Confused about police powers? Should I have said no?

[justastudent]

Hi,

I am based in Manchester and have had a police officer visit my apartment in relation to the man who used to live here prior to myself.

It completely escaped me to record his details down (I was half asleep) but he asked to see/get a photo of my WiFi/Broadband router and any other router the flat has access to.

He also asked if it had changed since I moved it but I has no idea.

Anyway he took the photo and left, but then I did some googling and I’m not sure what exactly he can do using a photo/the information on the back of the router....

Apparently routers only store data for 3-6 months and I have been living here for 7 months, it now feels weird that they might be able to access data relating to myself/flatmate. Are they able to access any data from this? Do you think I should wipe the router?

I also informed my landlord of the visit!

Thanks for any advice guys...don’t know if I’m just being super paranoid now! (Not that I’ve even done anything wrong!!)

It was definitely a police officer?

I'd call the police station and just verify who it was that came out and why tbh. Probably nothing suspicious but worth doing to be certain x

To be honest I’d be tempted to call the station and just ask them. They won’t be able to tell you anything about the case but at least they might confirm for you if it was actually a real officer

Haven't you just given them the info with your password, etc, on? That can't be good!

That sounds quite odd!

So could they now use your router to perform illegal activities as it would show as coming from your router, leaving you in the frame for whatever they do??

Well, for a start he can log into your router unless you've already changed the password from the one on the router. I would change the password now just in case.

yes change the wifi password immediately.

In future you don't need to let anybody in unless they have a search warrant or they believe there is immediate danger or emergency in your property. I would be very reluctant to let a lone police officer in, even if I was sure that he was genuine. I know that as a percentage very few of them are actually murdering bastards but you can't tell by looking which ones are safe.

Thanks everyone! In hindsight it was very silly.

I’m working on changing the password right now, have told my landlord, and have emailed the police to check if this was legitimate.

Also in case anyone cares - it was legit! And actually quite serious but glad to know that they investigated and let me know within the hour :)

oh good!!

Has the previous occupant used your address as the reason they had certain material in their possession?

@BlackAmericanoNoSugar no she didn't HAVE to let the officer in however clearly thankfully she did on this occasion as it's clearly moved what is probably a very serious investigation forward.

Forgot to add police can also enter an address for other reasons aside from what you said, such as affecting an arrest, bail checks and when they know someone is inside who is wanted for an indictable offence.