Home invasion the police refuse to investigate

January 21, 2024 7:37 AM

WHile I was bathing my dog three days ago someone tried to enter my home. My dog chased them off thank god. I contacted the police and they said that since I don't liek them they were not going to investigate. I contacted my city council with no reply. I contacted the FBI, and the response seems to be that they don't believe. I've contacted the local media and no one will respond. I live in a cop neighborhood. All of my neighbors have doorbell cams. I can't afford the bandwidth for one. But the cops refuse to investigate. I don't know what to do. Help ?
posted by MonsieurPEB to Law & Government (30 answers total)

Where do you live?
posted by Winnie the Proust at 7:51 AM on January 21

In the U.S., the cops have no legal obligation to investigate this, so there's not much you can do. Use the story to testify at council the next time the police budget is up for review.
posted by tofu_crouton at 8:15 AM on January 21 [16 favorites]

Response by poster: WA state
posted by MonsieurPEB at 8:17 AM on January 21 [1 favorite]

Do you have more info about exactly what transpired? Hard to judge with no details what can be done next.
posted by ReluctantViking at 8:24 AM on January 21 [1 favorite]

How did the police know that you don't liek(sic) them? Try to get bodycam footage, (there won't be any but).
posted by Windopaene at 8:30 AM on January 21 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: I was washing my dog in an upstairs bathroom. My dog was freaking out so I opened the door and joked "get the bad guys!" and he run straight for the front door and starting signalling that person(s) are at front door.

I grab a towel for me and go downstairs.

I live alone so before I shower/bath I check all the doors, windows, sliders, and garage door.

The front door was open and my doorbar had been pushed up and vandalized.

I called the owners of the house. Then realized that someone had attempted to home invade. SO I called the police.

I have police live next door, across the street in front of my and both diagonals, and down the street. They all have door bell cams.

I called non-emergency because the threat had passed, and I asked for police to come get the door bell cameras and take a report.

A police officer, I don't know their name or anything, called and said that he was not coming because he thinks I don't like him.

Gave me an incident ID and that was that.

I contacted the FBI and go no "we got your tip" reply. So I tried it again, and again got no confirmation email. I called and got an IVR nightmare. But finally got an answering machine to leave a message.

I contacted the governor to copy the same info. I tried that two times and got no "we got your contact" email. SO I called the governor's office and gave that to them as well.

FYI my fireman neighbor had a out of town cop sleeping in his RV in front of his house ... they disappeared after this happened.
posted by MonsieurPEB at 8:32 AM on January 21

Typically you can file a police report online, I suggest trying that.

I also think you should contact the police again. It sounds like you spoke with a jerk, or someone who thought you were a jerk. Contact them again and try to speak with someone different. Maybe go in person.

That said, they can’t and won’t do much. I’m sorry this happened to you and you’re not feeling safe or protected. It was probably a kid or someone on drugs/seeking drugs/truly desperate.
posted by samthemander at 8:33 AM on January 21 [4 favorites]

It sounds like someone unsuccessfully tried to break in. Probably thought no one was home. Even when someone does successfully break in and rob you, cops may not come to your house. You may just have to go to the police station and fill out a report. But it sounds like there was an incident ID so someone recorded the info.

I think it's pretty typical to end there. When someone broke into my mom's house when she was home sleeping, they came in and burglarized the home and left. I expected the police to come do some TV detective work like dusting for fingerprints or something but none of that happened. Just went down reported it so we could report the loss to insurance.
posted by ReluctantViking at 8:39 AM on January 21 [14 favorites]

First of all, I'm sorry this happened to you--it's scary and upsetting and you have every right to be upset that the cop you spoke to wouldn't do anything.

That said, this is not an FBI matter so contacting them is pointless.

Even if you got a very nice cop that took your report, they wouldn't do anything else. Put it out of your mind that they're going to expend any resources on investigating this incident--they absolutely will not.

I would try one more time to file a police report and then put this out of your mind. Obsessing over it isn't going to help.
posted by rhymedirective at 8:41 AM on January 21 [20 favorites]

You said you contacted the owners of the house so it sounds like maybe you are renting? Think about if there is anything the landlord can do to make you feel safer (more secure door?) and ask for that, since they have a vested interest in securing the property.
posted by AndrewInDC at 8:41 AM on January 21 [3 favorites]

Best answer: they can’t and won’t do much
Accurate, in my experience. In my crimetastic town they're perfectly willing to come out and cosplay like they're doing an investigation--including dusting for fingerprints, which is fun because it's like every police procedural ever plus then you get to try to clean the graphite off everything they threw it on--but now that everybody has a Ring camera, if you don't have one, they do all that for your entertainment and then shrug and advise you to get a Ring camera, clearly intending to throw all the "evidence" out the window of the squad car on the way to the next crime scene. So all in all I'd say your situation, where they just told you honestly "we're not going to do anything for you" sounds better, at least from a sustainability standpoint--saves gas and fingerprint powder. You could get motion-activated wildlife cameras instead of a doorbell camera so that if it happens again you can provide them with the footage that's all they want anymore. I agree it's weird that they didn't seem interested in reviewing the neighbors' footage.
posted by Don Pepino at 8:42 AM on January 21 [4 favorites]

A police officer, I don't know their name or anything, called and said that he was not coming because he thinks I don't like him.

What, like "Hi, MonsieurPEB, I'm not coming because I think you don't like me personally"?
(Have you been visibly involved in any anti-police protesting such that they might have put you on some blacklists?)

I have police live next door, across the street in front of my and both diagonals, and down the street. They all have door bell cams.

Any chance you could speak with them - and with any other neighbors with cams - in person, as their neighbor, and ask them to help you out, as neighbors? Say, with footage from their cameras?

I don't know Nextdoor personally, but I think reporting incidents like this is something people use it for.


I can't afford the bandwidth for one

Might be worth checking the cost of an old-fashioned alarm system, or failing that put up some alarm company stickers... (and yeah the owners might want to invest in something, since paying to fix broken windows or doors should be their expense and not yours.)
posted by trig at 8:43 AM on January 21 [1 favorite]

Yeah, in my experience the police didn't do anything even when someone actually stole my laptop and some jewelry out of my apartment. Just gave me an incident number for insurance purposes. I think the theft had to be over a certain amount before they would do anything. Where nothing was stolen and minimal damage was done, I wouldn't expect any better than what you've already gotten.

I know this is sideways to your actual question but you can get a security camera that keeps its data locally - eufy has some. Maybe your landlord would be willing to buy one.
posted by mskyle at 8:52 AM on January 21

Response by poster: I asked why he wouldn't come to the house and give me a report and get videos and what he says was, "Because, Patrick, I think that you don't like me."
posted by MonsieurPEB at 8:52 AM on January 21 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: I understand.

I am SOL.

Thanks!
posted by MonsieurPEB at 8:52 AM on January 21 [1 favorite]

Do you have a deadbolt on your front door?
posted by credulous at 8:54 AM on January 21

I have police live next door, across the street in front of my and both diagonals, and down the street. They all have door bell cams.

I also suggest that you go to whichever of these neighbours you have the best relationship with (I don't mean you have to be best buddies or anything), but just whoever is the person you often leave for work at the same time as and wave or you chat about the annoying racoons when you take out the garbage or whatever. Go to them and say "I think someone may have been trying to break into my house on XX date. It has me a little spooked. Do you think your doorbell cam might show anything at that time just so I can figure out what happened and put my mind at ease?"

Frame at as your wanting to know what happened and being worried, not as help in Solving the Crime. Don't mention the cop who declined to help or the FBI or any of that. If the web cam does show anything and it's someone trying to break in, if it's a stranger, I would take that to the house owner and suggest some sort of security. If it's someone you know, that's a whole other AskMe I'm not fit to answer.

If the web cam shows nothing or nothing useful, wonder aloud about the other webcams on the street and maybe your closest-cop neighbour can approach or help you approach the other cop webcams. Just don't tell them you called the FBI to report the cop who wouldn't help. if anyone asks if you call the police say "yes, I got an incident number, but of course since nobody got in they don't have the resources to investigate, I imagine, but this has me spooked, so I'd like to know what happened, if anything."
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 8:56 AM on January 21 [22 favorites]

I asked why he wouldn't come to the house and give me a report and get videos and what he says was, "Because, Patrick, I think that you don't like me."

I think they didn't come because they don't come for stuff like that. I think he said that because he was annoyed that you were pushing and that you expected anything from them and because he was a jerk.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 8:57 AM on January 21 [10 favorites]

I agree that it's not uncommon for attempted break-in to be a low priority for cops - and it's certainly not something the FBI will care about. The FBI might care about a police department that blacklists people for "not liking them," but even then you'd probably need to be able to document a persistent pattern concerning multiple people (not just yourself), with officer badge numbers, etc. Same for your local media - especially with police departments, they will likely be resistant to do any negative reporting on the cops unless there is a lot of evidence - not just one person.

I agree a good place to start is asking your neighbors about their door-cam footage - especially if they are cops, presumably they will want to catch whoever is trying to break into a home on their block. If you're able to get a good visual of the suspect, then it's worth re-contacting them.
posted by coffeecat at 8:59 AM on January 21

Keep in mind that the chances are high that if the police came and investigated they would get nothing they can do a thing with - an attempted home invasion is very hard to prove, because even if the fingerprints instantly match a known serial burglar, that individual only has to say, "I thought it was my friend, Fred's house, but when the dog started barking, I knew it wasn't Fred's house because he hasn't got a dog!" and it would be completely un-convictable. Your bar was broken, but if the person who tried to get in claims that it broke because they forced it, thinking it had jammed, that's just plausible enough that no prosecutor wants to hang a case on the evidence.

Even if they did come and take fingerprints, they aren't going to prioritize comparing fingerprints from your door to their data base of fingerprints - no one got hurt, and they don't even have a description of the perp, let alone an image? It would never get to the stage where they run the comparison. Odds are high that they wouldn't be able to collect fingerprints because the person wore gloves. Odds are high that they wouldn't get a match if they DID compare them. Odds are high that they would get several sets of fingerprints from your door, including yours and would need to take yours to compare with the prints they were able to lift...

Certainly the police you spoke to was a jerk, prejudiced, hostile, uncooperative - but even if he had been as polite and sympathetic as humanly possible, the only reason for them to come out would be because you would find it soothing.

I'm sorry this happened to you - the person trying to force your door IS frightening. I am sorry the police who spoke to you was a nasty piece of work himself. You had two crappy experiences, one after another and each one making the other experience worse. However the person who tried to force the door failed, and was frightened off. So there is a good chance they won't be back, and a good chance that they won't get in even supposing they do come back and try again, because your dog will be home and start barking and they will stay outside. It's not worth it to any housebreaker to tangle with your dog. This housebreaker knows you have a dog who will make any invasion difficult - the housebreaker just wants easy, quick and lucrative - and your dog has indicated that your home is not that.
posted by Jane the Brown at 9:09 AM on January 21 [4 favorites]

Your cop neighbors don't stop being cops when they get home; don't talk to them. They aren't trustworthy and will take whatever the cop side of this is, which seems to be that the problem is you. Stay off their radar as much as you can.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 9:11 AM on January 21 [5 favorites]

So sorry this happened. How frightening!

So weird that the cop on the phone said he thought you don't like him??! Have you ever interacted with this person before?

I would write a detailed, fact-based (no opinions) description of all that happened, including any names or times you made the calls to the police. Ask someone to proofread it for you for clarity. Then send that to your city council person and request a meeting.

Having said that, I agree that where I live at least, police investigations of simple burglaries are not the norm.
posted by latkes at 9:41 AM on January 21 [1 favorite]

I don’t know if you’re in Seattle, but honestly, this is probably pretty common: as people have begun to question police practices and called for defunding, Seattle police have started refusing to do basic things “because our funding got taken away.” (Even though they haven’t been defunded, even though it’s their job.) So, on the one hand, commenters saying police generally don’t do robust investigations in this type of case are correct, and on top of that, there’s this new trend of police officers acting butthurt about doing their job for people who might want them held accountable.
posted by theotherdurassister at 9:59 AM on January 21 [6 favorites]

"Because, Patrick, I think that you don't like me."

I'm very interested in knowing whether you have _any idea_ how this person could have come to this conclusion. As someone who is frequently less outgoing when I am stressed (e.g. when I feel someone has been trying to commit a crime affecting my safety and property), knowing how this impression was made could be helpful to me.
posted by amtho at 10:53 AM on January 21 [1 favorite]

FYI my fireman neighbor had a out of town cop sleeping in his RV in front of his house ... they disappeared after this happened.

So you think the cop in the RV did this?

Possibly in a state of confused inebriation because he needed to use the bathroom, say, mistaking your house for the house of his friend?

I think that's a reasonable guess, but you'll never get them to do anything if it’s true. I think you should just let this go.
posted by jamjam at 10:54 AM on January 21

It sounds like you have a reputation with the local police & that may have something to do with interactions you've had with your neighbors, even if it's just political campaign signs you've had on your lawn or odd asides in conversations about your civic politics. Don't try to pinpoint it if you can't easily remember an incident that might have been off-putting to them... it literally could have been anything... paranoia and self-victimizing is a tribal practice that a lot of them have seemed to pick up lately, and "you only like us when you're the victim of a crime" is a mantra.

I am theorizing and not blaming you. The outward behavior here is extremely childish, regardless of what the cause is. They have a job to do, and at the very least they could explain some professional reasons why they are choosing not to investigate. (I could think of a few; but they went right for personal hostility, so I'd take them at their word for that)

If nothing else happened in the course of this incident I would simply re-secure your home and let it be. You can almost entirely rule out causes for greater concern here, for your own well-being, because it would be extremely unlikely whoever did it would make a second attempt to force entry onto your property AND would do anything more than what they've done already. It sounds like a very disorganized person without much of an intent tried to take an opportunity to waltz into your home. (As a very simple explanation, drunk/intoxicated people tend to do this randomly) Locking up your home will be effective if that person has no motive to break down doors or shatter windows or whatever other forced-entry tactics they might come up with. If you need greater peace of mind, hardening your home against forced-entry or obtaining some security equipment would make a 2nd break-in attempt much less convenient for the trespasser.

I do not think this person had violent intentions upon entering your home... assassins and serial killers don't leave and come back for seconds... I think the police should investigate in case of that remote possibility, before someone gets harmed by the intruder. But it sounds like that's out of your hands. And I also suspect the cops knew who it was & they're protecting them. Usually this is just a nuisance situation, and it sounds like it's already over, but if it escalates, hire an attorney.
posted by brianvan at 11:02 AM on January 21 [1 favorite]

I’ll second that this type of police attitude is all over the Seattle neighborhood forums. I haven’t encountered it personally with the county police force.
posted by bq at 11:33 AM on January 21 [1 favorite]

You were not harmed, someone attempted to break in and was foiled by the dog; now they know you have a dog who will respond, so that's the good part. Attempted break-in probably doesn't get a big response anywhere, even my sleepy town. I would go to the neighbors who have cams, maybe with cookies, and ask them to check their cams' footage. And I'd keep calling your councilor's office. When you visit, you find out who thinks you don't like them.

People in my area use nextdoor, and it can generate enough concern to geta response, also, someone may know something useful. Probably not, but worth a shot to use a neighborhood-based site. I'd use the term break-in, home invasion sounds much more severe, and theft is nearly always the reason.
posted by theora55 at 2:51 PM on January 21 [2 favorites]

I had a home invasion where they broke in through a not-sufficiently-locked window. I was home alone with my German Shepherd, who leapt of my bed, down the stairs in one jump, got out the same window (they were fleeing), probably bit one, and recalled for like, one of the few times in his life he listened to me while being reactive. (I called him back b/c I didn’t want a bite history. He was a good boy.)

It’s really scary.

They never came back. I would put your effort into your home, not the police or the media. The good news is, they’re really not likely to come back. But if work with your landlord on securing the door, possibly some window bars, and some kind of camera.

Sometimes I pity anyone breaking into my house…all our tech is pretty old with like one exception and we don’t have fancy stuff.
posted by warriorqueen at 3:40 PM on January 21 [3 favorites]

The police absolutely will not do anything about attempted home invasions. Your best move from a practical standpoint is to get a “beware of dog” sign and post it prominently. I have found burglars to be extremely leery of homes which may have dogs which may be a Problem for them.
posted by corb at 2:07 AM on January 22 [2 favorites]