/35 "2022-07-23T22:51:28Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > ā€œIā€™m just here to take pictures of your house. You should have got a letter from your insurance companyā€ I had that job when I was in college. I didnā€™t carry a gun (even though it was in Texas), I drove the companyā€™s old Chevette (see the worst car thread), and because of the lack of AC I was probably wearing shorts and a sweat soaked t-shirt instead of a uniform. It was my understanding that the point of the picture was mostly to prove that the house existed, and was more or less in a livable condition. A few of the places required I take a picture of the electrical weatherhead, because of the age of the house. At almost all of my houses, nobody bothered me. Iā€™d stop, do my thing with the Polaroid, and be on my way in a few minutes. Usually when somebody stopped me my reason for being there made sense. Like you, theyā€™d gotten a letter, recently changed their policy, or just moved in. The guy who was most distrusting about why I was there wanted to see ID, and some proof I worked for the insurance company. While he was interrogating me his daughter came out because she recognized me. Weā€™d been friendly in high school (though never hung out outside of school), but she was a few years younger, so we hadnā€™t seen each other since I graduated. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2022, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-officer-taking-pictures-of-my-house/968422/36 "2022-07-23T23:12:47Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > . . . But the husband figured that homeowners would be even more suspicious of a man and woman going around together taking photos of houses. So he figured wearing his cop uniform and driving a cop car would let people know it wasnā€™t some sort of scam. . . That would be an improper use of his police identity. He has a uniform, a weapon, and a police vehicle to protect the public, not to help his wife do her job. And most people would assume he was there on some sort of police business, which means theyā€™d be less likely to hassle him about it. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2022, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-officer-taking-pictures-of-my-house/968422/37 "2022-07-24T00:19:08Z")
> [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#): > > That would be an improper use of his police identity. He has a uniform, a weapon, and a police vehicle to protect the public, not to help his wife do her job. And most people would assume he was there on some sort of police business, which means theyā€™d be less likely to hassle him about it Yeah, Iā€™m not saying itā€™s right, but I could see if that was what they were thinking. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2022, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-officer-taking-pictures-of-my-house/968422/38 "2022-07-24T12:41:01Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > I had that job when I was in college. I didnā€™t carry a gun (even though it was in Texas), I drove the companyā€™s old Chevette (see the worst car thread), and because of the lack of AC I was probably wearing shorts and a sweat soaked t-shirt instead of a uniform. That wouldnā€™t have bugged me at all. Maybe, since the Sheriffs department is so understaffed they have a deal with the towns to patrol out of their jurisdiction. But I doubt it. Nobody ā€˜patrolsā€™ up here. So I doubt very much that he was just ā€˜In the areaā€™. You canā€™t get anyone to come even when you call them. And there are no businesses of any sort near me, so that canā€™t be the reason. Really, Iā€™m making too big of a deal about this. When I saw it was an undercover police car in my driveway my thoughts where ā€œWho died that they came to tell me about?ā€ Iā€™ve never had a bad interaction with police, but it does put me on edge. Yes it got cleared up quickly, but was very strange. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2022, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-officer-taking-pictures-of-my-house/968422/39 "2022-07-24T12:56:46Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > in la county ca you can pay the sheriffs office to do all sorts of odd jobs like serve summons evictions and the like Thatā€™s not an odd job at all. Civil process is one of the main duties of the Sheriff. Most larger S.O.ā€™s have an entire unit dedicated to it. In a county where I once lived the Sheriff had a unit of Special Deputies. These were armed and sworn Deputies that only worked limited hours. Businesses could contract with the Sheriff to work security and such. Youā€™d go into a McDonalds and instead of seeing a security guard there would be an on duty Deputy Sheriff with arrest powers and could have 30 of his best friends come back him up if needed. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2022, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-officer-taking-pictures-of-my-house/968422/40 "2022-07-24T13:04:02Z")
The whole event seems a bit weird to me. The fact that you say this LEO was on your property _a few months_ after you ā€˜received a letterā€™ is almost worse. Somebody ā€“ the LEOs wife, the insurer ā€¦ somebody ā€“ could have dialed this thing in better and notified you 24 ā€¦ 48 ā€¦ 72 hours prior to the actual photo safari day. At least the odds of you remembering are better than the ā€œOhhhhhhh, yeahhhhhā€ that inevitably results when the letter came months prior. As to the ā€˜second job on company time with company gearā€™ thing ā€¦ if his employer is okay with that, itā€™s a lesser issue to me, _but_ I also agree: if youā€™re having trouble getting essential services, the optics of somebody moonlighting in a PD cruiser while your calls go unanswered ā€¦ not great. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-officer-taking-pictures-of-my-house/968422.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-officer-taking-pictures-of-my-house/968422.md?page=3)