Yes, it was an overreaction on the part of the local police; however, in this day and age, you really can't blame them for exercising more than the usual caution. Except I really don't like the part about one of the officers taking it upon himself to enter the property in order to search the backyard. In my experience that's definitely going too far in PRESUMED defense of the public good.
About ten years ago I had something like this happen to me. During the wee hours of the morning my dog's sudden barking woke me up; I got up, threw on a pair of pants, and stepped most of the way out the backdoor while at the same time keeping one arm (holding a pistol) inside the door jam; and there I was, face-to-face with one state police officer and one local policeman! I could see the beams of flashlights going in every direction; two of them, however, were focused directly on me.
It wasn't comfortable getting all lit up like that and then forcefully questioned, right there, in my own backyard. If I weren't able to leave that pistol behind me as I stepped all the way out the door, who knows? It could have turned into a really bad scene! I'm glad I used a little extra caution that night in stepping through our backdoor way. There have been other times when I've jumped right out into the yard. Such a move on this particular night could have, very easily, been disasterous!
Which has proven to me that there DOES HAVE TO BE LIMITS on the behavior of both private citizens and law enforcement officers, alike. Taking the untoward liberty of searching through someone else's property without first asking for permission or definitely establishing a necessary, 'just cause' really isn't acceptable public behavior for anyone to pursue.
As things turned out, these two officers were part of a small armada of local policemen - Many of whom had gotten up early that morning in order to participate in this event. (Did you know that early morning seems to be a favorite time for catching people? Cool beans, huh!)
Before coming onto the property they had quietly blockaded both sides of the roadway, spread out around the neighbor's house, and then swarmed the residence before expanding their search into the surrounding fields AND, for reasons I still don't understand, came across our front yard and down into the rear of our heavily wooded property.
The next day the news reported that the police were looking for one of my neighbors - a young black kid who must have removed an electronic monitor from his leg and, then, jumped parole. After forcing the front door and finding the place empty, an electronic monitor with a cut strap was found lying on the kitchen table. (That's when their search suddenly expanded to include any and all properties within the immediate vicinity!)
Nevertheless, at the instance of these two officers, who did NOT hold me at gunpoint, my wife still had to get up, get dressed, and hand me my driver's license. 'My protestations; 'Do I look black to you?' 'Does anybody here actually think I'm under 30?' simply fell on deaf ears. In front of a growing crowd of police officers there I was being forced to identify myself, right there, in the middle of my own backyard. Nutz!
What can I say? 'Toto, you ain't in New Jersey anymore!' (In New Jersey, innocent people only get shot be the state police along the I-95 corridor. If you don't want to get shot, simply stay off the turnpike! Jersey backyards are perfectly safe.)
PS: Gunnutz13, you write well!
June 30th, 2009
Re: PA LTCF Incident
as long as i have a gun....i choose my own destiny....
Linear Mode
Similar Threads