Suspicious vehicle in my neighborhood

[TrickyDick]

The other day i was leaving the house with my 5 month old to do some light grocery shopping, when i noticed a truck sitting on the street corner. my street has another street that comes off of it, its a loop so its the only way in and out. you have to drive a good 100 ft before you get to a house. so he's sitting there in the area where there is no houses, just waiting. my first thought was "Maybe he's just waiting for someone" but it was odd because he wasn't positioned in such a way. basically, you would have to walk into my street to see him. so i loaded up the baby, got in the car, and drove around the block, to a spot where i could see him, but he wouldn't notice me. i sat for a few minutes to see if he moved, nothing. so i drove past him again, and went shopping.....(45 mins-1 hour later) I get back home, and sure enough he's still there. so i unloaded the baby, groceries, then went outside to see if he was still there. but he was gone, i was about to call the police, but didn't see the point then. I've never seen this truck in my neighborhood, and i'm not exactly sure what to do now...

 

[ilbob]

next time call the cops and let them worry about it. jmnsho.

 

[Owen Sparks]

Did you think to write down the tag number?

 

[Deltaboy1984]

I got where I use the camera on my phone and call the police any time my gut and brain go off about any person or auto in my neighborhood.

 

[Rom828]

About three years ago I noticed a car I had never seen before to the side of my driveway with a guy in it who seemed to be "casing" the neighbors houses. I called the cops who came pretty quickly. They gave him the third degree and it turns out he was a door-to-door salesman just taking a break. Better safe than sorry and the cop was more than happy to check it out.

 

[fallout mike]

Also could be a PI.

 

[earplug]

Call the LEO

I walk our dogs daily and get a feel of the hood. Sometimes I see stuff thats not right and call our local LEO.
They don't mind and my dogs enjoy the walks.

 

[MtnCreek]

Also could be a PI.

Could be. I was approached by someone who claimed to be a PI. They told me they were working for an insurance company and the lady down the road had a disability claim they wanted to check out. He wanted to set up in my pasture to watch for this lady (disabled???) to see if she was going anywhere. He said that if he were to just sit in his truck along the side of the road, it would draw unwanted attention and that often, people would call the sheriff to investigate him. I let him tell me his story, then I kindly invited him to leave and not return. I checked the number/address on his card and it appeared he was a PI. He sat on the side of the road (not adjacent to my property) off and on for about a week. I would like to think I could have done better

 

[lemaymiami]

to the first poster of this thread... trust your instincts, if something appears odd or suspicious it might be nothing at all or it might be worth reporting. That's the advice I gave to many a citizen in the town I worked for durng a 22 year career in law enforcement. 99% of the time it will turn out to be something innocent, that other 1% can give you reason not to sleep at night...

At any rate the first level of observation is just that - but add a brief note somewhere with day, time, vehicle description, tag number if known. Save that info for a week or so and if a crime or other serious incident is reported you may have that tiny bit of information that solves the case...

The second level is when you're suspicious enough to call it in to your local department. Provide the basic info and allow their young officers to sort it out. Like I said before most of the time nothing is happening, but trust your instincts - it it's suspicious call it in. The best defense against crime is a suspicious neighbor that's willing to report what they're seeing if it alarms them. If nothing comes of it the officers will clear the individual and they'll be on their way....

 

[TrickyDick]

As i drove past him the first time, i was concentrating on the driver. It turns out the truck was similar to a person who frequently visits my wife at her work, just so she'll wait on him (shes a waitress, go figure). he has a criminal past of the disgusting nature, and will leave my wife's work if there are no open tables.....so now she has a .38 spc, and mace.... anywho... the second time i passed him, i tried to get the plate without being obvious, and all i got was a handicap symbol and 3 digits.

when i came home, i saw him, and thats when i knew i was going to call, after i did my stuff in the house, he left by the time i got out to see if he was still there. but now i have been locking my doors during the day while i'm home (i work 2nd shift) with my baby, after reading about daytime entries..

 

[bikerdoc]

I was a cop for a lot of years and liked to go to SP or SV calls, most were inocent enough,but some proved to be well founded and prevented a crime and put a wanted guy in jail.

More recently I had a disability claim and a P I was was watching me. No problem making him, wihout him knowing, I just went about my business. He put a gps on my truck and I had my nephew remove it and take to the Elizabeth River and throw it on a freighter bound for Turkey. Had all the nieghbors call in a SV, The local cops knew me and what was going on and delighted in responing to the calls. The P I was jerk with minimum training and credentials.
After about a month my atty got the thing settled in my favor.

Bottom line, call it in with all the info you can.

 

[ccsniper]

There was a strange man walking around my neighborhood about 7 years back, didn't think much of him. Saw him several times just walking around. Next night while my family was out my house got broke into. Lost a bunch of DVD's, and some prescription pills. Good thing I am very observant and could give the cops a well detailed description. They caught him, and his buddies but with none of our DVD's or pills. I now know better and call in any suspicious persons on my block.

 

[Shadow 7D]

I live on a dead end, and know the cars that come and go, and a few that 'cruise by' I've even gotten to know, there are 3 that see every now and again, and they are from other parts of my sub division, usually looking for their dogs, as, well I guess they got a dog like mine, and I came to realize that not every time is up to no good, but still it NEVER hurts to be a little paranoid and get the vehicle description and tags.

 

[One_Jackal]

@MtnCreek You did the right thing. It's not your business if your neighbors are drawing disability or anything they do that doesn't effect you or your property. You help the PI and your neighbor puts sugar in your gas for years to come. You have to live there. The PI drives away thinking what a tool you are...