and now they won't let him have it back. They came to his house last week claiming that somebody in the neighborhood called and said he was driving around on his scooter with a rifle. (this do NOT happen.) I have known this guy for a long time and he has NO record. The police would not disclose who the caller was and asked if he had a shotgun. He said yes and allowed the police into his home and brought the shotgun out. They immediately took the shotgun and told him he could have it back on Monday. (this was last Thursday.) He then went several times this week to the station to get his property, and the police told him that now their report says that they have witnesses that can confirm he had it out and with him riding. (no way, I know for a fact that this is NOT true, my brother was riding his scooter with him when all this happened.) Any of you guys know what to do here? Thanks.

He can do one of three things...

1. Walk away, and the cop who took it home for turkey shooting will keep it;

2. Hire a lawyer and sue for its return (I would charge thousands...one of the new solo guys in the yellow pages may do it for a thousand or so);

3. Go to one of those help centers like the TV and papers have (chances are they won't take it given the circumstances)

If it wasn't a gun one of the free legal aid places may have helped, but all those places are to the left of Ho Chi Minh and hate guns worse than cops.

If you are absolutly certain he did not violate the law and is not subject to arrest, write some well articulated letters regarding what you believe was an unlawful confiscation, a violation of due process and departmental guidelines and then copy a couple of lawyers (you don't actually have to send them copies) and the Internal Affairs chief, demanding the return of your property.

Quoted: and now they won't let him have it back. They came to his house last week claiming that somebody in the neighborhood called and said he was driving around on his scooter with a rifle. (this do NOT happen.) I have known this guy for a long time and he has NO record. The police would not disclose who the caller was and asked if he had a shotgun. He said yes and allowed the police into his home and brought the shotgun out. They immediately took the shotgun and told him he could have it back on Monday. (this was last Thursday.) He then went several times this week to the station to get his property, and the police told him that now their report says that they have witnesses that can confirm he had it out and with him riding. (no way, I know for a fact that this is NOT true, my brother was riding his scooter with him when all this happened.) Any of you guys know what to do here? Thanks.

He learned a valuable lesson. Never invite anyone into your house and offer them information.

Man I cant understand why he let them in the house!

Thats really crazy.
I would contact the NRA and see if they have any progun lawyers in the area that might help out for cheap.

"Never invite anyone into your house and offer them information."

Thats what I told him.

I really feel bad for him. But I suspect that he's goning to have a real tough time getting it back. I know that guy fairly well and I just can't figure out why he got all of this trouble put on him. He and my brother repair old scooters and sell them from time to time. So I am sure they didn't do anything wrong. What the heck is wrong with people these days?

I'll add one item to Happyshooter's good list:

4. Call them once a day bugging them until they finally decide it's easier to return the property they stole than to have to deal with you.  A friend got a car back that the local police stole from him by using this method.  He did have to pay about $2k worth of towing and storage fees, but his car was worth much more than that so he came-out ahead.z

It seems to me that if he isn't being charged with a crime, they can't take his property. Of course they could just say charges are pending for a indefinate amount of time but at some point they should have to give it up.

You might want to have him call the city prosecuter and see what if any charges might be pending. If he says none, go back to the police and tell them that.

You might also have him document this whole thing by writing a letter to the police asking for his property back, send a copy to the prosecuter and one to the district court judge. After that, it is time to get a lawyer.

No offense, but I think there is more to this than you or we know.

I would call everyone I possible could that might be able to help. If they truly took the weapon without good cause, you could make some trouble for teh people responsible. It will take a lot of phone calls and letters though.

As stated before never let the cops into your house and volunteer information. I never let them come inside. Go out and talk to them on the porch if you must.

Ok Guys, It gets more bizarre-

I have friends that live in Redford, and while talking to another friend I jokingly asked him if anyone in the neighborhood had their shotgun taken away. It turned out that not only was it one of my buddies, but it was a shotgun that I sold him about 6 months ago.

(follow me here)

The guy in question has a 'friend' that is always buying things for him to win his friendship and seeing him out with another buddy riding scooters (he bought my friend a Whizzer moped) without him apparently got him pissed enough to call the law on him and anonymously claimed to have seen him riding his moped around with a rifle.

So, the cops show up at his house after he gets back and puts the moped away. My buddy is sitting on the porch. They approached him with their guns drawn, put him in the car, asked him about the 'rifle', asked if they could see the shotgun if he didn't have a 'rifle'. They told him they would have to take it away and that he could come down and pick it up in 2 days.

Here's where it gets bizarre: As I mentioned, I owned the shotgun prior to selling it to him. I purchased it new from a dealer, never fired it and sold it to my friend about 4 years later. It was a Mossberg Bullpup-which any gun guy can tell you looks NOTHING like a rifle. Now, the cops are telling him that they have to keep it for evidence because they believe it was used in a previous crime. I know this isn't true because I not only bought it brand new in the box, but I had to go to that VERY SAME POLICE STATION and register it with my buddy because it is legally considered a pistol in Michigan. They ran the serial numbers while we were there. It was a very long and protracted ordeal (see Waiting Periods in Michigan thread) and I assure you that I'd have been in some HOT water that day. And, funnily enough, they haven't called me this week either.

What it looks like to me is that the cops got a call, responded to a neighborhood pissing contest, and found a guy sitting on his porch in a pair of camo pants or a maybe a sage flight jacket. He was an easy target. My buddy and his wife are good people-polite, well mannered, not quick to provoke argument etc. They aren't rich, don't have a 4 year law degree, and probably don't have a lot of experience dealing with 'Authority Figures'.

True, I wasn't there so I don't know exactly what happened, but I trust this guy. And you can bet that I'm going to be over at the Redford Cop Shop tomorrow or Tues.

Dave

The police station is probably the last place I would go if I were some how connected to this whole mess. I would think about placing a couple of phone calls first.

Quoted: Quoted: and now they won't let him have it back. They came to his house last week claiming that somebody in the neighborhood called and said he was driving around on his scooter with a rifle. (this do NOT happen.) I have known this guy for a long time and he has NO record. The police would not disclose who the caller was and asked if he had a shotgun. He said yes and allowed the police into his home and brought the shotgun out. They immediately took the shotgun and told him he could have it back on Monday. (this was last Thursday.) He then went several times this week to the station to get his property, and the police told him that now their report says that they have witnesses that can confirm he had it out and with him riding. (no way, I know for a fact that this is NOT true, my brother was riding his scooter with him when all this happened.) Any of you guys know what to do here? Thanks. He learned a valuable lesson. Never invite anyone into your house and offer them information.

word.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: and now they won't let him have it back. They came to his house last week claiming that somebody in the neighborhood called and said he was driving around on his scooter with a rifle. (this do NOT happen.) I have known this guy for a long time and he has NO record. The police would not disclose who the caller was and asked if he had a shotgun. He said yes and allowed the police into his home and brought the shotgun out. They immediately took the shotgun and told him he could have it back on Monday. (this was last Thursday.) He then went several times this week to the station to get his property, and the police told him that now their report says that they have witnesses that can confirm he had it out and with him riding. (no way, I know for a fact that this is NOT true, my brother was riding his scooter with him when all this happened.) Any of you guys know what to do here? Thanks. He learned a valuable lesson. Never invite anyone into your house and offer them information. word.

nope, actually that is a sentence

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: He learned a valuable lesson. Never invite anyone into your house and offer them information. word. nope, actually that is a sentence

Actually TWO sentances.

Well, he got his gun back.


After all this time of getting the run-around, I took a ride up there with him to help straighten it out. Up to this point, he was dealing with this particularly bitchy civilian lady that works there, so that's who we went to see. When we went to the front desk, she wasn't at her desk and while the officer on duty looked for her, she walked in the front door. This time she was dealing with real people, so she couldn't duck and run! We were referred to the detective that was handling the case-an odd term because the case was closed.

He and I went up to the third floor and met with a DIFFERENT detective who hear both my buddies and my story. At first he was a little beligerent, but when the real story came across, he told us that the deputy chief had to review it before his property would be released to him and that he would put a word in for my buddy.

Two days later: "Hello, Mr. XXXXXXXXX?, this is the R.P.D.-you can come down and pick your gun up any time."

I guess it helped to be persistant, but it's a pain in the a$$ to have that many layers of insulation between yourself and the a$$holes that affect your life.

Dave