Police, gas utility workers entering RI homes to shut off gas (why?)

It may be deemed an emergency, in which case the only notification required is a knock on the door.

Reply to
Attila.Iskander
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Obviously the police can't stop theft without going into the homes. If they stand outside, what stops the gas company employee who enters the house from taking the jewelry?

Reply to
trader4

People have different communication styles. For example, I don't watch TV at all. You can reach me by phone, AM radio, email. Other people don't own computers. Stickers on the entry door would have helped reach some of them. Bilingual, with the text both in French and Russian. But not in American (ha, ha. Why does everyone assume that bilingual means English and Spanish? Why do people not know that English and American are noticably different languages?)

Of course, it's not fair to the people who were home (and cold) to delay everyone 24 hours, turning on the gas.

As I've stated, I think it would make FAR more sense to send in locksmith and fire department. The FD guys know more about gas appliances, and have more appropriate authority to make entries.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

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Yeah, sure, real practical. If the gas company can't reach someone by phone, what is the probability that a 24hr notice is going to work? 24 hour notice in a newspaper? Real practical. That would make the

24 hours into more like 72 hours accounting for the time before publication the ad would have to be placed, allowing for the person to actually buy the paper, read it, etc. You read those little ads in the back? Or are you suggesting they buy the front page? And in the meantime, everyone else sits in a cold house.

For the record, there was TV, radio, and newspaper coverage of the event, which would seem to be sufficient, unless you need an ad with your name in it to pay attention.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

Does not matter. Protocol of the gas company is to inspect each unit to be sure the pilot is lit and gas if flowing properly through a purged line.

When they did some work on the line feeding our building at work, I had to take a gut to every gas unit in the building to check out.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

Good point. I use gas, so even though I buy diesel hadn't really factored in that heating oil is $3+ a gallon now. So, $6,000 sounds possible. And if that's right, then the payback on a new boiler would be real fast. With any old boiler of that vintage any significant oil bills, doing it last year when there was the 30% fed tax credit made sense.

Reply to
trader4

As an imagined expert on everything you don't understand much about gaseous fuel burning systems and devices do you?

If you ran the "home guy" gas utility would you simply instruct your field crews to turn on the main valve and hit the road after a pipe breech that depressurized the system was repaired?

Reply to
George

But the gas utility is responsible for everything up to and including the meter. It is a non trivial deal to replace everything and in addition the residents add more to the cost.

The utility that supplies NG here is going block by block doing upgrades. They need to dig up the street and also either trench or tunnel to each premise and obviously get inside access to remove the old meter and redo the piping. A relative who works for a contractor that does that work says it is guaranteed a number of homeowners will pile on with lawsuits and demands for repairs of imaginary damage.

Same deal with CATV. There is a "elite" development that borders a country club/golf course near here. The buried cabling will not support the new services and when the company started trying to replace it they were hit with claims of damage to zillion dollar landscaping so the cable company abandoned the update and those folks don't get the services the cable company runs on the higher frequencies that have high attentuation on the old infrastructure.

Reply to
George

...or you might shoot them.

Reply to
krw

Attila.Iskander wrote the following:

It was a 'pre-emtive strike' to prevent a possible emergency situation that could develop.

Reply to
willshak

Oren wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

There is a difference between misdemeanor possession and felony possession with intent to sell. I think there is even possession of marijuana that isn't even a misdemeanor.

I was trying to make a difference between having something "illicit" for personal use and having the means to destroy others.

In many towns the shortage of police means that simple burglaries aren't even investigated anymore. I don't know where the boundary is between something to be investigated or not. Probably differs from town to town.

Here we were discussing the need to protect property and lives from destruction by malfunctioning natural gas equipment. Whether or not incidental viewing of less than legal materials would be reported or followed up. I am saying - it depends.

Reply to
Han

r@

=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D

Nope, "proper notice" is 48 hours in this state -- which is why the gas company hired the police to stand guard outside the homes they entered... Posting some kind of notice is begging for a response from those notified... Then everyone will want their house checked first or "after work" -- the way the gas company chose to deal with it allows the gas company to deal with the emergency according to their plans and on their schedule, without having to deal with input or specific time requests from the property owners which would no doubt follow being notified of a need to enter...

~~ Evan

Reply to
Evan

Yup, that is called "discretionary powers" cops can arrest, issue a court summons or take no action whatsoever when they come across violations of most laws, very few laws REQUIRE a police officer to arrest someone, less than a handful in most states...

The same power is called "prosecutorial discretion" when the district attorney decides whether or not to prosecute the cases filed with their office by law enforcement agencies... Very few laws REQUIRE the district attorney's office to prosecute persons charged with committing violations of the statutes...

~~ Evan

Reply to
Evan

Correct, plain view is only what you can see without touching or moving anything to see it...

Calling something in "plain view" because one side of an object is available for visual inspection does not make the concealed sides in plain view at all...

The officer in the above referenced situation should have tried to determine whether or not said stereo equipment was hooked up and in use... They then could have noted how many pieces of such equipment were located in the home... A stack of unconnected equipment would be suspicious but unless the serial numbers were visible without touching or moving the objects, all the officer could do is apply for a search warrant to check the serial numbers based on the knowledge of a rash of recent thefts of similar items and discovering a strange stash of such items inside someone's house while there on another matter and see if the judge decides based on the facts whether or not probable cause exists...

~~ Evan

Reply to
Evan

LOL, umm, they are there to see that nothing was carried out and which technician entered which house -- if something is later reported missing, the police know exactly who did it and the crime was committed "in presence" which means all the cop has to do is testify in court that whichever person entered the home was the only one to do so and items were later reported missing -- unless by happenstance or random chance someone else burglarized that same home the missing items would be found somewhere the gas company employee has access to if they were responsible for the thefts, the "in presence" police officer witnessing someone entering the home where the items are later reported missing is enough probable cause to obtain a blanket search warrant to examine every aspect of that person's life, property and activities via phone/internet/e-mail...

The police couldn't stop the thefts if THEY were the ones stealing either, but by the officer remaining outside documenting who enters the police can not themselves be accused to the theft...

~~ Evan

Reply to
Evan

You believe wrong.

I have a valve where my gas line taps into the street main. It is about

4 ft from the curb and 4 feet down under pavement and dirt.
Reply to
bud--

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I don't remember if posts said they are turning the gas off at houses. If they are, if you have air in the supply can you have air/gas burning in the pipes like "backfire" in an oxy/acetylene torch?

More likely, entry is to make sure particularly furnaces and boilers are operating. If gas was out here my boiler would try to operate, not have been able to light, and would 'lock out'. Thus no heat until reset. Water heaters could also have a problem. May also have to purge air from gas lines. It is standard procedure here to check houses after gas has been out. It is more critical when temperatures are low. Don't remember using locksmiths to get in.

Reply to
bud--

There you go again, making things up. From the news reports it's not clear whether police actually entered the homes or not. YOU are claiming they just stood watch to make sure nothing was stolen. Which of course doesn't preclude the most obvious theft. That being the gas company employee taking watches, jewelry, cash, anything they can fit in their pockets or tool box.

Nor can they stop the gas guy from stealing if they just stand watch outside. Show us where it says that the just stood watch please.

Reply to
trader4

Yep. One of the areas in which discretion has been removed is in the arena of domestic abuse. If the cops get called to a "family dispute," almost always SOMEBODY has to go to jail.

Reply to
HeyBub

It would stimulate the economy if we can get Federal funding to do it. We'll hire only single mothers and provide day care for the children. Many will need transportation, but that would stimulate the taxi industry too. Of course, ObamaCare will pay for the cab service.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

What was it that one of BeeHO's minions said? "We don't want these jobs going to White male construction workers." He also gave a boost to giving Affirmative Action morons the jobs when his remarks included not wanting the jobs to go to highly skilled people who are already professionals. Robert Reich, I wonder what his connection to The Third Reich is? Same tactics as the National Socialists of Germany in the last century when they destroyed the government from within seem to be in play here and now. o_O

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TDD

Reply to
The Daring Dufas

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