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Do LEOs have the right to ask you to leave off of private property?

david.ross

david.ross

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I was just looking at one of the stories in the news sections and had a question.

Does law enforcement have the right to ask you to leave the premises or be charged with criminal trespass? If so, please do tell what laws give them the power.
 
Bookman

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IANAL, but I know that the police can ask you to leave or charge you with criminal trespass at the specific request of the owner or manager.

Sorry, but I'm not able to cite the laws as they vary from state to state, although they're all very similar.
 
david.ross

david.ross

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Does anyone have information regarding PA? I've heard a couple stories but I'm interested in finding an answer. I'm scanning through the statutes searching for an answer.
 
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rmodel65

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In GA i believe the manager/ owner/ security officer etc needs to ask you to leave then the police can take action if you refuse but IANAL
 
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PT111

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In another discussion someone proposed that you could not be arrested for trespass but that is a different story.

If you have your property posted and have notified the local law enforcement agency could they tell someone to leave your property without you specifically asking the LEO to do it or naming that person? For instance someone hunting on your posted property or do they have to notify you or you notify the LEO before they can be told to leave? I would think that private property laws would be the same for rural or urban property.
 
Bookman

Bookman

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PT111 wrote:
In another discussion someone proposed that you could not be arrested for trespass but that is a different story.

If you have your property posted and have notified the local law enforcement agency could they tell someone to leave your property without you specifically asking the LEO to do it or naming that person? For instance someone hunting on your posted property or do they have to notify you or you notify the LEO before they can be told to leave? I would think that private property laws would be the same for rural or urban property.
Click to expand...

Still, you might have the property owner's permission to hunt there. So the property owner/manager would still need to be involved.
 
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Legba

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Yes, they can always ask, to answer the question literally. ;-/

-ljp
 
AZkopper

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A LEO cannot arbitrarily remove/arrest a person from private property for "trespassing", withouot the expressed consent/request of the property owner/agent.

If a privateproperty is posted for "no trespassing", unless it is railroad property (which has it's own statutes in most (all?) states), LEO generally cannot arrest or throw you out, simply because they do not know if you have the right to be there or not.

Generally, a property owner CAN give written notice to a LE agency advising that anyone found on their property is trespassing, and they want them arrested (this is usually done when the property owner is out of the area, or the property is not in use, etc). The written notice from the property owner/agent acts as the same as them being there and authorizing it.

The purpose of posting 'no trespassing' is to allow LEO to arrest someone who does trespass,withthe owner/agents approval/request. Otherwise, the trespasser must be verbally advised to leave by the owner/agent, and refuse that request.
 
Gator5713

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Texas Penal Code 30.05 - Criminal Trespass

Code: 
What it is:

[quote]§ 30.05. CRIMINAL TRESPASS. (a) A person commits an  offense if he enters or remains on or in property, including an  aircraft or other vehicle, of another without effective consent or  he enters or remains in a building of another without effective  consent and he:[/quote]

Who Can Notify:

[quote](2) "Notice" means:  (A) oral or written communication by the owner or  someone with apparent authority to act for the owner;  (B) fencing or other enclosure obviously  designed to exclude intruders or to contain livestock;  (C) a sign or signs posted on the property or at  the entrance to the building, reasonably likely to come to the  attention of intruders, indicating that entry is forbidden;  (D) the placement of identifying purple paint  marks on trees or posts on the property, provided that the marks  are:[/quote]

Unfortunately, LEOs often don't know the laws themselves as we are all aware;
But the basic answer is that LEOs must have been asked/notified by the owner/manager/representative
to have the 'trespasser removed UNLESS the trespasser is engaging in criminal activity other than the trespass.

I have been directly involved with this issue before and have received a number of different
responses from different LEOs.
I am looking for my records of a few such encounters and will post them when I find them!

Just for reference, my favorite 'Sinage' Law that most do NOT know anymore (Including LEOs) and those
LEOs that do know call it the 'Sherwin Williams Law'  

[quote](D) the placement of identifying purple paint  marks on trees or posts on the property, provided that the marks  are:  (i) vertical lines of not less than eight  inches in length and not less than one inch in width;  (ii) placed so that the bottom of the mark  is not less than three feet from the ground or more than five feet  from the ground; and  (iii) placed at locations that are readily  visible to any person approaching the property and no more than:  (a) 100 feet apart on forest land; or  (b) 1,000 feet apart on land other  than forest land; or [/quote]

I grew up with this one being a 'Country Boy' and implemented in in the city a while back.
Got a few laughs from local LEOs and educated many others when they tried to tell me that 
they couldn't do anything about trespassers! 


EDIT****
Don't know why it "Quoted" the whole thing, so I tried to separate it out so that you could tell what was mine and what was law...
 
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