Michelle Malkin had a post up yesterday about this jackass-tivist in Miami who is moving vagrants into homes he knows to unoccupied because they are either under foreclosure or just for sale.
In the article, they quote a spokesperson for the City of Miami
There are no actions on the city’s part to stop this. It is important to note that if people trespass into private property, it is up to the property owner to take action to remove those individuals.
Now, I understand that the police don’t have time to go around neighborhoods checking to make sure that squatters aren’t holing up in unoccupied houses. And because government can fuck up a whorehouse, I wouldn’t want them to do that.
However, if a homeowner makes a complaint of squatters invading their unoccupied structure, and states that no one other than they, or in the case of a bank owned home, their employees, are allowed to be there, then surely the local precinct can pass this information on to their patrol officers. These guys keep lists of plate numbers posted to their visor, how about a list of addresses that have been reported to have had squatters?
Every address has its interactions with the police recorded in a database. The dispatch department has access to this database, or if the officer has a laptop in their cruiser, they can access it themselves.
Really, just how damn hard can it be to get this situation under control?
And if it is just that damn hard, how much force is a property owner allowed to use in Miami to evict these squatters? Does the City of Miami think it is easier to just wait for some homeowner to go too far so that they can arrest the property owner and not have to worry about complaints from that address any longer?
The actions described herein aren’t just “squatting”, they are, at the very least, Criminal Trespass (entering unlawfully with the intent to remain), or Second Degree Burglary (a felony), or First Degree Burglary if the dweller has sufficient things left behind to give even the slightest indication they might return.
Any person facilitating multiple instances of these crimes can also be charged with Conspiracy to commit those crimes, and probably with RICO (Racketeer-Influenced Corrupt Operations) if there is actually a plan to commit crims, as it seems to be the case here.
Any citizen in that County can go to the DA and demand that indictments against the “organizer” proceed, and if the DA refuses, demand his or her recall for failing the performance of his/her duties.
Most jurisdictions allow non-deadly force to remove simple trespassers … and the use of deadly force if you are occupying your property and they try to break in.
Florida is no exception.
Pay for an armed house-sitter.
Or better yet, rent them, and lower the rent until they are all occupied.
These politicos might decide to actually do their jobs after a few of these bums get shot-up trying to break into these homes.
Sounds like Miami is ready for vigilanteism, sponsored by the banks and homeowners associations!
Last time I checked, entering a locked building without permission was still illegal, and not considered trespassing. It was, as pointed out above, Burglary, and a crime that the police are REQUIRED to respond to when called.
Bill
Wow the rich really have you all watching out for their interests, don’t they?
If you are made homeless by their generated crisis, watching thousands of homes sit unused, now owned by the bankers, I suspect you’ll change your tune.
Keep thinking you’re better than those who are getting screwed *first*.