re: Midland (TX) Police Officer killed by man who thought his home was being burglarized

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Not really.

Y’all keep saying that we “ask” them to enter our homes.

If you aren’t afforded a choice, you aren’t asking

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The cops would never have been there if the homeowner didn't sign up for alarm monitoring. Further, he also either confirmed an issue to send them out, or didn't respond which calls for sending out police.

You are acting like these cops just randomly showed up at this guy's house.

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You are doing the opposite of those who automatically lay the blame on cops by shifting the burden onto the homeowner.

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So far, as the facts come out, the homeowner appears to have some questions to answer.

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an Scruffy opt out of allowing police the ability to enter his home under all circumstances?

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Don't have a professionally monitored alarm would be a great start.

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Ah.

Scruffy thought y’all were referencing the misguided “social contract” mentality that people often talk about when it comes to police.

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Gotcha. I had a hunch that Scruffy needed that update.

Yea, I'm interested to know what police protocol is for an alarm going off.

If the door is closed, what is normal protocol?

If a door is not just unlocked but open, what is normal protocol?

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Not stating it was done in this case; but, I can tell you, at my agency it is SOP to have our dispatch call the residence to attempt contact prior to us searching if we find an open/unlocked door on an alarm. We don't just assume the alarm company called.

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Can you respond to my questions above, assuming dispatch makes no contact at all with the person after the alarm goes off.

Door closed - At would point would you go in?

If a door is unlocked and actually open, would you then automatically go in?

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How about if you don’t have a warrant, stay the frick off of my property in the middle of the night?

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Sad story, but i agree.

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Not stating it was done in this case; but, I can tell you, at my agency it is SOP to have our dispatch call the residence to attempt contact prior to us searching if we find an open/unlocked door on an alarm. We don't just assume the alarm company called.

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Okay, that's good to know. A homeowner should also attempt to call police or alarm company prior to assessment of intrusion/or false alarm, but that's not how's it's always going to play out. As a police officer entering an open door of a house with a plausible intruder, is there not some sort of sweep and clear rooms protocol where you continuously attempt to make contact with the next room or down hallways before proceeding further in?
If contact cannot be made with a homeowner prior to entry, then police should assume the homeowner doesn't know you're there, or is in a bad situation that they can't make communication. Also, the police would then enter under the presumption that anyone they encounter is either an intruder or the homeowner. I don't know how they went in, but regardless if the man is at fault, a police officer was still killed. The only thing that can prevent this is better police procedures and training. Relying on the homeowner to react or respond a certain way, is irresponsible.

Side note, I woke up once at 3 AM to the sound of someone (loudly) banging on my door. After a few seconds of half-asleep “wtf is that noise?” thoughts, I grabbed my pistol and walked down the hall. Noticed someone was banging on the door and shining a flashlight in window, and adrenaline starts pumping. I got about a foot from the spot where they would have been able to see me with my gun when I heard “Police! Open up!”

Despite the fact that I had only been awake for a minute or so, as soon as I heard the word “police” I IMMEDIATELY thought “oh shite, I really need to put this handgun away” and put it back in my night stand. It was an immediate reality check, and I definitely realized that I didn’t want this cop to think I was about to point a gun at him.

Turns out a neighbor had called the cops when they saw an individual rummaging through my wife’s car which had apparently been left unlocked (...). The cop had actually seen the guy and tried to catch him on-foot, but he got away. I believed him because he looked like he had just run a marathon.

Cop asks me to wake up my wife so she can look through her car to see if anything identifiable was missing (there wasn’t, so apparently the guy didn’t find anything valuable). They needed that info so that they would have reason to arrest the suspect if they found him. They did NOT, to my knowledge, open her car door until we went outside.

All in all it was one of the best police encounters I’ve ever had. The officer was extremely professional and I went back to bed thinking I was glad BRPD was on top of their shite. I realize that this was an entirely different situation than them actually entering my house, but I can’t help but wonder whether my immediate gut reaction to put the gun away is the norm or if I just had a moment of clarity.

With an active burglar alarm, with either an open or unlocked door we will search the residence (after the calls, verbal warning is given). In our county, you are required to have an alarm permit with the Sheriff's Office in order for us to respond. In the permitting process you grant the SO permission to search in these situations. So in our case, these questions have already been answered.

If you don't desire our response, simply don't get a permit. When we get a call from your alarm company we file the call out "Alarm - No response".

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It’s very unfortunate but I’d have to ere on sidin with the homeowner on this one.

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100% agree, there is no way to be sure he heard what they said and more then likely was asleep and their voices woke him up but didnt hear or understand what they were saying. add to that they blinded him with a flashlight in his eyes and he had a natural fear of life reflex to shoot intruders who broke into your house and are blinding you with a bright light.

i can see the cops side here but you cant blame the homeowner in this case unless you can prove he heard them say they were cops, but even then, how could he know for sure if they blind him with bright lights?

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there is no way to be sure he heard what they said and more then likely was asleep and their voices woke him up but didnt hear or understand what they were saying. add to that they blinded him with a flashlight in his eyes and he had a natural fear of life reflex to shoot intruders who broke into your house and are blinding you with a bright light.

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So now the cops were in his bedroom and are the ones that set the alarm off? What you've described is incredibly unlikely.