Indiana man charged with theft for removing police tracking device from car

Post by chrismcb » Fri, Nov 22, 2019, 11:46 AM UTC

WalterBright wrote: post #41

If someone drops something in my car, and I unwittingly drive off with it, it is still not mine. But I did not steal it. If the person asks for it back, and I refuse, then I am stealing it. All the police had to do was knock on his door and ask for it back. If he refused, that's grounds for theft. If he denied knowledge of it (like if it had just fallen off somewhere) that doesn't sound like sufficient grounds for a…

Post by chrismcb » Fri, Nov 22, 2019, 11:50 AM UTC

nordsieck wrote: post #37

gamedori5 wrote: post #32

Legally, what is happening when the police put a tracker on a car? It isn't a gift, or a transfer of ownership - otherwise the police retieving it would be theft. On the other hand, the vehicle owner should not be held responsible for damage to a device they don't know about. Does it become lost property? If the disappearance of public property attached to a vehicle can be used to justify a search warrant, this seems…

IANAL My understanding is that it's the Police's property. If you find it, you can probably legally remove it from the car, but you can't keep it or prevent the Police from recovering it. This might be interesting to you: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theft_by_finding

Post by chrismcb » Fri, Nov 22, 2019, 11:57 AM UTC

clarry wrote: post #71

lsh123 wrote: post #53

Let’s check some scenarios: 1) Police puts a mic inside your house, you step on it, and destroy it. Is it ok or not? 2) Police puts a mic on a guy who comes to your house, you find it, and destroy it. Is it ok or not? 3) Police puts a nano-mic (nano-gps) on you, you find it, and destroy it. Is it ok or not? My answer to all of the above is that anything put on your property without you knowledge is up for grabs and d…

If someone puts a car or a body on your property, do you destroy it?

Post by dbdjfjrjvebd » Fri, Nov 22, 2019, 12:22 PM UTC

L0stRegulator wrote: post #78

freeopinion wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd settle for experimenting with "same". If a regular citizen can't plant a bug, neither can police. If police can conduct a stakeout, so can regular citizens. They just have to follow the same process. That might include going in front of a judge and getting a warrant. If a regular citizen could break up a bar fight, the police should be able to take the same actions. If police can set up a sting operation, so shou…

So the obvious question then is should we be allowed place trackers in police cars, so we can track them on Waze (for example), and it would be a crime for them to remove it. Equivalencies of Powers/Rights is a good thought experiment that would keep the powers of the enforcers from multiplying without limits.

Post by lotsofpulp » Fri, Nov 22, 2019, 12:25 PM UTC

huffmsa wrote: post #118

yaur wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe that the point of the theft charge was to get a search warrant, which they did. Regardless of if he “walks” on the theft charge it seems unlikely that the evidence they gathered when serving that warrant will be thrown out.

It should be, but legal precedent is a bit of a mixed bag on the admissibility of evidence collected during the execution of an invalid warrant. If a judge finds that it's not the polics'd fault that the warrant was invalid, they can use it. If it was there fault, it's probably inadmissible.