police liability

Question

homeless people broke into my vacant home. When I discovered this I called police to remove them. They claimed some story about a craigslist scam when police talked to them. Oregon law states I am required to post a 24 hour notice to criminal trespassers which I did and was nice enough to allow them additional time of 14 days . Police would not assist me in removing the people but suggested I take possession of the home by removing their property . I  made entry into MY HOME. I demanded the woman leave and police were called and interviewed us and would not assist me but rather allowed the woman to stay in my home another 24 hours . Regardless she was told to leave notice posted and had zero right to be there. In that 24 my home was vandalized 189k in damages . Police did not enforce the law and I suffered woman still never arrested and known to have done this to other homes in the area can I sue the police

Mr. Michael O. Stevens · Answer

Unlikely you would prevail against the police on this, as they did not do the damage. If you have insurance, file a claim. If the claim is accepted, your insurance company my go after the police in subrogation if they think there is a case.

Joanne Reisman · Answer

It sounds like the police were worried that the squatters had legitimate rights under the landlord tenant laws and were telling you that you needed to follow the procedures to remove someone using the landlord tenant laws.  You put this case under "personal injury" which is why it came to my attention but this isn't a personal injury case.  What you are really asking is if the police may be liable for not acting to protect your property.  I don't know the answer to that.  I only know that the police have discretion as to whether to act or not act in any particular situation and they commonly won't act if they think it is a civil matter.  You can certainly try talking to a lawyer that has experience suing the police.  These cases are usually for civil rights violations when the police use excessive force in making an arrest.  I think it is going to come back to you being responsible for not aggressively pursuing the remedies you had under the landlord tenant laws to evict a tenant and get an FED order that would have enabled you to get police assistance in removing the people.  Your best remedy would be to turn the damage claim into your home owner's insurance and get as much assistance through your insurance as you can to pay for the damages.  You should also call the police and ask them to charge the women for vandalism.  They should be able to do that. In fact, your insurance may insist that you file a police report for vandalism before the insurance will honor your claim.  Make the report to the police regardless of whether they act on it to arrest the women.  (They may say they can't arrest anyone because they can't prove who did the damage.)

Q: police liability