I was under the impression that even though it was a civil matter the police will assist if a landlord is locking you out (which I assume is this person's fear). I even found this website that is a police training manual addressing landlord/tenancy issues. "If lockouts are also civil, when should the police intervene? Lockouts are emergency in nature, because a tenant locked out illegally may have no place to live and may have no access to his most basic personal property. A civil lockout action cannot ordinarily provide immediate relief. As a result, the police should always intervene. Police intervention is really a quick method of restoring the status quo while the parties litigate their rights in civil court." I know that doesn't mean it applies to every cop around the country but I have heard the same locally from cops. Like I said I could be completely in the wrong but there's definitely some confusion as to if police will step in when someone is kicked out of a residence.