Would this constitute Police Harassement?

Question

Police stop me in front of my apt, they ask to see my cell phone then when I go inside to get it they follow me and begin to search my apt under the pretense that there was a prank 911 call.

4:15 am: I awoke to get ready for work, as usual I stepped outside my apartment to smoke a cigarette.
4:17 am: While standing in front of my door, Officer #1 came thru an alley way pointing a flash light around then saw me standing in front of my door. He yelled at me to come to him; at that time I didn't know who the person with the flash light was so I stood in front of my door.
4:18 am: Officer #1 approached me and asked to see my hands, patted me down, then proceeded to interrogate me about guns and a cell phone. I told the officer that I do not own any guns and did not have my cell since I had just woke up. He said that he was investigating prank 911 calls. I told him my cell phone numbers. I thought that was the end since there is Caller ID and enhanced 911 service for cell phones to pinpoint locations.

4:18 am: I asked Officer #1 for his Badge # and name, he responded with "when I'm done".
4:19 am: At this time Officer #2 arrived. At this time Officer #1 asked to see my cell phone, I told the officer that my family was sleep in the living room and that I would mind if they entered my apartment and as i went inside to get my cell phone the officers came in behind me.
4:20 am: As I went to get my cell phones out the bathroom, Officer #1 proceeded to shine his flashlight around on my family and search my living room

4:20 am: As I returned with my cell phones, told him the numbers, and called them in front of him. At this time Officer #2 stated that I am not the one.
4:21 am: Officer #1 went into the bathroom to search the bathroom for what ever he was searching for.
4:22 am: Officer #1 wrote down my name and all my cell numbers like I was some person of interest.
4:24 am: The Officers are just standing in my living room waiting for something, I asked them to go back outside, and they refused.
4:25 am: After having the officers standing my living room over my family while they waited for something, they left.

I filed an official complaint yesterday with the Police Dept. The Desk Sgt admitted the officers were wrong and apolagized for the officers and stated that it was an educational issue with the officers. Oh...some of us work drive in traffic for 30 - 45 minutes to be at work at 6, we even fall asleep in the living room watching TV and charge our cell phones in the bathroom so we don't have to hear them ring in the middle of the night.

Answer 1

the officers had the Right to question you,yes,they had no right what soever to enter your apartment,if you i'd be making a complaint against them for sure .some of these guys think they own you just because they wear a uniform.don't put up with this bull****.

Answer 2

If the police knew, and apparently they did, that it was a "prank" 911 call, then they had no right to enter your apartment uninvited. On an actual 911 call, if they have reason to suspect that there may be something wrong, they not only have a right to enter, they have a duty. Think of a man who has just beat his wife; she calls 911, the police show up. She is beaten unconscience inside the house. If the man tells the police to leave and they actually had to leave, then there would be a real travesty of justice. But this does not seem to be the case here.

The police also have the right to "stop and frisk" under the "Terry vs. Ohio" Supreme Court ruling. A search warrant is needed to look into someones cell phone, unless you give them permission. This is a fairly recent court ruling, and a lot of officers do not know this yet. Working in the narcotics unit, we run into this fairly often.

Also, if you tell an officer that you do not want him in your house, generally he cannot enter without a search or arrest warrant. There are exceptions to this. The hypothetical 911 call I mentioned in the first paragraph is an example. But again, if they knew it was a "prank" 911 call, they would probably be hard pressed to articulate why they entered.

Answer 3

Here in Canada we can enter and search a residence without a warrant as a result of a 911 call even if nothing is said. It is our responsibilty to check inside the residence to make sure that someone who is in trouble hasn't called 911 and the bad guy is answering the door and telling the police to go away. I am saying all of this under the assumption that they traced the call to a number that belonged to your cell phone and subsequently found your house. We will often check the exterior of the residence before approaching the door to see if we can see or hear anything.

You could make a complaint that you believe that they came in under the pretense that there was a 911 call. The police may or may not tell you if there was, most of the time if there is no wrong doing, all you will get is a letter saying they looked into it and the officers were acting properly.

Answer 4

IF it happened the way you said it did, then the search was illegal and the officers need to be called out for it. The only problem is that you can only complain to the Police, and we tend to stick together when one of us is accused of doing something wrong (I'm not defending the behavior, but we are human, too).
Since there was no negative effect (you were not arrested or detained, nothing was seized or confiscated, etc.) you may as well just take a deep breath and move on.
If that fails to satisfy your righteous outrage, write a letter to the newspaper or call that guy on the local TV news that investigates things like this.
I just can't stop wondering, though, why your family was sleeping in the living room at 4 AM and why your cellphones were in the bathroom....

Answer 5

If there were just prank 911 calls from your area you probably looked suspicous being outside at 4am. They can track a cell phone number but since it is portable they have to rely on tracking a signal which can be pinpointed within a few blocks. Then they are searching for people in that area with a cell phone. They need to check the cell phones to see if it is the one. Again, how many other people were up at that hour. You looked like a good suspect.

Answer 6

"i replaced into no longer resisting arrest except from operating" This itself is probably the most important get at the same time of resisting arrest after scuffling with. in case you probably did not take 4 seconds to seek for even a unmarried signal that it replaced into an officer, say possibly a set of light fixtures on accurate of the motorcar (on or off), then you definately're in the incorrect right here. No, this isn't police brutality because you ran from the police, giving them a really vast reason to have self assurance you've been doing some thing unlawful and had some thing to hide

Answer 7

I would call it a clear violation of your civil liberties, did you get the badge numbers? I mean, did they have a warrant at all, anything? They can't do squat without that, or at least they couldn't before 911, maybe all this crap I keep hearing about our civil liberties being violated isn't all paranoia.

Please, pursue this in your civic action committee, or at the very least call the police department and state you want a copy of the police report, if you have their names and badges, which should have been displayed on their uniforms, were they IN uniforms? You can see their name and number there. If it happens again, never ASK for their badge and name that just pisses them off and they start to harass you, just remember it and write it down when they leave.

Anyway, calling the department and asking for the police report is the first step, just remember though, cops are people too, they make mistakes, and if you want to make a federal case over it, you will lose most likely and then you will be on their poop list, and since cops are people too, they could abuse their power, and abuse you in every defnition of the word.

Final thought, my friend was harassed by a cop, complained about said cop, cop tried every legal and illegal trick in the book to ruin said friend's life. Cop got fired, arrested, due to other issues not doing with my friend, now friend is terrified ex-cop, ex-con will get revenge. Is it worth it to you to have all that happen?

Another friend of mine just became a cop and he says getting written up is so normal they all told him not to worry about it in training (remember, at the end of the day they are trying to protect our sorry butts and they may make mistakes occasionally - but if they were snooping around without a warrant, that is not cool), so I don't know, depends on the level of annoyance on your part, and on their part with how you want to proceed.

Answer 8

no it is not legal, but the police seem to think they are above the law that they took an oath to uphold, now they have become our worst enemy , I have a M,D, as a tenant in one of my houses, the swat team surrounded the house one night recently and was looking for something or pretending they were, he went to the front porch and asked what was going on they told him to get his azz in the house this was police business, he called me so I went to see what was wrong , they made me put my hands on top of the car and searched me and my car, then they told the Dr, they wanted to search his house, he said no, they pushed him aside and went thru his house checking every room waking his family etc, the next day I called the sheriff of the county, he said they were looking for a escaped convict, so I checked with the new;s media, no record of any escaped anyone had been reported, so I talked to some Attorneys to see if we could sue or ??the lowest one wanted $10.000 dollars as a retainer hummmm
so I suppose you get as much justice as you can pay for??

Answer 9

Yes, they can not follow you inside unless you invited them. They have violated many procedures. Even if you got their names or badge numbers they are going to lie and tell a different story. So just get over it. If you file on them then they will remember you forever, and if they get into trouble their friends will be looking for you.

Answer 10

Dang, where is this. I need to know so I dont go anywahere near there. Those cops are wild boys.