Harris County Sheriffs Office Breaks Into Cars At Mall (For Your protection Of course)

[limitgov]

http://www.hcnonline.com/bay_area/news/article_8d0a6841-186a-5b08-89ff-c1800d758e14.html

They went around and broke into people’s cars who left them unlocked.

Is this illegal? Can anything be done to charge these people if you were a victim of this?

[Agamentus]

It’s not “breaking in” when the car was already unlocked. Breaking in implies that the responsible party needed to, for the lack of a better term, break something to gain access. If you were going to press for anything, your best bet is trespassing. Since the cops didn’t actually take anything, I don’t think there’s much ground for any legal action.

If anything, I would criticize this as a waste of tax payer dollars. I’m paying for police not to tell people to lock up their vehicles, but to catch the criminals who would steal someone elses’ belongings in the first place.

Now on second thought, what could cause quite a stir, would be if a criminal used the notice on the cars as an indicator for which vehicles would make for an easy theft. This would be a great example of the Law of Unintended Consequences, where the noble act of “informing” the citizen backfires completely by giving a criminal a very efficient means of identifying the most vulnerable vehicles.

[The_Freeman]

It is an unwelcome invasion of privacy, though. I could’ve left my weed in there.

Then again, if you leave your car unlocked where I live, you are kind of asking for something bad to happen to you.

[Agamentus]

It is an unwelcome invasion of privacy, though. I could’ve left my weed in there.

Good point.

[Epicurus_Ibn_Kalhoun]

If the cop had no probable cause to enter the car (you know, weed layin out or somethin like that) it is an illegal search. If someone takes it to court, I’m betting they will win. Or at least they should. Hard to tell with this current court who says that a dog searching your car is not searching your car

[Autolykos]

@Agamentus

It’s not “breaking in” when the car was already unlocked. Breaking in implies that the responsible party needed to, for the lack of a better term, break something to gain access. If you were going to press for anything, your best bet is trespassing. Since the cops didn’t actually take anything, I don’t think there’s much ground for any legal action.

According to Wikipedia, common law disagrees with you:

The common law burglary was defined by Sir Matthew Hale as

“	The breaking and entering the house of another in the night time, with intent to commit a felony therein, whether the felony be actually committed or not.[4][5][6]	”

1. Breaking can be either actual, such as by forcing open a door, or constructive, such as by fraud or threats.^[4] Breaking does not require that anything be “broken” in terms of physical damage occurring. A person who has permission to enter part of a house, but not another part, commits a breaking and entering when they use any means to enter a room where they are not permitted, so long as the room was not open to enter. [Emphasis added.]

So under the common-law definition of burglary, the Harris County Sherriff’s Office did indeed burglarize or “break into” those cars.

[JAlanKatz]

I’d be willing to lay a substantial wager that a person taking this to court would not win. I’m not saying that as a point of law, but as a point of knowing Houston.

By the way, if you know anything about the malls in question, you probably know that they could have been doing a lot of other things, if they were at that mall already. A lot of real crimes take place there.

[Snowflake]

But did it ocurr in the night time?

[Agamentus]

@Autolykos

The common law burglary was defined by Sir Matthew Hale as

“	The breaking and entering the house of another in the night time, with intent to commit a felony therein, whether the felony be actually committed or not.[4][5][6]	”

1. Breaking can be either actual, such as by forcing open a door, or constructive, such as by fraud or threats.^[4] Breaking does not require that anything be “broken” in terms of physical damage occurring. A person who has permission to enter part of a house, but not another part, commits a breaking and entering when they use any means to enter a room where they are not permitted, so long as the room was not open to enter. [Emphasis added.]

1. The cop wasn’t explicitly told s/he had no permission to enter the car

2. The car wasn’t locked, and was therefore open to enter. Now, if the car was locked and the cop used some clever means to get in, I can see your point.

What say you?

[Autolykos]

@JAlanKatz

I’d be willing to lay a substantial wager that a person taking this to court would not win. I’m not saying that as a point of law, but as a point of knowing Houston.

By the way, if you know anything about the malls in question, you probably know that they could have been doing a lot of other things, if they were at that mall already. A lot of real crimes take place there.

Of course, I’d also bet that a person taking this to court wouldn’t win, if only because the courts and the police are paid from the same purse.

@Sieben

But did it ocurr [sic] in the night time?

Heh. I missed that part of the Sir Matthew Hale quote. Suffice it to say, I see no reason to stipulate that the activity must occur at night.

@Agamentus

1. The cop wasn’t explicitly told s/he had no permission to enter the car

So if I enter your house without being explicitly told I had no permission to enter, I’m not doing anything wrong?

@Agamentus

2. The car wasn’t locked, and was therefore open to enter. Now, if the car was locked and the cop used some clever means to get in, I can see your point.

Your house wasn’t locked, and was therefore open to enter.

@Agamentus

What say you?

Well I’d say that consent is typically not implied to enter a person’s property. It must be given explicitly.

[Caley_McKibbin]

I’d be willing to lay a substantial wager that a person taking this to court would not win.

You would probably not win unless your car is unregistered.

[liberty_student]

Nice to see you around again Caley. Well played.