Cop: We Lie About 911 Calls to Make Arrests

North Carolina officer admits to using tactic
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 14, 2014 7:20 PM CDT
Police Chief to Cops: Stop Lying About Fake 911 Calls
   (Shutterstock)

The police chief in Durham, North Carolina, has warned officers to stop lying about fake 911 calls in order to enter people's homes and make arrests, Opposing Views reports. The tactic came up during a court hearing in May when an officer admitted to doing it. Officer AB Beck said he'd knocked on a woman's door and told her that someone called 911 from her house before hurrying off the phone, Indy Week reports. When she let him in, he found a marijuana grinder and two marijuana blunts and arrested her. A judge kicked the case out of court, telling Beck that he "cannot enter someone's house based on a lie."

Beck also said that this 911-call tactic was standard procedure at the department in alleged domestic violence cases, according to the defendant's lawyer. Durham Police Chief Jose Lopez denied this, but told ABC 11 he's started an investigation. He also fired off a departmental memo saying he's heard the tactic is in use and has to stop. A Durham attorney framed it as a right-to-privacy issue, saying that "you can't fake someone out of their constitutional rights. You've got to be honest about this stuff." (More Durham stories.)

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