Concerned w/ 2010 Census & have question

[Guest XclntONE]

Census takers have recently started to show up in my neighborhood. While I have no problem with the standard census, it much like everything else, has become too expansive in recent years. After reading the questions on the current draft I told my wife not to answer the door, and that we will not be speaking to these individuals due to the nature of the questions, which included questions such as "what time do you leave for work in the morning?"

Recently, a census worked came to the door, I saw him and did not answer. I watch him proceed into the front yard and write some information in his handheld and do what appeared to be GPS tagging. Now, I don't mind this either if it is done for a reason such as mapping for navigation, etc. because at this point he was just tagging from the sidewalk in front of the house. At this point, I proceeded upstairs to my office and approximately 15-20 minutes later I went down to the kitchen for a soda and noticed the census worker was now in my back yard, again tagging and roaming around my property. At this point, I went outside and confronted the individual. After numerous requests he finally left my property after I threatened to call the sheriff.

My question is, do the census workers have a) any right to roam around my property at will? any reason to be geotagging my back yard?

I didn't get an answer out of him as far as what his reason was for being in the back yard. I was more concerned with him simply removing himself from my property. Looking back, I wish I would have asked some more questions.

Here's a link to the current census questions if anyone hasn't read them yet. http://www.census.gov/2010census/pdf/2010ACSnotebook.pdf

[Oh Shoot]

I have heard both Rush and Neal Boortz rant re the census.

Both claim they will honestly tell the names of the full time occupants of their residence, and that's it. Period.

AFAIK, there is no law requiring even this level of information from you, and if there is, certainly no more than this.

- OS

[bteague2]

Sometimes I wish warning shots were legal.

[Steelharp]

Sometimes I wish warning shots were legal.

See, there are times when an ND while cleaning a Glock could come in handy...

[Smith]

If they are in my backyard it will not be pleasant. Makes me wish I still had my Great Pyrenees!

[Titansfan]

I have read that the census people with 'mark' the front door, with GPS. It will provide coordinates for the census. As for walking around the backyard, I am sure my demeaner will change and confrontation will become negative. What time I leave for work is not the business of the ACORN, I mean census people.

[Steelharp]

I was a census taker in 2000; no, you cannot scour the property... unless they've changed the laws this time around.

[Guest db99wj]

Had one come by my house last weekend. She was just tagging (I assume with the handheld and verifying address numbers. She did not ask or give me any ?s.

[timcalhoun]

I have only answered names and ages for every census I have taken. One of our neighbors was the census taker that came in and took the info from me. She asked me why I would only answer those questions, and I said it is none of the governments business how much money I make, what color I am, what religion I am or what color underwear I prefer.

[TGO David]

Sometimes I wish warning shots were legal.

If they are in my backyard it will not be pleasant. Makes me wish I still had my Great Pyrenees!

Nice.

My father in law is working for the Census this year, doing the geo-tagging. They have the same rights to be on your property as a Law Enforcement Officer does. No Trespassing Signs mean nothing to them as they are not trespassing when they are in execution of their official duties.

That being said, my father in law has also had a firearm pulled on him, brandished and in some cases pointed directly at him by people on several occasions now. I can't tell you how good it makes us feel when we hear stories like that only to come on here where we generally pride ourselves on having moral, legally responsible folks as members, and read crap like this.

Like I said, nice.

Sooner or later, someone is going to end up shooting one of these Census employees and all hell is going to break loose among the anti's because of it.

The reason they may knock on your door or walk around your house is to try to see if someone is home to answer a question for them. Typically that question is going to be along the lines of "Can you verify the address here please?". The folks who are out and about right now aren't even information takers. They are just mapping out every place where people MIGHT live in the continental US. They even have to tag homeless camps.

Do with that and your Reynolds Wrap what you may.

[Guest jos2f]

I would be interested to see something in writing that states a census taker can / can not roam around your private property. Since we've heard two different takes on it, can someone offer legal clarification?

[Fallguy]

I too had a census worker come by. She simply dropped off a information sheet of what is to come.

In 1990 I delivered question packets to houses I WISH they would have had and used GPS back then.

I'm not sure I'd compare them to a LEO as far as coming on your property, but yes, they are, BY LAW, allowed to enter and exit your property. See Section 223 of Title 13, Chapter 7 of United States Code.

-CITE-

13 USC Sec. 223 01/03/2007

-EXPCITE-

TITLE 13 - CENSUS

CHAPTER 7 - OFFENSES AND PENALTIES

SUBCHAPTER II - OTHER PERSONS

-HEAD-

Sec. 223. Refusal, by owners, proprietors, etc., to assist census

employees

-STATUTE-

Whoever, being the owner, proprietor, manager, superintendent, or

agent of any hotel, apartment house, boarding or lodging house,

tenement, or other building, refuses or willfully neglects, when

requested by the Secretary or by any other officer or employee of

the Department of Commerce or bureau or agency thereof, acting

under the instructions of the Secretary, to furnish the names of

the occupants of such premises, or to give free ingress thereto and

egress therefrom to any duly accredited representative of such

Department or bureau or agency thereof, so as to permit the

collection of statistics with respect to any census provided for in

subchapters I and II of chapter 5 of this title, or any survey

authorized by subchapter IV or V of such chapter insofar as such

survey relates to any of the subjects for which censuses are

provided by such subchapters I and II, including, when relevant to

the census or survey being taken or made, the proper and correct

enumeration of all persons having their usual place of abode in

such premises, shall be fined not more than $500.

-SOURCE-

(Aug. 31, 1954, ch. 1158, 68 Stat. 1023; Pub. L. 85-207, Sec. 17,

Aug. 28, 1957, 71 Stat. 484.)

Although I admit roaming the back yard does sound a bit suspicious...and if he felt he was authorized to be there, he should have said that instead of ignoring the question.

Also...it is illegal to ignore or give false answers. See their FAQ

[Mike.357]

why would they need to be in the back yard? Front door or end I driveway I can buy into. Not sure what they are looking for behind my house.

I am not sure why they do this anyway. IRS seems to be able to find me just fine, why not the census people?

[Guest XclntONE]

i have heard they are looking for other "dwellings" on the property. if you do a little searching on google, you will find reports of them knocking on detached garages and everything else.

[Fallguy]

i have heard they are looking for other "dwellings" on the property. if you do a little searching on google, you will find reports of them knocking on detached garages and everything else.

Hmmm.....good point and that could be it.

Back in 1990 part of my area was the river shore. I was suppose to actually go up and down the shore to see if anyone might be living in some sort of structure there.

[Guest jos2f]

So it seems that not answering could get you a fine of not more than $100 WAIS Document Retrieval

Then again, who is to say if I am fully capable of answering all the questions? I wonder who determines that.

Edited May 4, 2009 by jos2f

[EMTRN]

Makes me wish I still had my Great Pyrenees!

See my avatar!

[poak]

Sometimes I wish warning shots were legal.

That reminded me of "O'Brother, where art thou?"... the scene where the kid notes that "I nicked a cenus man" right before informing Pete that his parents have "R-U-N-O-F-T"

[Guest HexHead]

This was on their FAQs, I suspect they're gonna get a lot of "none of your damn business" responses.

We ask four general questions about the household:

If the housing unit is owned or rented

Telephone number

How many people live in the residence

If any additional people who lived at the residence on April 1, 2010, were not included

And for each household member, we ask:

Name

Sex

Age/date of birth

Relationship to the person who owns or rents this residence

Hispanic origin

Race

Does this person sometimes live or stay somewhere else

Especially after I ask if they're part of ACORN.

[Tempest455]

They came to my door. What is strange to me, I watched them go around the neighborhood and I did not see them stop at every house???

[Guest MediaBuster]

I'll tell them to eat if they are affiliated with Acorn..

[mcurrier]

I too had a census worker come by. She simply dropped off a information sheet of what is to come.

Why the need for more than one trip? Why the need for any trips? I thought that they used to just send you the form in the mail.

[TGO David]

Why the need for more than one trip? Why the need for any trips? I thought that they used to just send you the form in the mail.

They have to know where and how many forms to send.

[Guest Policek9Trainer]

Now I might get heat from some of you, but having worked for Federal, county, parish and city governments since I was 19, I already feel the government knows too much already about my life. I simply refuse to answer questions as I feel its none of their business and to go look at the city and county records of who pays the electric, water and sewer bills. But yet they would rather expend more local government monies to try and obtain more from the federal level, which only increases the amount we pay for supplying resources that doesn't get paid back (ie CA who mimics the feds in unable to manage monies). Cities now pay for sports which I certainly don't see as a benefit to me in any way when they let these owners of these teams pad their pockets in tax breaks as one of the many examples. Just my opinion.

[mcurrier]

They have to know where and how many forms to send.

Doesn't the IRS already have that info?