DPS Officers Invade an Apartment

This morning at 5 am two MU DPS officers entered an apartment in a university owned apartment complex. They did so because the door was ajar. Not because of loud noises, not because of any suspicious activity, but rather the door was ajar. In doing so they trespassed and committed a Class A misdemeanor according to Wisconsin State Statute 943.14 which states "Whoever intentionally enters the dwelling of another without the consent of some person lawfully upon the premises, under circumstances tending to create or provoke a breach of peace, is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor." The key here is that in entering the apartment and waking and then berating the occupants, the DPS officers clearly intended to wake people and breach the peace of the apartment. As such the officers committed a Class A Misdemeanor.

In addition the officers did not have a right, as agents of the owner of the property, to enter into the apartment under the terms of the lease, particularly Section 4.2(a) of the lease, which states that entering into the apartment is only allowable without prior written and/or verbal consent, if there is a health/safety emergency. Given that a door being ajar is not a clear sign of a safety emergency they, as agents of the owner, did not have the legal right to enter the apartment. Thereby, they not only committed a misdemeanor, but also violated the terms of the lease.

Once again DPS oversteps its bounds and violates the rights of multiple people on campus. In berating the students, they created a climate of fear within the apartment. No one would positively react to people in fake cop uniforms going into his apartment at 5 am, shining flashlights around, opening his bedroom door, and the proceeding to berate him for having an apartment door which was ajar. Hopefully this blatant assault on freedom will not go unpunished and the two officers who committed this crime will be reprimanded in order to guarantee that it never happens again.