I Got the Police Called on Me
A problem in the investigative field that many of us face is when the cops are called during an investigation.
A story that comes to mind is one that happened to me a few months ago. I was given information that the person I was to serve was arriving home at approximately 3:30 PM. I arrived in my car at around 3:00 and waited in my car. I was parked about 100 feet from the house on the side of the street.
After about 10-15 minutes, a woman walked up to my passenger’s side window and knocked. I rolled down the window. She asked what I was doing. I told her it was none of her business. She then informed me that she had called the cops on me for “lurking” in her neighborhood. After I explained that what I was doing was legal, she informed me that she used to be a police officer, and that she knew the police that were coming to talk to me. She then asked if I am a process server, and I told her that I can’t tell her that. My fear was that she would call her neighbor who I was trying to serve, and they would evade service. This was in the forefront of my mind due to my client specifying that I had to serve this person while they were walking from their car into their home due to them evading service in the past. While the lady was talking with me, the person I was supposed to serve entered their home, and I missed my chance.
Surprisingly, the cops never arrived. After telling her I was a process server, the woman left me alone, sending her son outside to watch and film my car for the rest of the job.
The problem is, I understand where the cop was coming from. I would be worried if a man was lurking in my neighborhood. One time, a man drunkenly parked on my lawn, and after talking with him, I let him sleep until he was sober enough to drive. I didn’t call the police because he wasn’t posing a threat to me. As with anything, people need to act with reasonableness when it comes to protecting their neighborhood.
It’s interesting how often stories like this happen, even when investigators take every precaution. Multiple times during my career, I have had people call the police while I attempted to serve them papers or perform surveillance. Instead of talking to me in a reasonable way, they choose to escalate the situation.
The solution is the same in many situations, utilize good judgement and be the most reasonable party. If the police show up to try and defuse the situation, be calm, tell the truth, and show all documentation. Doing this will let the police know that you have a legal right to be there, and that the person who called the police is being unreasonable.
