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Ask HN: Why do people open their doors to strangers without police supervision?

1 points by amichail ↗ HN
Why doesn't the police offer a service to provide such supervision?

In particular, if a stranger knocks on your door and you would like to open the door to talk to them, you could use this service to bring a police officer to supervise the interaction to make sure nothing bad happens.

19 comments

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uberman
If you felt you needed police protection to answer the door when a stranger knocked, why not just not answer the door?
amichail
Because maybe you want to talk to the person?
MattGaiser
You want to talk to them enough to wait 15 minutes for the officer to show up (at best)? They want to talk to you enough to wait 15 minutes for the officer to show up?
amichail
There are situations where both parties would be willing to wait 15 minutes to talk.
MattGaiser
In that case, it is usually somewhat pre-arranged (selling goods online)/there is history, so why not go meet at the police station or some other public place to discuss things?
jaclaz
>There are situations where both parties would be willing to wait 15 minutes to talk.

Interesting, can you make a few examples of these situations?

uberman
There are? I have never felt inclined to wait for 15 minutes to talk to a stranger who unexpectedly called to chat.
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jaclaz
15 minutes?

The "at best" that is compatible with 15 minutes for a low-low priority call should mean that he lives the house next the police station.

MattGaiser
1. That would require an significantly increased number of police given the number of day to day interactions. There is already a shortage of police.

2. Why not just keep the door closed if you suspect such a thing? What could a stranger want that would be worth the hassle of getting a police officer that would be worth it? I personally never bother answer the doorbell unless there is a package coming I know I must sign for. Everyone else is selling some poor value service or product.

jaclaz
That would require far too many policemen.

Strangers that have an intention to knock on doors should go to the Police beforehand, state the reason why they want to knock on someone's door and be given a special ID and "license to knock".

When they knock on your door, they show you the ID and licence, that you can scan via a dedicated app that authenticates the person and uploads the date/time of the visit in a database[1] managed by the police, and you remain free to not let them in or open the door to them.

[1] or maybe a blockchain could be used instead

uberman
If someone who intended ill will got to the "scan my fake I'd with that app you have to download now" then it would already be too late.
jaclaz
Naah, the app will only be downloadable by the police playstore, to which you can get access only through 5FA (ID, password, iris scan, fingerprint and drop of blood).
dragonwriter
You can hire private security for this function. Or you can just not answer your door except for people who know or have prescreened.

Such a general service would require such a massive expansion of the police that even if you are in the demographic currently well-served by the police it would be no better than inviting another stranger (but guaranteed to be armed).

thfuran
They probably do it because they aren't driven solely by paranoia and fear.
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mimon
In addition to being completely impractical and unnecessary, you are significantly more likely to be harmed by the police officer than by the random stranger.
dave4420
Why would people not phone instead?

I’m struggling to understand the motivation.

I think if trust in society had fallen enough that people wanted a service like this, then people would not trust the police to provide it, and the government would not be able to afford to fund it.