Guy leaves door unlocked and the cops wake him up to tell him

**jmur5074** · 06-20-08, 03:01 PM

LAKEVILLE, Minn. (AP) - A Lakeville man says he feels violated after two local police officers woke him up at 3 a.m. this week to tell him his door was unlocked.

"I was violated, but ... I wasn't physically damaged," Molde told the St. Paul Pioneer Press about what he considers an invasion of privacy at his home in this Minneapolis suburb.

The officer's surprise visit was part of a public service campaign to remind residents to secure their homes to prevent thefts. Usually, officers just left notices on doors, but they went further in Troy Molde's case on Thursday.
With four children under 7 having a sleep-over in the house, police went into the home and up to Molde's bedroom and started knocking on the wall to wake him up.

The officers told Molde his garage door was open, the TV was on, keys to his truck were left in the ignition and the door to his house was ajar.
Molde said he immediately thought something was wrong. "I was just dazed," he said. "It's not a safe way of (police) protection."
Lakeville Police Sgt. Jim Puncochar said the intrusion was justified because the officers' initial door knocks were not answered, so they went inside to check if anything was wrong.

He said the kids inside - Molde's two sons and two nephews - were afraid to wake Molde, so the officers went upstairs. "It really was suspicious," Puncochar said.

Puncochar said officers left pamphlets Thursday at eight other houses as a reminder of ways residents can avoid becoming crime victims. "We went there to determine that everyone was safe," Puncochar said.

Police say many crimes originate with open garage doors. In May, a 52-year-old Burnsville man was stabbed and left to die in his burning town house after two assailants entered his home at 4:30 a.m. by way of an open garage door.

Molde, 34, said he went upstairs to bed at midnight. He didn't shut the garage door, and he said he remembered leaving the doors to his house unlocked, but closed. The children fell asleep watching television.
Three hours later, police were in his bedroom to give him a reminder he won't soon forget. "I haven't figured out what I should do with it yet," Molde said.

Lakeville is about 25 miles south of downtown Minneapolis.

http://kstp.com/article/stories/S484418.shtml?cat=1

Well I would say the guy should be happy 2 cops walked into his bedroom, rather than 2 murderers/robbers/burglars/rapists/gang bangers/etc,etc,etc. What a dickface.

**Xiphos** · 06-20-08, 03:26 PM

What an ass. People are such idiots.

**MacLean** · 06-20-08, 03:33 PM

The kids were afraid to wake this guy up?

More to this guy than his trivial complaint, says I.

**Buttercup** · 06-20-08, 03:39 PM

Originally Posted by maclean

The kids were afraid to wake this guy up?

More to this guy than his trivial complaint, says I.

I agree with you. And he left the doors unlocked with four 7 year olds in the house?

**gozling** · 06-20-08, 03:41 PM

hmmm mental note that addy and when his stuff gets taken, me thinks it is time for coffee (sorry that is the meany in me)

I feel for his kids... what a wonderful example to set!
asshat!

**Five-0** · 06-20-08, 04:54 PM

I would like to complain on these officers. For what? For them doing their jobs. Give me a break, and quit stealing my oxygen.

**CTR man** · 06-20-08, 08:43 PM

When are people going to realize that we don't live in Mayberry anymore.

Then he has the nerve to complain about the officers who were doing their jobs. I ought to (insert action toward complaintant here).

**Growler** · 06-24-08, 01:16 PM

He probably would have complained if he discovered it himself in the monring!

**adroitcuffs** · 06-24-08, 02:08 PM

He'd be the first asshat in line for the news cameras when the burglar/rapist/abductor comes to partake of the opportunity. And why are the kids so afraid to wake him?

I agree with Five-0, let's charge this guy with grand theft of oxygen!

**TXCharlie** · 06-24-08, 02:19 PM

Seems to me that the officers had an obligation to figure out if he was ok.

No doubt he was drunk when he got home, but they had no way of knowing that's all there was to it. The guy could have left all that undone because he was in diabetic shock or something.

And PS, our officers will sometimes wake people up and ask them to close their garage doors, if they appear to have a bunch of valuable tools and stuff in them. They won't go in the house, but they'll sure knock at the door, ring the doorbell, and shine a light in the windows - I've seen 'em do it.

**Star Man** · 06-24-08, 05:11 PM

Originally Posted by TXCharlie

Seems to me that the officers had an obligation to figure out if he was ok.

No doubt he was drunk when he got home, but they had no way of knowing that's all there was to it. The guy could have left all that undone because he was in diabetic shock or something.

And PS, our officers will sometimes wake people up and ask them to close their garage doors, if they appear to have a bunch of valuable tools and stuff in them. They won't go in the house, but they'll sure knock at the door, ring the doorbell, and shine a light in the windows - I've seen 'em do it.

Thats not all bad considering the amount of asshole complainants I've dealt with regarding thefts etc. Recently some kids went through a neighborhood and hit all the unlocked cars and burglarized them. Several of the people said something like "I live in a nice area. I never lock my doors and never will". Well thanks asshole, now I have 20 burglaries to process for the next few hours...... friggin morons...

**TXCharlie** · 06-24-08, 09:03 PM

Originally Posted by Star Man

Thats not all bad considering the amount of asshole complainants I've dealt with regarding thefts etc. Recently some kids went through a neighborhood and hit all the unlocked cars and burglarized them. Several of the people said something like "I live in a nice area. I never lock my doors and never will". Well thanks asshole, now I have 20 burglaries to process for the next few hours...... friggin morons...

Yeah, we've had a rash of unlocked BMV's since school let out... They just walk down the street trying to open car doors if they see something interesting inside. No doubt they've also done that to garages too, but I'm sure a lot of people just haven't noticed their stuff missing yet. They'll probably still wonder where they put those golf clubs and tool boxes even after they notice them missing.

**Cidp24** · 06-24-08, 09:10 PM

The guy is a jerk and the officers should be commended for being proactive.

Along the same lines, kind of (being proactive) - A long past administration here had "door hanger" type notes made up and got us to leave them on property that was left in an unsafe condition such as open doors, valuables left in cars, lawn mowers left outside when no one was home etc. The tags were just a friendly warning to the property owner that the unsafe condition had been noted. Kind of an proactive, educational type thing. Some of the people we tagged got indignant about it.

Worked fine until someone pointed out that the bright orange tags were like neon signs pointing to easy pickings for the turds out there.

**TXCharlie** · 06-24-08, 09:24 PM

The ones they gave us in the Citizen Patrol to hang are gray, maybe for that reason

**Captain America** · 06-24-08, 10:04 PM

Wanna-be victim. Would be bitching if he had been victimized that the cops spent all night eating donuts instead of doing their jobs. I usually tell them to next time hang a Salvation Army sign out front because of their obvious "spirit of giving".