Warranted and unwarranted searches

Factual Questions
1

A few months ago, we were having a party at my house when the university cops arrived.

They got out, demanded we break the party up, told us we were a public nuisance, and stormed towards the doors with their hands on their mace and guns.

A friend and I, thinking quickly, shut and locked the doors. The police tried to barge past us and shove the doors open, but we told them no way, not without a warrant.

This upset them. Cops don’t like to be wrong.

They got quite angry with us, and told us warrant or no, they were going in. We told them, no warrant, no permission, no go.

They called KCMO. KCMO didn’t want to come - they had better things to do than arrive en masse for a noise disturbance.

The argumentative, unhelpful, downright bitchy female cop told them that I was being drunk and disorderly and getting violent - all untrue - I wasn’t drinking that night but was stoned, and I don’t have a violent bone in me. All I was doing was making the police fully aware that we know our rights and will uphold them - which cops never like.

KCMO shows up, calls me over, and bad cop reaches for my bandaged hand (I cut the end of my finger off). I pulled my hand away, he says “OH! Resisting arrest, huh?!” and handcuffs me.

So anyway, after a half hour of good cop bad cop with KCMO, they realize that I’m neither drunk, disorderly, or violent, and they let me go.

Now, over a month later, I get a letter from an administrator for my school saying I need to show up to discuss my “disciplinary measures.”

The letter took so long because the police a) got my name wrong b) got my street address wrong and c) got my physical description wrong. Furthermore, their report for the evening continues to claim that I was drunk and violent, both of which are totally untrue, and I have tons of witnesses to prove it. Finally, the chief claims that I “came in and spoke to him about it” at some point, which I never did.

So my question is, can someone help me figure out the proper criteria, in Kansas City, Missouri, for an unwarranted search, because I can’t seem to find it on FindLaw.com. I don’t think a noise complaint qualifies, but I want to be on solid ground here.

Tim

PS Anyone with smart-ass comments about my being stoned and not drunk, stfu and find a new thread. It’s not the issue here.

2

IMHO, you are asking the wrong question. Unless you are omitting something, a search did not take place. Whether the cops admitted it or not, their lack of a search means that somewhere up the line a more senior cop (or possibly a prosecutor, but I doubt it got that far) agreed with your position, and called off the dogs.

Your position with the administration should be just that. A search did not take place, meaning the police recognized that they did not have the right to make one.

Were you arrested, were you taken to a police station? Or were you you released at home after further discussion with the city cops? If the latter, again that is an acknowledgement by the city cops that the U-cop’s complaint lacked merit.

This “chief” - a University cop or a city cop? Eventually, you may ask to see the chief’s appointment book, but now is not the time.

Frankly, I wouldn’t worry at this point, unless you are omitting some things. If the administration is reasonable, they will simply be informing you of charges to be leveled against you, and what the penalties might be. Whatever these may be, be polite, do not admit anything, and ask for a reasonable amount of time to respond to them.

3

This kind of thing enrages me. You hear it all the time. These idiot cops use any excuse (resisting arrest my butt), bend the law, and sometime outright break it while claiming to enforce it. And then they wonder why they get no respect. Meanwhile the people being abused by the practice have no one to call for help when their “rights” are being trampled. There should be a police for the police that you can bring in when they get out of control like that, Internal Affairs won’t cut it.

4

I think there’s some information missing.

By “your house” do you mean property which you own or which you rent from an entity not affiliated with the university? If that’s the case, that’s one thing.

If “your house” meant space which you are occupying but that which belongs to the university, you may be SOL here – they tend to write their residence agreements, uh, expansively.

You may be SOL anyway. Whilst the constabularly can’t just randomly barge into places, they may pursue suspects even if those suspects happen to close a door which belongs to them. If all they did is pass through a door which they witnessed you closing to evade capture and detain you, no “search” occured and your rights were not violated.

OK, that last sentence was more awkward than a first date, but the point is there somewhere.

Also, to help other posters, is it fair to assume that KCMO is the non-university Kansas City police force?

5

Yes, they are.

6

Homer, the proper response to a police officer telling you your party is too loud is “Sorry, officer, we’ll keep it down.” The proper response to a university official who calls you in for a disciplinary hearing is “I’m sorry, I lost my head. I was wrong, and it won’t happen again.”

Do NOT attempt to bait the cops into getting a warrant to search your home if you are using illegal narcotics.