Police, wrong house, kill homeowner in error

[lightman]

The police got dispatched to a hot call. There is urgency in those types of calls to get there as quickly as possible. They knocked on the door to ascertain if they were at the right location as many houses are poorly marked and have no clearly displayed number. Sometimes the callers themselves aren't even sure of the correct number.

This is more common than most people think. Even the part about not knowing your address!
For the last 25 years of the job that I retired from I had to go to multiple locations every day. To the tune of between 10 and 50. In several different towns and communities. Day and night, rain or shine. Some addresses are posted but hard to read. Some are posted that are hard to read and wrong. Some are not even posted.
I worked in one community where I thought they got their addresses out of a raffle drawing. I would go down the street and see 101, 103, 105, 204, 107, ect. Seriously, I'm not kidding.
The death of this homeowner is still sad.

 

[The Night Rider]

Our interest is in helping people avoid harm.

Don't open your damn door until you know who's on the other side of it

 

[shafter]

This is more common than most people think. Even the part about not knowing your address!
For the last 25 years of the job that I retired from I had to go to multiple locations every day. To the tune of between 10 and 50. In several different towns and communities. Day and night, rain or shine. Some addresses are posted but hard to read. Some are posted that are hard to read and wrong. Some are not even posted.
I worked in one community where I thought they got their addresses out of a raffle drawing. I would go down the street and see 101, 103, 105, 204, 107, ect. Seriously, I'm not kidding.
The death of this homeowner is still sad.

100 percent true. What happens fairly often is that someone just moved in or is couch surfing and they call 911 and don't know what the address is. If it's a domestic often the girl or boyfriend doesn't actually live there and doesn't get the address right.

Law enforcement often end up at the wrong house because of several reasons. The initial caller has to relay accurate information to dispatch. Excited callers are not always accurate. Dispatch then needs to accurately relay that information to officers. Officers then must receive that information accurately which doesn't always happen due to poor radios etc.

 

[jmorris]

I worked in one community where I thought they got their addresses out of a raffle drawing. I would go down the street and see 101, 103, 105, 204,…

That’s not as bad as ours, no one was thinking when they came up with the numbers. The next box down the road from us has the same two first numbers and the last two are just reversed (think 6378 vs 6387). They have theirs on a plaque on the front gate and I have mine in 4” numbers down the post of my mail box. We still have a gate between our property so we can swap without having to get back out on the road…

 

[Scrapiron45]

My takeaway on this after 4 pages,
If I can't positively Id the person at the door don't open it.
Communicate thru the door if necessary.
If they persist consider the house on lock down and call 911.
If I positively Id them as a cop and decide to open the door I'll have nothing in my hands meaning no gun, no cell phone, flashlight, or Bible, hands open and visible, similar to a vehicle stop.

 

[Kleanbore]

That should do 'er.