Invasion of Privacy

[C. M. Albrecht]

Apparently the police have come up with a clever ploy to gain entrance to your home when they have no reason in the world to do so. Their motive may be that they think they have reason to believe something illicit is going on, or again, it could simply be idle curiosity.
It works like this: Two uniformed officers appear at your door and say they had a 911 call from your address. You of course, explain that you did not make any 911 calls. They ask if your phone number is such-and-such and you reply no, that’s not your number.
They appear confused at this and tell you that the call came back to your address. The caller hung up without speaking and they’d like to check out the house, just to make sure everything is all right.
Being a good citizen, you let them wander about looking through your house until they satisfy themselves that there are no problems. They decide it must just be a computer glitch or something and thank you for your cooperation. Okay, this can happen...once.
When it starts going around like the H1N1 virus, it could make a person downright suspicious.

I’m a big supporter of our police and law enforcement. I know people joke about how they sit around all the time eating donuts and writing reports, but every time they stop a car or answer a call they don’t know whether to expect a nice little old lady or a guy with a 12-gauge shotgun. That kind of stress can take a lot out of anyone. But...

What can a citizen do about it? The only practical solution I can see is for us to make people aware of this little trick to invade our privacy. Once it becomes well known, it will hopefully lose its advantage.

[C. M. Albrecht]

I think if you reread the blog that it's clear that it happened more than once. It happened to me and, although I was doubtful, I went along with the charade, but now I know that it has happened to a number of other people known either to me, or to my wife who manages apartments. That's where the reference came in about going around like the H1N1 virus. I wouldn't have written about
it otherwise. I hope this sort of conduct goes away, but we won't bet on it. As to Dan, you make a very good case. It's all in training and a strict higher command, something many police forces sorely lack. We have too many "Bad Lieutenants" around, that's for sure. (Apologies to Mr. Keitel).

[I. J. Parker]

I don't follow this. Did it happen once? Or many times? To you? Or to you and a bunch of other people?
This is not at all clear from your account. It could have been a single glitch. In that case, you have nothing to complain about or any reason to suggest that there is an evil plot afoot.