[BudgetSurvivalist]

Here is the scenario:

(This was before I started any prepping, including storing any firearms in my home)

About 6 blocks from my apartment complex, a man robbed a bank and fled on foot. He was witnessed running into my apartment building.

When I get home that night, I see a letter taped to my front door. It is from the City Attorney, and it explained about the bank robbery and said that the police executed a search warrant for every unit in my building just in case the robber was hiding out in one of the apartments. They did not find the perpetrator.

In my apartment, it was clear there was a search. Every closet door was left open, all of the kitchen and bathroom cabinets were left open (maybe they were looking for a midget?), the sheets on my bed were pulled down, the dust skirt around the bottom of my bed was pulled up.

I have thought much about that incident since I began gathering.

Was the search legal to begin with? A warrant was signed by a judge, but I still feel my 4th Amendment rights were at the least roughed up a bit.

What if the search were to happen today? I keep a pistol with one in the pipe in a stand next to my bed. I have a closet full of preps, including 2 rifles (in soft cases).

Would the police make note of what I have?

Would they leave the firearms where they sat or pull a Katrina on me?

Should I do something to conceal my preps?

Am I just being paranoid?

 

[mongo]

Age old question of what's legal vs. what's proper.

Legal search? With a warrant, yes.
Proper? Looking under the bed, in closets, under sinks (Charlie Manson hid under a sink) , yes.

Drawers? no.

Paranoid? no.
Concealing preps? I doubt you can do much in an apartment, but a locked rifle cabinet should be sufficient.

 

[Cryptophylaxis]

Are you still in the same place?

 

[BretByron]

This happened to a friend of mine while at work. The city police broke into his workshop in his backyard. W/ no windows and a giant locked padlock on the only door, it would seem to make it obvious that no one was in there but they busted the lock off and rummaged without consequence of financial damage.


Basically, you need double deadbolts and bars on the windows to keep the cops out as well as the criminals.

 

[Backwoods Bum]

Of coarse with a warrent they can search. But boy I would be seriously pissed if I was you!

As mongo said, a gun locker is a good idea. They need a separate warrent to search in a locked box or safe of any kind (at least in NH, where I live).

 

[BudgetSurvivalist]

Are you still in the same place?

Yes, same apt.

 

[kahn]

Get a locking gun cabinet aw wal mart for $100 and bolt it to the floor in your closet when your downstairs neighbor isn't home...

And yes, in the name of "public safety" they are permitted to search for a violent felon like that, but anything they find on you during that search would be inadmissible in court b/c they were searching for a person.

 

[FredLee]

Where it gets ticklish is that its an apartment.You don't own it,only rent it.the landlord might have said,go ahead,do the whole building.Who knows.If its your home,it would be different. A constitutional warrant says it has to be specific in what being looked for.

 

[MonsterMash]

I'd get an atty and sue the **** out of that judge. That warrant was complete horse****. And it does not matter if you live in an apartment complex, as long as your rent is current, then that is your HOME. The cops were dead ass wrong for even asking for that warrant, but the judge should be thrown off the bench for signing it.

Let me put this another way. If said criminal ran down Lee St, would it be OK for a judge to sign a search warrant for every house on Lee St? Of course not. Same thing in an apt complex. They are someones home and with the exception of a few small provisions, are as constitutionally secured just as a privately owned brick home would be.

How do I know? I was a cop for 10 years.

 

[kahn]

Where it gets ticklish is that its an apartment.You don't own it,only rent it.the landlord might have said,go ahead,do the whole building.Who knows.If its your home,it would be different. A constitutional warrant says it has to be specific in what being looked for.

Most states have to treat an apartment just like they own it, becasue they're leasing the property rights to it.

 

[SmallGame2100]

I dont think they should have messed up the bed, if I read it correctly. They could tell if someone was between a mattress or under the blankets etc. Looking under the bed is good enough.

They cant do anything about your weapons unless you stole them.

 

[santos745]

Your not paronoid. I am here to learn and seek advise from others as well. In my opinion, the search should not have been done without you home, and YES...You should make sure you have preperations in the car, as well as you pack gear, but items like water, guns, etc...definitly seperate.. I have heard people go as far as to bury ammo, along thier emer. planned route and such.

You bring up a Very good point with Katrina...When a State of Emergency is declared you will have basically no rights...Unless you have $$..Sad, but this is what I beleive to be true.

 

[MonsterMash]

I just reread the original post. There was a letter taped to the door from the city attorney explaining the search? Was there even a copy of the search warrant taped to the door?

 

[BudgetSurvivalist]

I just reread the original post. There was a letter taped to the door from the city attorney explaining the search? Was there even a copy of the search warrant taped to the door?

Just a letter saying (paraphrasing from memory here) because of the circumstances the City Attorney requested and was granted a search warrant for all the units in building A and then it cited a lot of State and City Ordinances.

 

[Ford Prefect]

I'll bet they licked all the silverware.. That's what I would do..

 

[MonsterMash]

Just a letter saying (paraphrasing from memory here) because of the circumstances the City Attorney requested and was granted a search warrant for all the units in building A and then it cited a lot of State and City Ordinances.

Thats still very iffy. How many apartments are in this building? I'd like to figure out how they articulated the PC for the warrant.

 

[BudgetSurvivalist]

Thats still very iffy. How many apartments are in this building? I'd like to figure out how they articulated the PC for the warrant.

24 in my building.

 

[nattylite]

I'll bet they licked all the silverware.. That's what I would do..

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

 

[MonsterMash]

24 in my building.

Then that search warrant should have never been issued, much less asked for.

 

[INresponse]

Get a locking gun cabinet aw wal mart for $100 and bolt it to the floor in your closet when your downstairs neighbor isn't home...

And yes, in the name of "public safety" they are permitted to search for a violent felon like that, but anything they find on you during that search would be inadmissible in court b/c they were searching for a person.

That $100.00 locking cabinet would be a waste of money and a waste of about 1 minute of a potential bad guys time. A screw driver or a hefty butter knife can and will pry them open with little effort. I have seen the emptied out cabinets enough to know they are not worth half that much money.