What you should expect if police are at your door

Police are still searching for three individuals who broke into a northeast Columbia home last night, stating they were from the Boone County Sheriff’s Office.

This raises concerns about other individuals breaking into homes and claiming to be law enforcement.

“Columbia police does not operate on a no-knock entry without extingent circumstances,” Public Information Officer of the Columbia Police Department, Jeff Pitts said. “What will happen is, Columbia Police Department, if they have a search warrant for the residence, they will knock on the door and they will announce.”

Pitts said that you can easily identify officers by their uniforms, but sometimes, that is not an option.

“If you already hear somebody in the house like what we saw this morning, and you hear someone trying to identify as a police officer, yell out to identify yourself,” Jeff mentioned. “You can certainly call 9-1-1, and tell them there are people inside your house identifying as police officers, and the dispatch can let you know that police officers are on scene.”

Director of Training of North Star Training Group, Adam Duncan, told us that if you are still think they are not legitimate officers, there is more you can do.

“If that sixth sense is telling you that something is wrong here, something isn’t right: if there is an officer on scene, they are going to have notified their dispatcher.” He said you should call the non-emergency number for the police department in your area, identify yourself and where you live, and they will know if there are officers at your location.”

Duncan said that you can tell the officer on your property that you are going to confirm their identity with the dispatcher first. “A reasonable officer might be frustrated with that, but they will understand, and they are going to wait.”

Duncan said they will not make a forced entry unless they have justification. “What’s typically going to happen is a knock, an announce, and then the entry will be forced,” Duncan says. “They are going to identify you themselves , they are going to say why they are here, and typically they will annouc their justification for making that entry.”

Duncan mentioned they will have a warrant, which you can ask to see.