No, the police are allowed to knock on doors. You don't have to answer the door but they aren't precluded from knocking.
The police can't come into your home unless they are invited in, they have a search warrant or there are a few exceptions to the search warrant, like hot pursuit of a fleeing felon. But nothing at all stops them from knocking on a door.
And if they see you in there not answering, they can park outside your house and wait for you to come out and talk to you then. You can refuse to answer specific questions about the crime, but they also can detain you for further questioning if you do. Then you can ask for an attorney but if you haven't been charged with a crime, you are not likely to get a public defender and will have to pay for the attorney yourself. You can read about how it works in Ohio for instance if you want to educate yourself on this topic.
https://www.ohiobar.org/ForPublic/Resources/LawFactsPamphlets/Pages/LawFactsPamphlet-21.aspx
The police also can get a warrant based on the FindMyiPhone data coupled with your refusal to answer the door. That would amount to probable cause sufficient to get a warrant to search your house.
[doublepost=1479259574][/doublepost]I think in big urban areas with lots of violent crime that it may be hard to find a cop who will have the time to be able to help but where I live in suburbia, there isn't much violent crime. When someone does get shot around here, about 50 cop cars show up to the scene since they are pretty much just driving around patrolling most of the time.
[doublepost=1479260537][/doublepost]This is a common lay person myth that is propagated by the lay media. You don't press charges. The state does. You can file a report and convey your willingness to be a witness but that is all you would be is the witness and the victim. The district (or state or federal) attorney makes the decision on whether or not to file charges. Cops make the decision on whether or not to arrest someone or if ordered to by the district attorney. You don't get to dictate that simply because you are the victim of a crime.
Well that isn't the standard for an arrest. The standard for an arrest is probable cause. Many times the evidence sufficient to actually convict someone under a beyond a reasonable doubt standard isn't found until after someone is arrested. Probable cause is a much lower bar than beyond a reasonable doubt.
Police aren't attorneys, true but they are educated in probable cause, which is the standard they are held to for an arrest. It sounds to me like these officers worked in a bad part of town and they didn't want to do the paperwork for an arrest for a stolen motorcycle since they spend their days trying to protect people against violent crime.
If that were to happen to you again, you can go to the district attorney and have them review the facts. The DA can order the cops to make an arrest if they feel that an arrest is warranted by the facts.
You also can hire a civil attorney to sue the perpetrator for damages. As part of that process, the civil attorney can contact the DA on your behalf to update the DA on the facts of the case so that the DA can decide if they want to pursue charges or not.
Lots of crimes get committed but most states don't have the resources to pursue them all. That definitely is part of the decision making process of the DA. Some areas are so crime ridden that a lot of theft never gets prosecuted. In your case, it sounds like you encountered either lazy cops or very overworked cops who have a lot of violent crime they are busy dealing with. Regardless of which it was, you could have gone to the DA yourself or hired a civil attorney to represent you.
