Hi all,
Sorry if this isn't the correct place for this; I had a hard time deciding on whether this belonged here or in the real estate section. There is a bunch of context and then a few questions at the bottom. If you'd like to save some time, just read the paragraph below this one and then the questions at the bottom.
I'm the president of a fraternity in New York state. There are quite a few fraternities who rent their houses from the university, but we own ours outright (relevant). To be specific, the house and property are owned by a nonprofit organization comprised of alumni who were members of the fraternity in years passed. As the fraternity president, I am one of 5 people on the board of directors of said organization (not sure if that's relevant).
Because the campus Department of Public Safety (DPS) is geographically closer to us than the police/fire/ambulance dispatch, whenever emergency services are requested by someone on campus, the DPS is called by the 911 dispatcher and they usually arrive first.
One December morning around 4:00am, we had an issue with our fire suppression system. One of the valves failed and water was shooting out of the release, which essentially just dumps an endless stream of water through a pipe on the outside of the building. Nevertheless, this triggered our fire/CO2 alarm and people began waking up and making their way down to the kitchen. For reference, the main door to our house enters through the kitchen, so that's why everyone was there. They didn't go outside because it also happened to be raining. After everyone was downstairs and realizing what had triggered the alarm, I went to the keypad to silence it.
Two DPS officers arrived and I met them just outside the door under an awning. We exchanged a few words and one of them, without asking, went to walk by me and enter the house. I blocked the doorway with my arm and asked him not to go inside. He walked into my forearm before stepping back to meet his coworker. His coworker proceeded to tell me that I should not "put my hands on a public safety officer" and I was told essentially the same thing when their sergeant arrived a few minutes later, except in a much less friendly tone. He also threatened to handcuff me. I realize in retrospect that standing in the doorway the whole time would have been a better option.
The fire department arrives and tells me that I'm not allowed to silence the alarm. They are told by DPS that I would not let them inside, and they proceed to invite DPS inside my home because they "need help cleaning out the house". Satisfied that no one remained in their rooms during the alarm, they come back and meet us in the kitchen, telling us that we won't be able to stay in the house until the suppression system is fixed. We go to a 24 hour diner and grab something to eat before finding our own lodgings for the night. To DPS's credit, they did offer us a place to stay until the morning.
The next day, several of the fraternity's brothers are upset by how DPS (the sergeant in particular) treated us and I'm told by one of them that this specific sergeant has given us issues before. Upon request, I went to the DPS station to file a formal complaint. The detective with whom I spoke was very polite and courteous and everything went as expected. He did say something that made me curious, though. The responding officers told me that they could come into out house because the school owned the property. I informed them that this was not the case but they did not believe me (we have had the police escort them off the property before). I asked the detective nicely to remind the officers that our house was not owned by the school. He responded apologetically, saying he had heard about the confusion, and that a notice had been posted in the office to remind the officers of this. Cool. He continued with something to the effect of "but you should understand that there are times when we will be on your property legally."
So now my questions:
1. Was it legal for me to refuse entry of our colleges public safety department to our house by physically blocking the door? Could they legally handcuff me for something like that, or would I have grounds to press assault charges? From my perspective, they would have come onto my property uninvited and handcuffed me.
2. Given my expressed desire for DPS to stay out of my house, was the fire department legally allowed to invite them in?
3. Can the fire department force us to leave the house because of a broken fire suppression system? We are not even legally required to have one at all; it's there because it lowers our insurance premiums.
4. Is it true that I'm not allowed to silence my own fire/CO2 alarm? If so, why do I have a code to do so?
5. In regards to what the detective told me, under which circumstances could DPS legally be on my property without my permission?
Thanks,
I V
Sorry if this isn't the correct place for this; I had a hard time deciding on whether this belonged here or in the real estate section. There is a bunch of context and then a few questions at the bottom. If you'd like to save some time, just read the paragraph below this one and then the questions at the bottom.
I'm the president of a fraternity in New York state. There are quite a few fraternities who rent their houses from the university, but we own ours outright (relevant). To be specific, the house and property are owned by a nonprofit organization comprised of alumni who were members of the fraternity in years passed. As the fraternity president, I am one of 5 people on the board of directors of said organization (not sure if that's relevant).
Because the campus Department of Public Safety (DPS) is geographically closer to us than the police/fire/ambulance dispatch, whenever emergency services are requested by someone on campus, the DPS is called by the 911 dispatcher and they usually arrive first.
One December morning around 4:00am, we had an issue with our fire suppression system. One of the valves failed and water was shooting out of the release, which essentially just dumps an endless stream of water through a pipe on the outside of the building. Nevertheless, this triggered our fire/CO2 alarm and people began waking up and making their way down to the kitchen. For reference, the main door to our house enters through the kitchen, so that's why everyone was there. They didn't go outside because it also happened to be raining. After everyone was downstairs and realizing what had triggered the alarm, I went to the keypad to silence it.
Two DPS officers arrived and I met them just outside the door under an awning. We exchanged a few words and one of them, without asking, went to walk by me and enter the house. I blocked the doorway with my arm and asked him not to go inside. He walked into my forearm before stepping back to meet his coworker. His coworker proceeded to tell me that I should not "put my hands on a public safety officer" and I was told essentially the same thing when their sergeant arrived a few minutes later, except in a much less friendly tone. He also threatened to handcuff me. I realize in retrospect that standing in the doorway the whole time would have been a better option.
The fire department arrives and tells me that I'm not allowed to silence the alarm. They are told by DPS that I would not let them inside, and they proceed to invite DPS inside my home because they "need help cleaning out the house". Satisfied that no one remained in their rooms during the alarm, they come back and meet us in the kitchen, telling us that we won't be able to stay in the house until the suppression system is fixed. We go to a 24 hour diner and grab something to eat before finding our own lodgings for the night. To DPS's credit, they did offer us a place to stay until the morning.
The next day, several of the fraternity's brothers are upset by how DPS (the sergeant in particular) treated us and I'm told by one of them that this specific sergeant has given us issues before. Upon request, I went to the DPS station to file a formal complaint. The detective with whom I spoke was very polite and courteous and everything went as expected. He did say something that made me curious, though. The responding officers told me that they could come into out house because the school owned the property. I informed them that this was not the case but they did not believe me (we have had the police escort them off the property before). I asked the detective nicely to remind the officers that our house was not owned by the school. He responded apologetically, saying he had heard about the confusion, and that a notice had been posted in the office to remind the officers of this. Cool. He continued with something to the effect of "but you should understand that there are times when we will be on your property legally."
So now my questions:
1. Was it legal for me to refuse entry of our colleges public safety department to our house by physically blocking the door? Could they legally handcuff me for something like that, or would I have grounds to press assault charges? From my perspective, they would have come onto my property uninvited and handcuffed me.
2. Given my expressed desire for DPS to stay out of my house, was the fire department legally allowed to invite them in?
3. Can the fire department force us to leave the house because of a broken fire suppression system? We are not even legally required to have one at all; it's there because it lowers our insurance premiums.
4. Is it true that I'm not allowed to silence my own fire/CO2 alarm? If so, why do I have a code to do so?
5. In regards to what the detective told me, under which circumstances could DPS legally be on my property without my permission?
Thanks,
I V
