Anchorage, AK, What Are Your Rights When Police Come To Your Door

OFF THE WIRE
BY: Grace Jang
Source: ktva.com
ANCHORAGE–It began as an argument last winter between neighbors about dog urine at a Muldoon condominium complex.
“I guess the pee fell through the neighbor's house,” said David Zellmer, the dog owner. “The dog catcher showed up at the door, asking me questions about my dog. I told him I wasn't going to answer any of his questions and I asked him to leave my property.”

A short time later, Zellmer said the animal control officer returned with three police officers.

Zellmer recorded what happened next:

Officer: Got any ID on you?

Zellmer: Uh, no.

Officer: Is your ID inside?

Zellmer: Possibly.

Officer: Then let's go inside and get it.

Zellmer: You guys can stay out here and I'll go and get it.

Officer: Actually, we're going to go inside with you.

Zellmer: No, you're not, unless you have a warrant.

Officer: I don't need a warrant.

Zellmer: Why?

Officer: We were called here because of a problem with an animal, so we're going to check it out.

Zellmer: What problem are you talking about?

Officer: OK, we'll go on inside, get your ID.

Zellmer: No, no. You're not coming in my home.

Officer: OK, then turn around, put your hands behind your back.

Zellmer: No, that's not gonna happen unless you explain to me what's going on.

Officer 2: Very simple, OK. There's a problem with your dog. We're here to check it out.
Zellmer: OK.

Officer 2: We're going to check the dog out, make sure everything's OK.

Zellmer: Everything's OK with my dog.

Officer 2: We're going to look. That's why we're here. Otherwise we wouldn't be here, bothering you. So as soon as we check it out and everything's OK, we'll leave you alone.

Zellmer: OK. Well, you guys stay right here. I'll be right back.

Officer 2: Nope. We're going to go check out your dog.

Zellmer: Nah. I don't... What do you...

Officer: OK. Go ahead. Turn around.

Zellmer: No, no, no. OK, OK, OK. No, no, no. My daughter's in the house.

Officer: You see that red dot? That's a Taser. You don't want that.

Officer 3: Sir, you're not going to go in the house where you have access to a weapon without us going with you. It's that simple.

Officer 2: Where's your ID?

Daughter: Why is everybody in here?

Zellmer: I don't know why they're in here.
In the span of a minute, Zellmer said the situation had escalated.
“Man, they totally surprised me,” he said. “It was like they were out to get me, man. That really freaked me out. My daughter, she's young. After they said they were going to Tase me, in my head, I was thinking, ‘If my daughter comes out to the porch and sees me Tasered on the ground of our deck with all these cops standing around, she's gonna freak out.”
Jeff Mittman, executive director of American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska, said the officers were in the wrong.
“The police have the right to search your home if they have a warrant, or they certainly have the right to arrest you if they have a warrant, if they believe you've been involved in criminal activity,” Mittman said. “Otherwise, for them to search your home, for them to detain you, for them to question you, they essentially need your consent.”
Consent Zellmer says he did not give.
“Basically, they bullied me and after they threatened to Tase me,” Zellmer said. “I opened the door. They kind of pushed their way through.”
Mittman said that was “an improper threat of force. That is essentially coercive and is being used as a way to coerce consent, which is not actually consent.”
“I sit in my living room and there are four cops standing in my living room,” Zellmer said. “It was totally surreal. I just couldn't believe I was in America and this was happening to me.”
Turns out, animal control officers were called to Zellmer's home because his neighbor said his dog's urine was dripping down through the porch on to her head.
Derek Hsieh with the Anchorage Police Department Employees Association said it's important that officers keep an eye on their subjects.
“We frequently remind the officers, and we train the officers, that once you make contact with a person at the front door, particularly if you can observe them, you have somewhat of a controlled circumstance,” Hsieh said. “Once the person leaves your view, you can end up with an uncontrolled circumstance.”
Zellmer filed a complaint with the department.
“I tried to call the cops five, six times and say, ‘Look, these cops violated so many of my civil rights, it's not even funny',” Zellmer said.
Lt. Dave Parker said he cannot comment on specific cases but, he says, every complaint lodged against a police officer is investigated.
“However, because they're personnel matters the results of the investigation can only be relayed in terms of the findings,” Parker said.
In a letter to Zellmer, the department said it had ruled that his complaint was “sustained.”

“When a complaint is sustained, that means there is sufficient evidence to prove the incident occurred and the person named as the individual or by the complainant was the person responsible or culpable,” Parker said. “In other words, a policy was broken and that individual was responsible for breaking a policy.”
The animal control officer issued Zellmer a citation for failing to properly register his dog. As for what happened to the officers, Zellmer said police told him they would be “retrained,” but police declined to comment on specific personnel matters.
Both Hsieh and Mittman said if an officer comes to your door, cooperate fully—even if it appears the officer is in the wrong—record the interaction and then file a complaint.
Zellmer works for KTVA.

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