I live on a sparsely populated street, the street behind me has about 7 houses on it. I'm the youngest owner in the vicinity by at least 30 years to give you an idea of the population. It is quiet here with mostly older folks being low-key. I have lived here for 8 years, the house immediately behind me sat vacant for 2-3 years until a seemingly normal couple (late 40s, early 50s) bought and moved in.

They started off OK, until their male chihuahua would slip through our wrought iron fence and harass my female golden retriever, piss on my BBQ grill and doormat. That finally came to an end when his wife divorced him and took that unruly mut with her. This was over a year ago and since then, there have been some strange goings-on seems to be people living in the detached garage. Ive witness some whitetrash, 40± lady drain her lizard outside as I watched through my kitchen window as she carried on a conversation with some others on their porch. The guy is always taking short trips at 10-15 minutes probably a dozen times a day.

On to the story, Sunday I'm on the roof adjusting my OTA antenna when a frequent visitor leaves their house, soon after a firetruck shows up. As soon as the truck pulls up, a teenage girl pops out of their backdoor and locks eyes with my on my roof, she darts back inside, real shifty like.

Two firetrucks, and an ambulance end up there and wheel out someone.

The next day a good neighbor tells us an investigator is looking for the owner. We'll today, the neighbor tells me six police officers surrounded the house with guns drawn this morning. That is all the info he knew.

Well this evening, the owner is seen in his backyard and two units pull up and spend some time there.

My question is, can I legally compel the police department to give some info as to what is going on 50 yards from my backdoor that required a raid?

Sorry for any formatting/spelling errors, stuck using the smartphone.

The information may be available on your local department's website.

They don't have to tell you anything, they'll just tell you to go to their records or public relations office. You can go in and request a copy of their public call log. You might have to pay for a copy.

My guess, heroin overdose, dealer maybe, someone with a warrant. etc.

You sure it was a raid?

We were looking for a murderer in a house the other day and four of us went in to search. (that's all we had working)

Thanks for the link, but I am too far outside Austin to show up.

I haven't tried the city website but I doubt there would be any info. We're a small retirement/resort city of about 3000 full time residents.

Im not sure it was a raid. It seems like the guy is renting his detached garage so the possibility of a tenant having a warrant could be a good possibility.

My thoughts are, someone overdosed and EMS got a look at what was inside prompting the investigation, etc.

All the neighbors are pissed and freaked out.

Thanks for the advice.

Meth is my guess. I hope your house is far enough away to protect it in case they blow their house up or set it on fire. Happens quite a bit.

Chances are they'd site "Ongoing investigation" and release nothing. You can help by furnishing a few sentences to their drug task force if you notice something they may be missing.

Teenage girl living there? Exploited child (runaway)? It'll come apart for him and his soon enough.

Around here Section 8 housing has been appearing like mushrooms. Same thing. Mild, comfortable vibe. Then one family disrupts everything. A few O.D.'s, we're back to sleepy-comfortable.

Does the guy actually own the house or is he just renting? Is the detached garage actually considered a livable space? Might want to check with code enforcement.

If there is a ongoing work investigation, you might want to get the contact info of the officer doing the investigation to so you can give them information on anything you see.

He is the owner. As far as the detached garage living conditions. The garage was a temporary living arrangement due to remodeling forced by a "kitchen" fire several years ago. I seriously doubt it has bathroom facilities and pretty positive no HVAC.

There was nothing shady about the fire years back as I saw no police activity. But it did occur in the early morning hours because he left soup on the burner and fell asleep... Still a sketchy story.

Would communication picked up on a 'police scanner' reveal anything of substance / importance?!

My suggestion based on my experiences:
Go down to your local police station and introduce yourself. Tell them what it's about and try to talk to whomever is in charge of this particular situation. Offer to give them help as needed since you live there so they understand your interests are the same.
Ask for a phone number to contact someone quickly that is familiar with this case, or whatever it is right now.
My locals have been very good about filling me in as much as they can, about what's going on and telling me info that isn't necessarily public knowledge.
Don't just assume they won't be cooperative unless they aren't. Normal concerned citizens that act rational can be a great help to them.

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
My suggestion based on my experiences:
Go down to your local police station and introduce yourself. Tell them what it's about and try to talk to whomever is in charge of this particular situation. Offer to give them help as needed since you live there so they understand your interests are the same.
Ask for a phone number to contact someone quickly that is familiar with this case, or whatever it is right now.
My locals have been very good about filling me in as much as they can, about what's going on and telling me info that isn't necessarily public knowledge.
Don't just assume they won't be cooperative unless they aren't. Normal concerned citizens that act rational can be a great help to them.

This might work. You could also get the address of the house and do an open records request for police calls to that house.

I don't know about generalities, and would guess that each department is different. My experience:

Our local cops were out at intersections and the entrance to our "subdivision" (I live in the boonies and would never really describe it as a subdivision, but don't know what else to call it - a group of widely spread farms and homes ?)
They had rifles out and everything. We stopped to ask what was going on and were told "Go Home" No other info. Wasn't until much later we find out an armed shooting suspect was being hunted. It would have been good info to have. I could have been on the lookout and more aware of surroundings than normal. But they wouldn't share any info with us...

Maybe call the crime desk of the local newspaper?

get a four channel c.c.t.v. and video the whole dam ordeal ,

it's worth $900.00 to get rid of them

A variation on 220-9er's suggestion, or something to do in addition to taking his suggestion - find the neighborhood cop, tell said cop the tale of the lady urinating outdoors, and ask about filing a complaint. You might get a conversation going that way, and you might pick something up in that conversation.

quote:

Originally posted by Broadside:
Is the detached garage actually considered a livable space? Might want to check with code enforcement.

Rural Texas? Code enforcement? Funny.

(If he is in Travis County, maybe.)

quote:

My suggestion based on my experiences:
Go down to your local police station and introduce yourself. Tell them what it's about and try to talk to whomever is in charge of this particular situation. Offer to give them help as needed since you live there so they understand your interests are the same.
Ask for a phone number to contact someone quickly that is familiar with this case, or whatever it is right now.
My locals have been very good about filling me in as much as they can, about what's going on and telling me info that isn't necessarily public knowledge.
Don't just assume they won't be cooperative unless they aren't. Normal concerned citizens that act rational can be a great help to them.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I would concur with the above, if your town is small enough. It is part of community policing. If you go in like a PI you will not be successful. This sort of approach is typically not as successful in larger cities.

quote:

Originally posted by shiftyvtec:

There was nothing shady about the fire years back as I saw no police activity. But it did occur in the early morning hours because he left soup on the burner and fell asleep... Still a sketchy story.

A fire of that origin sure sounds like drug or alcohol abuse. Not always, but often.

I called the PD and asked to talk with an investigator related to this event. I got a quick call back from the Chief. He told me some details, but not all as it is a continuing investigation.

EMS responded to an OD, this prompted a felony arrest warrant where one lady was arrested for narcotics possession.

I have a hard time believing the owner is ignorant to the fact there are drugs in his home. Hopefully this shines some light on the shady shit he does and he gets his act together or moves the hell out of town. I'd like to think new owners couldn't be worse than this riff-raff.

On a related note, I have always been under the impression that if narcotics are found in a home the property could potentially be seized, is this fact?