ROCHESTER, N.H. (AP) – City police said they were just trying to warn drivers about car thefts when they put fliers in unlocked vehicles.
But they stopped the practice after a Gonic resident complained they violated his constitutional rights.
Lee Eisenberg says police officers shouldn’t be going into people’s cars without permission or a warrant. Eisenberg says he thinks police searched his car illegally, because it was clean when he parked it for the night and dirty with ash from the ashtray the next morning, when he found the flier.
He says he complained to the state attorney general, the governor and the U.S. attorney.
Police said they do not believe any vehicles were searched. They said there have been multiple thefts from unlocked cars over the past 18 months and they were just looking for a creative way to warn people.
They rejected leaving the fliers on windshields, arguing that would signal to thieves which cars were unlocked.
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