Did Tempe Police Violate My Dad's Civil Rights?
I live with my dad. My dad has an order of protection against my mom served to her by the Tempe police on May 2, 2024. On June 19, 2 officers accompanied my mom (and 2 other people) to my dad’s house, without prior notice, for a civil standby for my mom to pick up her stuff. They came at 4:30pm and left at 5:10pm. When my mom and the officers came, my dad heard noises from the front door, but did not answer, got scared, locked himself in his bedroom, and called me. The officers would not have known anybody was inside the house. I heard a police officer announcing himself in the background of the phone call and told my dad it was all right for him to come out of his bedroom.
A lock on the front metal security door, that was expressly installed to prevent my mom from entering, was broken to allow my mom to gain access and cash that did not belong to my mom was taken during the course of the civil standby.
The officer on scene said the Tempe police system did not show an order of protection against my mom, and my dad had to bring out his paper copy of the order of protection to show to the officers. I have some security camera footage of the civil standby. While my mom and the 2 other people helping her were taking things out, an officer followed my dad around, like my dad was the bad guy, and let my mom and the other 2 people roam between all the rooms without following them in the same way. It feels like the officers were under the impression that my mom was the victim of a domestic violence situation.
Question 1: Was my dad’s civil rights violated?
Question 2: Did Tempe police follow protocol? Does the police not need to coordinate a date and time with the plaintiff of the order of protection for a civil standby?
Question 3: The order of protection says my mom has one opportunity to collect her possessions, but a Tempe sergeant I talked to following the civil standby completed says that she can request more civil standbys if she has more possessions she wants to take out, and it's at the discretion of the police whether to allow it. (Incidentally, the sergeant is the same person who talked to my mom when she requested the civil standby.) Otherwise, my dad might be criminally liable for holding onto my mom's property. Is this true?