Unappreciated Police Help

A Lakeville, Minnesota, man says he feels violated after two police officers woke him up at 3:00 A.M. to tell him his doors were unlocked. Yes, you read that correctly. Police officers woke the man at 3 AM to tell him his doors weren’t locked.

The police’s surprise visit was part of a public service campaign to remind residents to secure their homes to prevent thefts. Normally, Lakeville police officers leave notices on doors so the residents know their doors were left unlocked.

However, in Troy Molde’s case, police entered his home, where four children (all under seven years old) were having a sleepover, and then went upstairs to Molde’s bedroom to wake him.

The police officers told Molde that his garage door was open, his TV was on, the keys to his truck were left in the ignition, and the door to his house was ajar.

A police spokesman says the intrusion was justified because the officers’ initial door knocks went unanswered, and they wanted to make sure nothing was wrong.

Molde said that his kids were inside the house, along with two nephews and when the police entered the house, the children would not come to wake him up—they were afraid of his reaction.

For many years, I was the primarily contact person for my office. I cannot begin to tell you how many times I was called during the middle of the night! I finally decided that one officer in particular took great satisfaction in calling me at midnight, so that I could come and secure the building. You see, we had one door that was operated from our office complex. To save the secretary time, when someone rang the doorbell (the door stayed locked most of the time), she would simply flip a switch, opening the door, flip the switch after they had entered the door, and the door would automatically lock. Unfortunately, the secretary had a bad habit of forgetting to flip the switch back to the lock position. And, at midnight, when the officer did his nightly check of the building, the door would be open and there was absolutely nothing he could do to secure it! So, he called me. He called me out of my deep sleep, in my warm bed.

As I arrived at the office, I was regularly met by three or four police officers and a couple of police dogs. It is somewhat disconcerting to arrive in the middle of the night to an empty and dark office building to see bright lights shining in your eyes (from their flashlights) and seeing guns drawn as they searched the building.

I suppose I am thankful the police officers called. I’ve slept since then and am glad they were providing an excellent service to the community. At the time, not appreciative. Now, more appreciative!

And, I am even more thankful that I am not the primary contact person for my current office! I get to sleep more soundly and not worry about hearing the phone ring in the middle of the night and hearing these words, “Mr. Heartsill, this is the Birmingham Police Department...”

Do you have work responsibilities like I had? Do you always handle them with grace? Or, had you just as soon leave the building open throughout the night, knowing that you have good insurance to cover theft?

Tell me about your unexpected nighttime calls from the police.