ManInBlack
Regular Member
So, like any other day, I woke up this morning, threw on some board shorts and a ratty hunting tshirt I had laying around, and walked out of the back door to feed my hens. When I came back in the house, my relatively-new alarm system was going haywire. It then dawned on me that I had forgotten to disarm the system before I opened the back door, the 30 second timer had elapsed, and a burglary alarm had been sent to the PD. After a brief "oh s***" moment, I keyed in my code, and a message popped up, replacing the "burglary alarm sent" message, and saying "cancel notification sent."
I thought that meant I was all good, and that the dispatch had been notified to cancel the call. I was going to jump in the shower, but something told me I just might get a visit from Boise's finest, and to wait a few. Sure enough about 20 minutes later, the police arrived. My dog's low growl let me know that someone was prowling outside, and after verifying the police by peeking through a window, I walked outside to meet them (I was not OC because I was still in the board shorts and had no belt or holster - in other words, I looked like an idiot). I told them sorry for the false call, and one of them asked my name, which I told him, and then asked for my ID, which I went inside to retrieve for him
Now, normally I don't comply with requests (demands) for ID, because most are not issued persuant to the law. Idaho has no stop-and-identify statute, either. However, I felt that since he had a legitimate reason to be there because of the burglary alarm, and I was the only 20-something male (high risk group for crime) on the premises, it wasn't unreasonable. I also had a final to take today and really didn't want to be dealing with the cops when I should have been studying. The attitude of the officer was also pretty laid-back, and he definitely phrased it as a request, with no coercion involved. I was on my stoop and he was down on the driveway, and he never once tried to approach the threshold of my door. He also didn't seem to mind that I closed my door behind me when I went inside to retrieve my ID. I had also noticed when I was peering out the windows when the cops first arrived, that the partner who went around back merely looked at the door and saw it was closed. He didn't try to get into any of my stuff (I have substantial property back there). In short, I really didn't feel like they was "jacking me up."
So, the cops had to write me up for a false alarm. No fine first offense, but $50 for your second in a year. They just told me that if it happens again, to call their dispatch and let them know. As long as it happens before they arrive, no harm, no foul. I told them I didn't think that would be a problem (considering it took them 20 minutes to get there!).
One thing, though, was they did try to stick me for the Boise chicken ordinance (3 "pet" hens maximum, no roosters, if you have less than an acre). I am within the law. They asked how many I had, whether I had any roosters, etc. They tried to make it sound like small talk, but as I am wise to the ordinance, I knew immediately what was up. I politely told them that I don't answer questions of an investigatory nature, but they were free to observe my chickens from the public road. One of them just kind of smiled at me, then at his partner, like, "Damn, this guy's good."
They dropped it no problem.
In closing, two things:
1) What do you all think about the ID thing? I'm tending to believe that I wasn't technically legally-required to identify, and I know I wasn't required to produce ID, but I feel like it was the right thing to do under the circumstances. Besides, if I had refused to ID myself, would they have had an exigent circumstance/RAS/PC to search my home to make sure a burglary had not taken place and that there weren't burglars in the house?
2) "When seconds count, the police are 20 minutes away, and more interested in investigating livestock ordinance violations."
I thought that meant I was all good, and that the dispatch had been notified to cancel the call. I was going to jump in the shower, but something told me I just might get a visit from Boise's finest, and to wait a few. Sure enough about 20 minutes later, the police arrived. My dog's low growl let me know that someone was prowling outside, and after verifying the police by peeking through a window, I walked outside to meet them (I was not OC because I was still in the board shorts and had no belt or holster - in other words, I looked like an idiot). I told them sorry for the false call, and one of them asked my name, which I told him, and then asked for my ID, which I went inside to retrieve for him
Now, normally I don't comply with requests (demands) for ID, because most are not issued persuant to the law. Idaho has no stop-and-identify statute, either. However, I felt that since he had a legitimate reason to be there because of the burglary alarm, and I was the only 20-something male (high risk group for crime) on the premises, it wasn't unreasonable. I also had a final to take today and really didn't want to be dealing with the cops when I should have been studying. The attitude of the officer was also pretty laid-back, and he definitely phrased it as a request, with no coercion involved. I was on my stoop and he was down on the driveway, and he never once tried to approach the threshold of my door. He also didn't seem to mind that I closed my door behind me when I went inside to retrieve my ID. I had also noticed when I was peering out the windows when the cops first arrived, that the partner who went around back merely looked at the door and saw it was closed. He didn't try to get into any of my stuff (I have substantial property back there). In short, I really didn't feel like they was "jacking me up."
So, the cops had to write me up for a false alarm. No fine first offense, but $50 for your second in a year. They just told me that if it happens again, to call their dispatch and let them know. As long as it happens before they arrive, no harm, no foul. I told them I didn't think that would be a problem (considering it took them 20 minutes to get there!).
One thing, though, was they did try to stick me for the Boise chicken ordinance (3 "pet" hens maximum, no roosters, if you have less than an acre). I am within the law. They asked how many I had, whether I had any roosters, etc. They tried to make it sound like small talk, but as I am wise to the ordinance, I knew immediately what was up. I politely told them that I don't answer questions of an investigatory nature, but they were free to observe my chickens from the public road. One of them just kind of smiled at me, then at his partner, like, "Damn, this guy's good."
They dropped it no problem.In closing, two things:
1) What do you all think about the ID thing? I'm tending to believe that I wasn't technically legally-required to identify, and I know I wasn't required to produce ID, but I feel like it was the right thing to do under the circumstances. Besides, if I had refused to ID myself, would they have had an exigent circumstance/RAS/PC to search my home to make sure a burglary had not taken place and that there weren't burglars in the house?
2) "When seconds count, the police are 20 minutes away, and more interested in investigating livestock ordinance violations."
