|
For Police and Law Enforcement Officials
You have met many of us when a neighbor calls because they see someone breaking into a vacant home. Maybe you are driving past a vacant home and see us breaking in. Sometimes, a new homeowner will call you because someone is in his newly purchased home and he is upset. Often, a homeowner calls you and tells you someone has broken into their home and changed all their locks. You come and ask us what we are doing; you want identification, and some proof we are who we say we are. Sometimes, you'd like to arrest us. You've never heard of such a thing as a bank requesting someone to break into a home and change the locks.
This information is designed to help you come to know that there is an entire industry nationwide that performs such services at the request of the banks. You are familiar with those who repossess automobiles because they must call you to notify you that they are about to repossess a car. We, however, are not required to call the local police department to notify you that we are about to repossess a home. The sheriff and his deputies, as well as court bailiffs and judges are already highly aware of our activities because they must deal with the eviction aspects of repossession. However, homeowners, once they are too far behind in their mortgage payments, just leave their homes and an eviction becomes unnecessary. That is when, we who work with the sheriffs and bailiffs during evictions, are allowed to perform our work without the sheriff's or bailiff's assistance.
We almost always will have paperwork with the name of our customer, who is usually a middle person contact between us and the bank that holds the mortgage on the house. That paperwork should always stipulates what we are suppose to be doing at the house - changing locks, winterizing, removing garbage and trash, mowing the lawn, etc. If we are performing this work during 9 to 5 business hours, please contact our customer. They can verify that we are there at the bank's request. Sometimes, however, we work on the weekend, or in the evening hours, because we do this all day long, almost every day. In a way, our hours do not differ from yours very much at all.
Understandably, the homeowner, new or old, or neighbor is upset and you are just doing your job of protecting the neighborhood from burglars and trespassers. And, by all means, not every person breaking into a home is there on legitimate and legal business. We know that and we fully understand your position. This information is meant only to bring to your attention that we are here, operating in your neighborhood and we are performing a legitimate service.
The bank's position is one of protecting the home and maintaining it from the elements and from vandals. We are there to help keep the house safe and to keep you from receiving complaints about smelly garbage, dead animals and over-grown grass and weeds. Frequently, we find weapons and drugs in homes, especially in the inner city. It is then, that we will call you and ask for assistance.
Many of us already have a good rapport with the sheriffs, bailiffs and narcotics units. We would also like to have a good rapport with you. We hope that this information helps you to know who we are as an industry and that you will contact us should you need more information than provided here. S.I.R.s members have photo IDs to help you know the person is a legitimate representative of their customer. However, not all field representatives have photo IDs to show to you and we hope that you will continue to verify anyone's legitimate presence at a house should there be a question and/ or suspicion regarding their presence.
|