Burglary and Trespass Lawyer in Scottsdale, AZ

Two prosecuting offices divide this work. Scottsdale's City Attorney, through its Prosecution Division, handles misdemeanors that happen inside the city, and by that office's own description, a state felony from Scottsdale belongs to the County Attorney or the Arizona Attorney General. Most trespass lands on the city side. Under A.R.S. 13-1502(C) the third degree offense is a class 3 misdemeanor; unlawfully entering a nonresidential structure or a fenced commercial yard is a class 2 misdemeanor; and an unlawful entry into the fenced yard around a home is a class 1 misdemeanor. A Scottsdale Police trespass citation therefore generally goes to the city court on 75th Street. Burglary never stays there: all three degrees are felonies, as is first degree trespass inside a residence.

The first report usually starts with a phone call. Scottsdale's online crime report form takes certain lower-value thefts and damage claims, but it sends anyone reporting a burglary to (480) 312-5000, and anything still happening to 911. Property crimes then move to the Investigations section of the Professional Standards and Investigative Services Bureau, where detectives and analysts take over.

Private property owners have a Scottsdale form for trespass. On its Crime Prevention Unit page, the department offers a Trespassing Enforcement Authorization; once an owner or someone in lawful control signs it, every Scottsdale Police officer becomes that owner's agent for trespass and criminal damage enforcement on the property. Its checkboxes track the statutes it cites (A.R.S. 13-1502, 13-1503 and 13-1504): residential and non-residential property, structures, fenced commercial and residential yards, and unfenced residential yards. It names a local contact reachable around the clock, bars anyone without written permission from a vacant property, commits the owner to help prosecute, and expires a year after signing unless revoked sooner in writing. We ask early whether a signed form existed, who signed it and whether it had lapsed.

The city also regulates the signs. Under its sign rules, No Trespassing signs have to say Private Property, cite A.R.S. 13-1502 and go up at all common or reasonable entrances, wording that lets a police officer enforce them. That fits the statute, which requires either reasonable notice that entry is prohibited or a reasonable request to go, made by an officer, the owner or whoever else lawfully controls the property, and which treats an officer asking on the owner's behalf as the owner (13-1502(A)(1) and (B)). A sign missing from the gate you used, or a request that never happened, can matter.

Video is often the larger issue. Through the free CamerEyes registry, Scottsdale residents and businesses let police know they have cameras, so detectives know whom to ask after a break-in. The department has no direct access to those systems, and a registrant asked for footage does not have to hand it over. Recordings that help the defense can sit on the same systems, so we ask owners to preserve them before they are overwritten.

Custody depends on the charge. Scottsdale is one of the cities the Sheriff's Office lists as conducting initial appearances on its own city charges, so a person booked only for trespass may stay in the City of Scottsdale Jail at the Downtown Scottsdale Police Station, the same 75th Street address as the court. In a city booking, jail video must be requested from the Prosecution Division in writing, inside 30 days of the arrest, or it may be gone. Burglary is not a city charge. The county's Initial Appearance Court sits in the Intake, Transfer and Release facility, 2670 S. 28th Dr., Phoenix, and under Rule 4.1 that hearing has to happen within 24 hours of arrest. According to the Sheriff's Office, no prosecutor has reviewed or accepted the charges read there yet, and a case the County Attorney turns down may return to the investigating agency.

Avoiding jail is not the same as avoiding a conviction. Any burglary conviction is a felony, which makes a person a prohibited possessor of firearms under A.R.S. 13-3101 until the right is restored. Criminal trespass appears on the domestic violence list in A.R.S. 13-3601, so a trespass at the home of a former spouse, a co-parent or a close relative can carry a DV designation and its release terms. A burglary record can also come up in background screening for jobs that send workers into homes, and anyone who is not a U.S. citizen should get immigration advice before any plea.