OT: I guess shoveling snow for money is illegal.

[Coronita]

[quote=scaredyclassic]Perhaps a cool device would be an automatic recording that plays by speaker when the doorbell is rung:

The police have been automatically contacted. They are on their way. You are in violation of penal code 602 a trespass. Please lie down and put your hands on yr. Head.[/quote]

I prefer a message that says

Push 1 if you want to be pepper sprayed
Push 2 if you want to get shot
Push 3 if you want to be beaten with a night stick
Push 4 if you want to be run over by a car

[CA renter]

[quote=spdrun]No, it shouldn’t be illegal. Burglary and home invasion should be illegal … oh wait. THEY ARE!

How many houses are burgled by people who politely come to the door and ring the bell? How common are “home invasions?” Statistics please… betting that the last thing that most burglars want to deal with is an irate homeowner, possibly holding a weapon.

It’s your right not to answer the door, or even disconnect the doorbell. But it’s disgusting that you support making something illegal just because of your personal preferences and fears. While I agree with a lot of what you say, your “law and order” attitude is frankly nausea-inducing.

No, there oughtn’t be a law, generally speaking. And I’d NEVER call the cops on someone who knocks on my door and offers a service. There’s no worse type of human being in my book than a do-gooder snitch who rats on people who aren’t actually hurting anyone, even if they’re technically breaking some asinine law or other.

Burglary in progress? Violent crime? You bet I’d call the cops. But not for a couple kids going door to door trying to make a few shekels. Anyone who works independently rather than (say) at some crummy fast-food joint for a multinational mega corp should be applauded, not arrested.[/quote]

While I totally get where you’re coming from, we have different perspectives because of our genders, ages, and personal experiences.

In neighborhoods where many elderly ladies live by themselves, having someone bang on the door unexpectedly can be quite frightening (and solicitors do often bang loudly on the door, repeatedly, as opposed to knocking politely).

I once called the cops on some men who were aggressively banging on our door when my husband was out. They were both VERY large, muscular men who looked like they had just left a prison yard where they spent their days lifting weights. They pounded so hard all of the walls shook, and when I told them through the door that we weren’t interested, they keep banging and insisting that I open the door for them. This went on for quite a few minutes. I called another neighbor who I knew was also alone to let her know about them, and they had just accosted her in her driveway and blocked her from going into her house. They were very aggressive with her, but she eventually made her way past them and into her home. We both called the cops on them.

I believe that people have the right to peace and privacy in their own homes. I don’t want to be advertised to or harassed in any way. Personally, I’ve had multiple incidents many years ago where we had bought stuff from kids who were selling magazine subscriptions or Christmas trees and stuff, and we never saw them again; they just took our money. The only people we’ve had successful transactions with were people we already knew to some extent — neighbors selling Girl Scout cookies or candy/wrapping paper for school fundraising, etc.

One time, we were at my MIL’s house in LA, and a man came knocking at the door. When my husband answered it, this man knew my husband’s name and claimed that he knew him from the neighborhood (my husband had lived there in the 80s, so it was plausible). He was very friendly and charming and had all kinds of info about my MIL and DH, so my husband gave him $20-$40 for whatever it was he was “selling” in order to help him out, though he had never heard of this man, and my MIL had never heard of him or his family name though she’s lived there off-and-on since the 1940s/1950s. The man gave my husband a piece of paper with all kinds of identifying information on it “to prove that he wasn’t a scammer.” We looked up the information after he had left, and it was a scam. Scary to think of how this guy got all of this personal information about my MIL and DH, and what he might have been planning to do if my MIL had been alone at the time.

Anyway, I appreciate that you have no problem with people banging on your door unexpectedly at all times of the day and night. Perhaps we should have signs that let them know of your preference so that they can approach people like you while leaving the rest of us alone. I know that I’m not in the minority on this, too, as the vast majority of people I know absolutely hate door-to-door solicitors. And most solicitors do NOT abide by people’s wishes even if they put “no soliciting” signs in their yards or on their front doors.

[spdrun]

All of the behaviors you describe aren’t just knocking on doors looking for business. They crossed the line into trespass, burglary, and fraud.

[CA renter]

[quote=spdrun]All of the behaviors you describe aren’t just knocking on doors looking for business. They crossed the line into trespass, burglary, and fraud.[/quote]

What do you think is the best way to prevent this sort of behavior? I cannot emphasize enough how frightening this can be for women who are alone, especially elderly women.

[spdrun]

Arresting people for the actual crimes mentioned, not licensing and/or arresting everyone who goes door to door and solicits business in a respectful fashion.

[CA renter]

[quote=spdrun]Arresting people for the actual crimes mentioned, not licensing and/or arresting everyone who goes door to door in a respectful fashion.[/quote]

The cops would be so busy following up on reports of harassing solicitors that they would not be able to handle it.

Also, forgot to add that the majority of attempted and actual break-ins in our neighborhood happened when people were pretending to be door-to-door solicitors.

I know we will probably not see eye-to-eye on this issue, but (IMHO) the rights of solicitors, however legitimate they may be (and most around here do NOT seem to be legitimate) do not trump the rights of residents to feel safe, secure, and unmolested in their own homes.

[spdrun]

Considering that most of the bad experiences are created by a few people, it wouldn’t be hard to get rid of the bad actors. Chances are, most of the reports would be about the same few people.

I do think people should have the right to be unmolested, if they post clear signs against soliciting, whereupon solicitors could be treated as trespassers. But unless threats, burglary, fraud, or similar things are involved, I don’t think that solicitation should automatically be cause for a police call in the absence of signs put out by the homeowner prohibiting the same.

[Author]

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