Timeline for Can I booby-trap my property against police?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
15 events
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| Sep 5, 2021 at 1:24 | comment | added | Alexander The 1st | @feetwet: One of the details about passive deterrent approach to preventing property entry is that "I know that only specific people will enter and would trip the deterrent" isn't a sensible defense. More details on how the specific case listed had gone to court can be found here. For clarity, you can't "Home Alone" your defense, as clarified by the same Youtuber here in their video about the Laws Broken in Home Alone (Which cites the first video as well regarding the issue.). | |
| Oct 4, 2015 at 18:06 | comment | added | feetwet♦ | @jqning - I think the U.S. government set the upper limit for passive security on its nuclear weapon sites. Nowhere is anything resembling a "weapon" employed. It's just layers of steel, cement, and earth. ("Active" security, when present, takes the form of a guard detail.) Other than maybe zoning and fire codes I can't come up with any idea of how "hardening" or "passive security" might break any law. | |
| Oct 4, 2015 at 3:28 | comment | added | jqning | @feetwet there is probably a limit to how hard you can make it. At least some limits to the materials you use. I'm thinking military-grade security that verges on weapons. But maybe now we are in 2nd Amendment land! | |
| Oct 3, 2015 at 15:57 | comment | added | feetwet♦ | @jqning - In the previous comment, I meant that you can passively secure it however you want. I.e., reinforce entries, add locks - just "harden" it generally. | |
| Sep 27, 2015 at 23:05 | comment | added | jqning | @feetwet presumably you can secure your premises however you want. No. You can't. | |
| Sep 27, 2015 at 21:44 | comment | added | feetwet♦ | @cpast - I think we're getting close to a complete answer. Using active force is clearly obstruction (plus probably a lot of other crimes). Locking a door is not. So this question has walked up the scale of "passive obstruction" to the limit I could imagine. Presumably you can legally secure your premises however you want, but we know the cops will stick at it until they break and enter. But what if the security has a deterrent effect they can't deterministically defeat? Is that the theoretical line where you cross into obstruction? And are you responsible for any chance misfortunes? | |
| Sep 27, 2015 at 19:03 | comment | added | cpast | @feetwet People have been charged with assault and murder for setting traps. But with cops, there is an added issue: cops aren't trespassers. They are legally on the property, and it is illegal to use force to prevent their entry. | |
| Sep 25, 2015 at 4:47 | comment | added | feetwet♦ | Right: Somebody has convinced a judge to approve a search, but not my arrest. And I have constructed the named premises to destroy any potential evidence, and to potentially injure determined searchers. Can the law do anything further to me once they encounter my warning? Or is their only choice to give up or do their best? And if they suffer casualties due to choosing to proceed despite the warned countermeasures, do I face liability for that? It doesn't seem that the "duty owed to trespassers" answers apply to this scenario: I did my duty by keeping them out. | |
| Sep 25, 2015 at 4:36 | comment | added | jqning | @feetwet well there is probable cause for the warrant so there must be some other crime "in evidence." | |
| Sep 25, 2015 at 4:27 | comment | added | feetwet♦ | Just clarified that, since it wasn't clear what that means. Maybe I'm doing something very illegal and I'm paranoid. Or maybe I'm just paranoid. I assume the legal answer should be the same because I'm innocent until proven guilty. So far in the hypothetical the only possible crime in evidence (I don't know on this one) is my warning, visible only to intruders, which might count as a terroristic threat. | |
| Sep 25, 2015 at 4:22 | comment | added | jqning | @feetwet you said you know you are in the crosshairs of law enforcement. | |
| Sep 25, 2015 at 4:21 | comment | added | feetwet♦ | Well I don't know: No-knocks are supposed to be a surprise. Is there a law against being paranoid? I just really want the government to stay out of my business. So is it premeditated murder to construct a building designed to autonomously kill attackers, if it is sufficiently strong that only an attacker of sound mind and clear intent, capable of comprehending the warning, could conceivably enter it? I guess this is sort of a doomsday device analog: Is the builder of the device guilty of its effects, or is it the one who knowingly triggers it? | |
| Sep 25, 2015 at 4:14 | comment | added | jqning | @feetwet how about start by telling us what your defense will be against premeditated murder charges. You know the cops are coming so you set traps to kill them. | |
| Sep 25, 2015 at 4:09 | comment | added | feetwet♦ | In the hypothetical the only persons who could encounter the dangers would be warranted agents. This isn't about "traps that could injure unsuspecting trespassers." This is, "Fine, you got a warrant. If you try to execute it, I'm warning you that any evidence you're searching for will be destroyed and you could die in the process." Only I know how. In this case can a court compel me to do anything to facilitate a safe and successful execution of a warrant against my property? And if the agents proceed despite that clear warning what liability do I face and under what theories? | |
| Sep 25, 2015 at 3:48 | history | answered | jqning | CC BY-SA 3.0 |