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It also seems that most of the posts are assuming you have to go through the gate to get to the front door. Do the same rules apply to a backyard that's fenced like us city slickers have? Not talking police, I know they can go back there.

EEllis wrote:We have already established that the law, and most people, don't consider an unposted, unlocked gate to mean "STAY OUT!"

I'm not a lawyer. I'm genuinely asking. I always considered a fence (gated or not) to mean I better have a good reason to cross it. 30.05 says notice includes "fencing or other enclosure obviously designed to exclude intruders or to contain livestock". It doesn't say anything that gates have to be locked.

So maybe I'm rare when thinking it's probably not ok (in fact dangerous) to start opening people's gates and wondering in their fenced backyards (especially if there are no meters back there). But under the law does a 6 foot fence have to have locked gates for it to be "obviously designed to exclude intruders"?

To me, the scary part is trying to figure out what I would do if I knew my young son or grandson was in the backyard and I heard/saw someone (in uniform or not) shoot my dog and was heading toward the youngster. Hopefully the uniform would cause me to hesitate (which would probably just get me shot).

Admittedly I don't know what the answer is but situations like this can't be allowed to happen! Additional fail-safes need to be put in place to stop an officer from going into the backyard of a wrong address and opening fire unless there is a VERY compelling reason. Just saying this is an unfortunate mistake with no consequences is not good enough.

I could see this turning far more tragic than a dead dog and I sure wouldn't want to have to explain to a young child why a police officer shot their dog or have my wife have to explain why the police officer shot me! Me explaining why I shot anybody (much less a policeman) is CERTAINLY not something I want to ever have to do!