Can I Call the Cops on My Roommate

If your roommate is stealing your food and y'all call the police, they ordinarily won't exercise anything.

They need proof, and as well sharing a place means you accept a civil relationship with your roommate, so criminal courts will not hear it.

The police and the courts don't run across it as a serious problem.

From my feel and research, if your roommate is stealing your nutrient, the police won't practise anything.

The reasons are:

i, Proof

The difficulty with your situation is the issue of Proof.

About roommates share the mutual areas of their homes—areas such every bit kitchens, bathrooms, and living rooms. "To make a clear case of theft, y'all have to show that the thief intended to deprive yous of the stolen object permanently and unlawfully." Even if your roommate stole nutrient from your bedroom (which is considered a private area), they could claim that they were 'borrowing' information technology and hadn't had a run a risk to replace it however.

For the police force to be involved would need criminal police, which requires 'across all reasonable dubiety.'

2, You lot have a civil relationship with your roommate

Living with someone means y'all have a civil human relationship. Since your roommate has legal admission to the common areas of your abode and casual access to your bedroom, stealing your nutrient could be seen as non-criminal. Thus, a civil court will need to hear your case. The punishments for civil cases are simply financial (fines) and never jail fourth dimension. Depending on what your roommate stole, they might not heed paying a fine.

To sympathize this, let'south explain the difference:

Civil law

Civil police is about private and civil rights, such equally custody disputes, bankruptcy, defamation, breach of contract, and property impairment.

These are between ii people and not things that are against the land, or that it volition go involved with. The courtroom example volition exist to satisfy the person claiming against the other, rather than to satisfy the state.

Constabulary don't get involved with these things.

Criminal police force

Serious crimes similar homicide, conspiracy, obstacle of justice, possession of a controlled substance have more severe punishments, such every bit going to jail.

The law considers these to be against the land and things it gets involved with. So the police will investigate and act in these circumstances.

Criminal law cases are not about satisfying the person claiming against the other; the government has to exist happy every bit it'due south their rules your roommate has cleaved. As a result, the penalties are more than severe.

Your roommate stealing food isn't big enough to exist an criminal offence confronting the state or federal government.

Only the government can start a criminal courtroom case; members of the public can only apply for a hearing by a civil courtroom.

If the police prosecute a person and using criminal law which puts them in jail, then if the victim would like monetary bounty, they become to civil court to go coin from the person who did the deed against them.

iii, The crime is not big enough for a court to be interested

The police force believe that a roommate stealing your food is non a big enough crime for them to investigate, and a criminal court also won't be interested in hearing the instance. The food is not worth enough coin.

If your roommate has taken something worth hundreds or thousands of dollars, they might be interested in the case.

The considerable cost of police time, lawyers going to courtroom and the court itself would be many times greater than the value of the food.

The law need the courts to prosecute, or they would arrest your roommate, and nothing happens after that. If the courts won't, then there's no point.

Even if the law did exercise something, in that location are reasons why you would not want to go to the law if your roommate is stealing your food.

i, Your roommate will notwithstanding be sharing your habitation with you until the court appointment

If you request a hearing from a civil law court, the police won't arrest your roommate and put them in jail until the court date.

Fifty-fifty if it was criminal, stealing your food is not something that the police force would put your roommate in jail for between when they first kickoff investigating and the court date.

It'southward non severe plenty of a offense to put your roommate in jail until such a time that a court could determine your roommate is innocent, and they are not a danger to the public.

Innocent until proven guilty!

2, Your roommate may nevertheless be living with y'all after the court date

As information technology is a civil case, your roommate won't go to jail. Even if they did, your roommate would not be in there for long every bit it's not a serious enough crime.

And so they are back living with y'all again!

three, You will have to evidence confronting your roommate in court

Courts need the claimant to brand a case, and the police force can't do this without y'all. Do yous want to exist in courtroom testifying against your roommate, the person y'all have to live with!

Legal reasons why the police should do something about your roommate stealing your food

To understand the laws almost stealing food, we need to expect at the idea of theft in general.

Theft is a criminal human action. The punishment for stealing tin can get you a fine of up to $100 and up to 12 months in prison. If the value of the stolen items is more $500, the criminal human activity is now a felony. This category has college fines and more time in jail. And so the constabulary can punish roommates who steal food.

And then, if y'all call the law, will they practice anything?

In theory, there is no definite answer, but in practice, I have seen that the constabulary won't exercise annihilation, especially as you living together makes it even more complicated.

Other things people who have been in this state of affairs take told me the police force said to them are:

• There's no contained witness
• The police accept limited resources and take to prioritize more than critical cases

If your roommate is stealing other things equally well as food

If your roommate is stealing more than simply nutrient, for example college priced items like electronics, then the law will take it more seriously.

Withal, you still have the same problems as before, such as being able to prove it and having a civil relationship with your roommate.

In the end, from the people I have spoken to and the research I have done, the police withal won't do anything.

You could take your roommate to court yourself

If the constabulary volition not have your roommate to court, you could do it yourself.

You can only make a claim with a civil court, which means you tin can become financial compensation for the food. A ceremonious court cannot put your roommate in prison.

Here are the total impartial facts if you lot want to do it.

How to have your roommate to a civil court

These are the stages:

i. Find your local district court and fill in an application form.

2. The court volition serve your roommate with the papers, or you lot have to pay the courtroom to practice it.

3. Give your roommate a copy of your proof that they stole your food, and you requite the court a copy of it with your application. The court volition also want evidence that you provided the proof to your roommate.

4. Compile all the bear witness you lot can, even if you are not sure it's relevant, still take it to court. Unless of course, it volition injure your side of the case. You demand to bring copies to court for the judge and your roommate.

5. Turn upwards to courtroom on the engagement the court sets for the trial.

Things to consider if you lot accept your roommate to court as the police force won't

Time and effort

It takes ages to fill in the form and become to courtroom.

Information technology may all seem quick and piece of cake, simply past the time you have worked out what proof you demand, washed all the copies of information technology and all the other things that come up and get wrong, it takes ages!

At that place is likewise the mental effort you demand to spend at every stage to think near how you're going to practise it and fight your case.

You may demand to accept time off work to go to court.

Your roommate volition detest y'all

If yous successfully claim against them, it will damage their credit rating. This will make it difficult for your roommate to hire some other place, go credit, even some kinds of jobs.

If they are the kind of roommate that steals food, peradventure fifty-fifty does other nasty stuff too, taking them to courtroom may not be a practiced idea. Yous are living in the same identify, so you are an easy target for them to practise things to you in your own home.

Your roommate may not pay the compensation

Only because the court rules your roommate should pay, it does not mean they volition. Y'all may have to pay for court bailiffs and other things to become your roommate to pay.

Solutions the court can do for you include:

Bank levy: where they take the money from your roommate'southward bank account

Installments: To try and brand the payments affordable

Wage garnishment: The court takes information technology directly from your roommate's salary

Using a debt drove agency: They will take a percentage of the money for their services.

Each state is slightly different.

Should you accept your roommate to court for stealing your nutrient, if the police won't?

Personally from what I have seen, when yous compare the cost and time going to court with the value of the food, going to court for your roommate stealing your food as the law won't is more hassle than it's worth.

Also, the social conflict you will have are not sustainable unless your roommate is a very reasonable and law-constant person.

I have gone to court for some things and so have friends of mine, such as when someone did not pay them for a chore they had done. Information technology takes loads of fourth dimension, ever more than expected. If the person y'all are taking to court is not the type of person who respects the constabulary, it's even more than hard because they play effectually and cause even more issues.

People tend just to realize and believe how much time and endeavour information technology takes to take someone to court subsequently they accept done information technology themselves.

If you lot need compensation for a massive thing which is worth thousands of dollars, information technology may be worth information technology, but not for anything less.

Should y'all bluff that you're going to call the police or take your roommate to a civil courtroom for stealing your food?

If your roommate is a hardened criminal, they will know what the police volition and will non do.

Your roommate will know that if you call the police as they are stealing your food, the police force won't do anything.

If your roommate is more innocent, naive, and unlikely to look upwardly on Google what will happen, then this may work. Nonetheless, if the bluff does not work, then your roommate will non believe you in the future, and your life sharing a identify with them will exist harder.

Personally, I would non bluff that I am going to call the law if my roommate is stealing my food unless they are a very naive pushover.

If you barefaced that you are going to court, they don't believe you lot and continue stealing your food. The next step is to make full in the forms, compile the testify, and show them that everything is ready for you to submit your claim class to the court.

If this does not terminate your roommate from stealing your food, and then you have to follow through, or your roommate will not believe your threats again.

What to do

Lots of people would like to phone call the police force when their roommate is stealing their food considering they don't want to deal with it themselves and would like the law to practice it for them.

This is because they don't desire social friction with their roommate and could even exist beingness bullied by them. The law exercise non encounter this as severe enough for their services, as you should be able to resolve these issues yourself with your roommate or even move place if needed.

The constabulary see themselves equally beingness for things you cannot deal with yourself, such as if you are threatened with violence, or have an intruder into your habitation.

Things yous can do yourself

If you lot can't resolve this issue with your roommate, the best things to do are practical solutions, and so your roommate doesn't or can't steal your food. Such every bit having a lockable refrigerator in your room, and the many other solutions in this article.

I carefully researched and got advice from roommates who accept had this trouble and solved it.

Sources

i, Quora. Tin can you lot phone call the police on someone in your house stealing things from y'all?

two, Officer.com. Theft past roommate

3, Britannica.com. What Is the Divergence Between Criminal Law and Civil Law?

4, Quora. If a roommate is taking my nutrient, is information technology silly to threaten to call the cops?

5, Quora. Is stealing a roommate's food a crime?

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Source: https://roommateexpert.com/should-i-call-the-police-if-my-roommate-is-stealing-my-food/

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