Trespassers

[locknid]

here in AZ good ol' fashion criminal trespassing is a class 3 misdemeanor. This of course can change into a felony quickly in certain situations.

13-1502. Criminal trespass in the third degree; classification

A. A person commits criminal trespass in the third degree by:

1. Knowingly entering or remaining unlawfully on any real property after a reasonable request to leave by the owner or any other person having lawful control over such property, or reasonable notice prohibiting entry.

2. Knowingly entering or remaining unlawfully on the right-of-way for tracks, or the storage or switching yards or rolling stock of a railroad company.

B. Criminal trespass in the third degree is a class 3 misdemeanor.


Almost every private property in AZ has no trespassing signs when you enter or somewhere on the building if it is non-residential. Even when this is the case you still must give someone a warning and if they refuse to leave or come back then they can be arrested. Thing is that verbally trespassing doesn't really do anything because there is no proof, unless you are legally able to audio record. Or like with my company we have trespass warning forms. Which we read to the person which states the law, they sign it, we take their picture if possible, get as much info about the person and put it on the sheet. Even with this the responding LEO still might not like it so it is unwise to arrest someone because then you can be liable.

Third option is call LE and have them come out to trespass the person. Thing is it is often difficult to have a person willingly stay to wait for the police, and you can not make someone stay because then you are detaining which you can't do in AZ. Second, even at slow periods of the day PD can take up to an hour or more for a trespasser. So basically I just tell the person to leave, get ID if possible, and inform them that if they come back or refuse to leave they will be arrested. For the most part they don't come back. For the stubborn ones I will actually call PD. Once I have the trespass on record, which stays in the PD computer system, I will arrest them the very next time I see them. For the most they are drunk homeless people where I work who are always asking customers for money which creates the "breach of peace" which is needed for a private person to make a misdemeanor arrest.

[davis002]

In Minnesota it is a misdemeanor in most cases. It can be a useful tool but the trespass notices are only good for 30 days at a shot.

Actually, it's one year.

[Miguel]

In Spain it can be judged a felony or a misdemeanor depending of the circumstances of it and the mood of the court.

Usually it´s just considered a misdemeanor, unless the bad guy has used a great deal of violence. So most of the times he walks free paying a small fine.

If the court rules it a felony, the trespasser can be senctenced up to 4 years in jail, depending on which kind of property is (higher penalties in case it´s a home) and the amount of violence used. But few trespassers go to jail.

Not much respect of private property in this country those days.

[CorpSec]

Actually, it's one year.

I work in St. Paul and we go with the Trespassers Alert Program (TAP) form. We have signs at all the entrances to our buildings notifying trespassers that St. Paul Police have been granted the authority to "issue and enforce trespassing notices on your buildings private property"

I am looking at the TAP trespass warning form as I type this and it does indeed state "30 days"

I am sure your right that it could be a year in some cases, but in St. Paul, through their program, it is a paltry 30 days.

[N. A. Corbier]

I work in St. Paul and we go with the Trespassers Alert Program (TAP) form. We have signs at all the entrances to our buildings notifying trespassers that St. Paul Police have been granted the authority to "issue and enforce trespassing notices on your buildings private property"

I am looking at the TAP trespass warning form as I type this and it does indeed state "30 days"

I am sure your right that it could be a year in some cases, but in St. Paul, through their program, it is a paltry 30 days.

Are you issuing this, or is a law enforcement officer acting as the agent of the owner issuing this? This would have bearing on what they want to enforce.

[CorpSec]

Are you issuing this, or is a law enforcement officer acting as the agent of the owner issuing this? This would have bearing on what they want to enforce.

We issue them. The police enforce them if they are broken.

[davis002]

I work in St. Paul and we go with the Trespassers Alert Program (TAP) form. We have signs at all the entrances to our buildings notifying trespassers that St. Paul Police have been granted the authority to "issue and enforce trespassing notices on your buildings private property"

I am looking at the TAP trespass warning form as I type this and it does indeed state "30 days"

I am sure your right that it could be a year in some cases, but in St. Paul, through their program, it is a paltry 30 days.

I am not familiar with the TAP. We have more accounts on the other side of the river, but even at our accounts in St. Paul we trespass for a year, as state statute allows...

609.605 TRESPASS.
Subd 2. A person is guilty of a misdemeanor if the person intentionally:
(1) permits domestic animals or fowls under the actor's control to go on the land of another within a city;
(2) interferes unlawfully with a monument, sign, or pointer erected or marked to designate a point of a boundary, line or a political subdivision, or of a tract of land;
(3) trespasses on the premises of another and, without claim of right, refuses to depart from the premises on demand of the lawful possessor;
(4) occupies or enters the dwelling or locked or posted building of another, without claim of right or consent of the owner or the consent of one who has the right to give consent, except in an emergency situation;
(5) enters the premises of another with intent to take or injure any fruit, fruit trees, or vegetables growing on the premises, without the permission of the owner or occupant;
(6) enters or is found on the premises of a public or private cemetery without authorization during hours the cemetery is posted as closed to the public;
(7) returns to the property of another with the intent to abuse, disturb, or cause distress in or threaten another, after being told to leave the property and not to return, if the actor is without claim of right to the property or consent of one with authority to consent;
(8) returns to the property of another within one year after being told to leave the property and not to return, if the actor is without claim of right to the property or consent of one with authority to consent;
(9) enters the locked or posted construction site of another without the consent of the owner or lawful possessor, unless the person is a business licensee; or
(10) enters the locked or posted aggregate mining site of another without the consent of the owner or lawful possessor, unless the person is a business licensee.

I am guessing that the TAP program is enforced by city ordinance and not state statute. Which is unfortunate, because 30 days is practically worthless when it comes to repeat offenders. Prior to 8/1/2005 it was only 30 days, so perhaps the TAP program is outdated? Does the form reference statute or ordinance? That would answer it.

[davis002]

Also, Corpsec if you want... I created an abridged version of the Minnesota State Statutes in PDF. If you want a copy, PM me your email addy and i'll send you one.

[CorpSec]

"I am guessing that the TAP program is enforced by city ordinance and not state statute. Which is unfortunate, because 30 days is practically worthless when it comes to repeat offenders. Prior to 8/1/2005 it was only 30 days, so perhaps the TAP program is outdated? Does the form reference statute or ordinance? That would answer it."

It references the PD's ability to enforce the state statute. I checked when we received our TAP stuff and you hit the nail on the head, it is outdated. I wonder why they haven't mentioned anything since some of the people we trespass based on a request from PD directly.

I will have to get them updated since a year has a lot more teeth to it. Thanks!

[davis002]

When the state statute changed, Minneapolis immediately followed suit with their ordinance. Why St Paul didn't seems strange to me, but oh well. You have no idea how happy I was when the law changed. Before that, I would almost make appointments with the repeat offenders, "See you in 30 days". Some even treated it like some sort of game. 8/1/2005 I trespassed as many people as I could to get the word out

[CorpSec]

We have a top shelf working relationship with St. Paul PD and the local Business Office and Manager's Association. I don't think I will run into much resistance in changing the notices to one year.

It might have been that the cops themselves just were not aware of the change. Since they don't want them in the buildings either, I can't imagine that they wouldn't be in favor of the one year trespass.

The problem that we run into is that some of the local troublemakers don't have any issue with going to jail in the winter. We had a guy ring the buzzer the other night to turn himself in on a warrant.

[davis002]

The problem that we run into is that some of the local troublemakers don't have any issue with going to jail in the winter. We had a guy ring the buzzer the other night to turn himself in on a warrant.

Yup I've noticed that when we get below zero temps, we get more contacts with homeless people. They get drunk and start problems knowing that if they are lucky, they go to detox for awhile. A warm bed and a hot meal isn't bad punishment when you are homeless and it's -15 degrees.

[CorpSec]

Information from a local prosecutor is that while Minnesota did go to a one year trespass, her and the judges will only enforce a 30 day trespass notice for St. Paul.

That is too bad since the one year trespass has a lot more bite to it. I suppose we could issue them for a year, have them arrested if they come back, and if it gets thrown out, so be it.

But, since the business community here uses the same forms, I am sure we'll stay at 30 days.

[ocp]

here in Columbus Ohio criminal trespass is a forth degree misd. I issue a writen "in-house" criminal trespass form the first time a subject is trespassed from one our properties. the 2nd time the subject is observed or stopped on the property, I file a criminal complaint for tresspass with the clerks of courts. at this point when the subject fails to show up for his court date and the subject is again stopped on the property, the police is called because the dumbass has a warrant. Believe it or not this happens all the time.

[pigstalker]

tresspassers keep tresspassing on my establishment.. those twats