Police broke in for a Drug Raid and won't pay for door repairs!

Noddy1

Hello,

I'm sorry if this is the wrong forum, I didn't know where to put it - I've been a regular user of this site and have found it extremely helpful, and was hoping someone might be able to help me with this issue. I tried to keep the description brief, but its turned out quite long... I'll be extremely grateful to anyone who can help.

A few months back, the police broke into our house for a drug raid and broke down the front door in the process. Of course, they didn't find anything, because none of us has ever even touched a cigarette. In fact, none of us smoke, drink, or go clubbing, or go to any other venues where drug abuse is known to occur (for religious reasons).

During the police raid, two of us were in the house at the time. The police were extremely apologetic and when they finished, the Inspector in charge told us very clearly that the door repair costs would be refunded by the police. He also said the same to my father over the phone (we are students).

However, later when I wrote to the legal services department, I was told that the repair costs would not be refunded because the police had acted in accordance with a warrant.

Basically, we have a pretty good hunch who was behind getting the police to raid our house; one of our neighbours has a massive grudge against us. Furthermore, the police could not possibly have any real evidence about us taking drugs other than hearsay from people living around us.

Yet, when we've repeatedly asked the police to disclose who reported us, they refuse to tell us.

Obviously, we find this situation ridiculous. It means the police can just:

1. Break into anyone's house at any time, regardless of how law abiding they are
2. Embarrass us in front of all our neighbours and make us look like criminals
3. Refuse to even tell us on what basis they entered our flat. They told us that the person(s) who called in were anonymous.
4. Refuse to even pay for the damages they did during their time in the flat!

The door repair costs were quite hefty, at around £700. As a student, I'm sure you can understand that is quite a bit to need to pay for something as ridiculous as this.

I was wondering if anyone could offer some advice on what I can do about this? There is no way the police could possibly have had any real evidence before they broke into our house. I'm guessing that might be why they were so apologetic whilst they were in there.

Edit: Also, in case it's relevant, the warrant wasn't even for use of drugs. It was for the sale of drugs, as in they thought we were drug dealers (which is absolutely ridiculous).

Fire_Fox

Have you checked that the damage was not covered under your landlord's insurance policy? At the end of the day YOU did not damage the door and nor did your guests, nor did you do anything to precipitate the damage. If there is, say, a burglary the landlord is responsible for repairing the broken window or damaged door not the tenant.

Have you tried Police Complaints Commission? You won't ever find out who reported you as that rightly remains confidential, and I am not sure why you need to know? You could ask for written confirmation that individual has been charged with wasting police time?
http://www.ipcc.gov.uk/

Your final avenue is the local press, this might make a good story given that it is pretty unusual for students to live such a squeaky clean lifestyle. I am sure the incident was stressful as well as financially draining? Have there been any other incidents of neighbour harassment that you should be reporting to the police?

PasturesNew

If you're stuck for money, try drug dealing .... they'll not be back so you've a clear run at it!

Noddy1

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Have you tried Police Complaints Commission? You won't ever find out who reported you as that remains confidential, and I am not sure why you need to know? You could ask for written confirmation that individual has been charged with wasting police time?

Your final avenue is the local press, given that it is pretty unusual for students to live such a squeaky clean lifestyle. I am sure the incident was stressful as well as financially draining?

Thanks for your reply.

Well the person who reported us is probably a neighbour who has persistently been harassing us for the past year - we are pretty sure we know who it is already, but obviously we can't press charges against him without confirmation from the police.

The incident was extremely stressful - my flatmate had his exams in 2 days when the police broke in and was busy revising. He even asked the police to give him his notes so he could revise whilst the police were in the flat.

As for going to the media, I don't want to make it too public. Before this experience, just hearing the word "police raid" next to someone's name would make me suspicious, and I don't want people to make those associations with us.

What would the IPCC do? I may consider approaching them?

Would the IPCC be able to get the money back as well?

Noddy1

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Have you checked that the damage was not covered under your landlord's insurance policy? At the end of the day YOU did not damage the door and nor did your guests, nor did you do anything to precipitate the damage. If there is, say, a burglary the landlord is responsible for repairing the broken window not the tenant.

My dad is the landlord, and we don't have an insurance policy...

chewmylegoff

the police don't have to pay for damage caused gaining entry to the property, unless they do something ridiculous and unnecessary (such as driving a police car through the wall of your house or something moronic like that). breaking the door down is presumably considered reasonable when it is a drugs raid. the only way they'd pay for it is if the search warrant was executed in error. i think error means they raid the wrong property, rather than they don't turn up any evidence.

once they're actually in the door it's a different matter, and any damage they do not in connection with gaining entry should be recoverable.

so in this situation i guess your landlord i.e. your dad is stuck with the bill. he should have insurance and should arrange some going forward if he doesn't have any.

as an aside, i find it very unlikely that the police were able to obtain a warrant only on the basis of a one-off report from a neighbour - you'll never find out of course, but normally a court will not issue a search warrant based on such flimsy evidence. the police would, generally speaking, carry out directed surveillance on a property they intended to search for drugs before applying for the warrant.

shaven-monkey

700 is a lot of cash for a door.

Noddy1

chewmylegoff wrote: »

the police don't have to pay for damage caused gaining entry to the property, unless they do something ridiculous and unnecessary (such as driving a police car through the wall of your house or something moronic like that). breaking the door down is presumably considered reasonable when it is a drugs raid. the only way they'd pay for it is if the search warrant was executed in error. i think error means they raid the wrong property, rather than they don't turn up any evidence.

once they're actually in the door it's a different matter, and any damage they do not in connection with gaining entry should be recoverable.

so in this situation i guess your landlord i.e. your dad is stuck with the bill. he should have insurance and should arrange some going forward if he doesn't have any.

as an aside, i find it very unlikely that the police were able to obtain a warrant only on the basis of a one-off report from a neighbour - you'll never find out of course, but normally a court will not issue a search warrant based on such flimsy evidence. the police would, generally speaking, carry out directed surveillance on a property they intended to search for drugs before applying for the warrant.

Thanks for your advice. Yep, that's what the person told me on the phone and in the letter. The strange thing is the Inspector told me during the visit, and afterwards when my dad visited the police station, that the repair costs would be paid for by the police.

The flat is located inside a block of flats, so it would have been impossible for them to actually stand and watch. They may have got ahold of CCTV.

However, we never go to any venues which may involve drugs and have never even smoked. What would constitute good evidence in the police's eyes? My friend was revising for his exams and so he was in the library until the early hours of the morning (its a 24 hour library). Could that be the reason they broke in? I don't see that as good evidence.... they should have found out where he was going instead of just seeing that he was coming home late at night.

If we report the incident to the IPCC, what would happen?

Noddy1

shaven-monkey wrote: »

700 is a lot of cash for a door.

It was wrecked - I get the feeling the guy was overcharging us, but he came as an emergency on the same day. I had to stay at home and miss my lectures that day because we had to secure the door.

Fire_Fox

Noddy1 wrote: »

Thanks for your reply.

Well the person who reported us is probably a neighbour who has persistently been harassing us for the past year - we are pretty sure we know who it is already, but obviously we can't press charges against him without confirmation from the police.

What would the IPCC do? I may consider approaching them? Would the IPCC be able to get the money back as well?

You wouldn't press charges on your neighbour, the police press charges for wasting police time. I don't know what the PCC do that is why I linked to their website! I can't see any reason for complaint other than asking for your money back. I thought the same as Chewmyleggoff about the surveillance, do you have people coming and going a lot with your faith, perhaps to pray? Sorry to sound ignorant I do appreciate not all religious people pray frequently, but you haven't said which faith (and why should you).

Noddy1 wrote: »

My dad is the landlord, and we don't have an insurance policy...

You blooming well should have insurance, your dad should have buildings (would cover a door) and you contents (will not cover a door). If your dad is taking rent, even from his own son, he is legally a landlord and should have all the right documents sorted including landlord's insurance. Is this a leasehold flat? In which case the buildings insurance is usually organised by the freeholder/ management company, it is them you would contact in the first instance.

Noddy1

Fire_Fox wrote: »

You blooming well should have insurance, your dad should have buildings (would cover a door) and you contents (will not cover a door). If your dad is taking rent, even from his own son, he is legally a landlord and should have all the right documents sorted including landlord's insurance. Is this a leasehold flat? In which case the buildings insurance is usually organised by the freeholder/ management company, it is them you would contact in the first instance.

Hmmmm, my dad said the building used to have building insurance but they got rid of it. Are they legally obliged to have it? The service charge is also ridiculously high, at £5000/year for a 2 bedroom flat. Personally, I have a feeling the building is corrupt, and other landlords feel the same way. They charge ridiculous fees for seeing the accounts and only let you photocopy up to 10 pages, so no one has actually gone to see the account (something like £100 up front, followed by something ridiculous like £10 per page copied).

The person we suspect is closely involved with the building's management. It makes me feel like it may have been a circular thing - he anonymously reports us, then when the police makes enquiries with the management company, the same person says the same thing again. That equals two people in the police's eyes.

In any case, the management company has said absolutely nothing about our door in the past few months - they've had plenty of time to say something. I don't think they would be very willing to help us, because obviously as I said, parts of the company have some sort of grudge against us (along with many other landlords in the building).