Expert: Jim Pastore - 9/9/2009

Question
QUESTION: My neighbor informed me that the police have been coming by my house daily and no one has been home.  The officer told the neighbor that they (the neighbor) needed to clean up my yard because that was the reason they had been coming by and that if I did not contact them they would issue a warrant for my arrest.  I do not believe that is proper for them to tell my neighbors my business.  The officer's sergeant finally attempted to come by, then call my father who does not even live at my house to tell him that if I did not contact the officer that day then there would be a warrant issued for my arrest.  Is that possible that they can issue a warrant just because I am not home when they come by my house to serve me with a citation?  Not to mention once again a violation of my privacy on whom I choose to share my personal information with? The officer did post warnings on two vehicles that were not legally parked on the city street.  After he tagged them they were removed within the time frame allowed.  One of the vehicles he cited as being disabled, however it was not disabled he put false information on the warning tag.  Is there anything about the false information?  How can I prevent this from happening in the future with the city Police because this is not the first time this has happened.  They have previously shared my personal information with my father's wife who is not my mother.  Is there any action that I can take to ensure that the city police understand that my personal information is just that my personal information?

ANSWER: Jeffery,

  It is not uncommon to talk with a neighbor if the office sees him outside. It sounds like the officer was being reasonable in attempting to take care of what sounds like a minor zoning infraction without issuing a warrant for you. As for the vehicle being labeled as being disable I would assume that they may have marked the tires in someway and noticed it wasn't moved for a certain period of time. If that is the case then some city ordinances give the officer the right to label it as an (abandon, disabled or even junk) vehicle. More then likely they received some type of complaint that brought them out to your home for either the vehicle or yard. That is usually the case anyway. As for giving out personal information, I'm not sure what information you mean? If it wasn't your social security number or something like that I can't see what the problem was. Hope this helped somewhat. Without knowing the exact circumstances it's difficult to answer your question in more detail.

Jim

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hello Jim what the officer giving out was what I was charge with and needed to get the yard clean up and move the car and trucks that is in the back yard. What is the Utah laws on damage are property as the city repaired the sidewalk and just left it without repair are property damages it was on are side of the sidewalk. We didn't give the city authorization  to damage are cement work. It was two side of it one side is are side of it then the sidewalk. I was just wont are cement work fixed. I had got bids that was $600.00 to repair it my family did have it just thou out. thank you for help me.

Answer
Jeffery,

    If the sidewalk was damaged and the city repaired it then I would think the city would be responsible to repair it so it is not a hazard. By them starting the repair I would think in a way they have shown they are liabale for finishing to repair it. I am not an attorney though. I would either contact the city and ask them when they are going to finish the job. If the city damaged your property while they were repairing the city sidewalk then I would assum they would be responsable to repair the damage to bring it back to the shape it was in prior to them causing the damage. If they give you a bad time then the only othger suggestion is to contact an attorney. As for the onformation that the officer gave out I don't see where the officer violated any privacy laws. Again I am not an attorney this is only my opinion.