Would you have called the police?

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DigMe

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Today I was mowing my lawn when a car starts driving by real slow with two women in it. Then, when my back was turned I just happened to look over and see them snap a picture of my house. The car never stopped and after they snapped the photo they took off. I knew exactly what kind of car it was (white convertible sebring, just like we rented on our honeymoon) and I noted the license plate number and then immediately went in and called the police (not 911) and reported the incident as suspicious vehicle. I went back and continued mowing the lawn and soon a police cruiser pulled up and he asked me a few questions about it. My attitude about it, which I vocalized to the officer, was "Maybe they just like my blooming crepe myrtles but then again if I get robbed in a week I want this to be on the record." The officer was nice and he took off. About 5 to 10 minutes later the Sebring came driving back down my street and the officer drove up right behind it and pulled her over. After talking to her for a few minutes he let her go and came and told me that she was a real-estate appraiser that was taking a pic of my house (which was just recently purchased) for comparison purposes. He had asked her which house she was comparing it too and everything so I was satisfied and no harm done.

Anyway, would you have called the police? Was that an over-reaction? I just don't really take kindly to strangers taking photos or doing anything else that resembles "casing" around my house. I was already a bit on the cautious side too because a mustang with three young males had pulled up in front of my house earlier and sat there looking very intently at another house down the street. They didn't see me come out but when they did notice me they immediately turned around and took off. I'm also extra-suspicious of people because the weekend after we moved into our house we had two days worth of mail stolen from our mailbox. This seems like a "nice" neighborhood, really!!

brad cook
 
Brad ....... difficult call but yeah - reading in to your general description etc .... probably would have done same. Prime reason? As you said ... ''having it on record''.

Sad reflection tho eh - on our early 21st Century society, that we have this inate mistrust of people .... and suspicious nature.
 
Sounds like it all worked out well to me.

You never know, she could have been part of some burglary ring. or a girlfriend of a druggie burglar.

Might have been nice if she had stopped and told you what she was doing in the first place, and left you a business card and all that.

And the responding officer seemed to take it seriously, too.
 
I would have done the same thing. A stranger taking pictures of you house does sound a little out of the ordinary.
 
I wouldn't have called LEO. I have never had LEO respond fast enough to do any good any of the times I have called them. Except when I lived in Owatonna, MN. They were usually bored there so a minor call would get all LEOs on duty responding :)

It seems to me that in cities where you need fast LEO response they are too busy to provide it, while in low crime areas were usually nothing more than kids or adults making a lot of noise you have response times under 3 minutes.

That said, you didn't do anything wrong and probably did things right. It is very difficult to tell if you are preventing problems or not when you do.

Might suggest getting a digital camera to take pics of cars or people that your concerned about. MAybe even setting up a camera or dummy camera covering the street.

Pics can help a lot. Most of the trouble makers are known to local LEOs and a good picture is much better than best verbal discription.
 
I call te PD for many things. The local chief chewed out the patrol captains. He said I find, see and report more than their three patrol shifts.
 
I think you did right.

I have had similar experiences and I personally went out and CONFRONTED said individuals... probably not too smart on my part... but I'll be damned if I'm gonna sit there and let some moron case my home... and if he is at least he will know I got a GOOD look at him.

(Note it was never a casing, the parties I spoke with had legal business.

In any case, I agree that the lady should have had the decency to stop and let you know who she was. A little bit of red and blue in the rear view mirror may teach her some manners next time she does a ((wait for it....)) 'drive by [photo]shooting'!

Charles
 
I would have called to .. I even called on a house i was at for a repair to just cuz something didnt feel right plus looked like door had been kicked in .. need lesss to say i split and stopped at the cop shop on the corner .. never heard what happend but was odd to show up to repair something and see that after talking to customer earlyer..

Could i have been wrong sure maybe the inner garage door hadnt been kicked in recently but with it wide open no one answering to my calls via phone and just annoceing myself.

With the door jam cracked from top to bottom it was time to get the hell out of there and call.
 
I would have done the same. I think it's a good idea for neighbors to keep an eye on the neighborhood.
 
I didn't have a chance to confront the women. They never stopped the car and as soon as they took the picture they took off. I did mow the rest of the yard with my XD-9 sub strapped to my belt though. I had OC spray in my pocket initially but after that I just wasn't feeling right without my firearm.

brad cook
 
I'm wondering why she didn't get out of the car and introduce herself. I'm sure she would have a business card or some kind of identification. She should've just did that and asked if she could take a snap of your house.

What they did was something along the lines of a pre-strike recon or something like that.:D
 
As it so happens,

I'm also a real estate investor, and I drive slowly through neighborhoods scoping out houses to buy. If I were in your neighborhood, you might see me taking pics of your hour house, or looking through binocs trying to find the street number so I could mail you a postcard offering to buy your house.

HOWEVER, I have LARGE magnetic signs on both sides of my car stating my business and my toll-free number, so it wouldn't be a mystery to anyone what I'm up to. I also have my wife with me, and she's furiously scribbling street addresses and notes on houses' condition.

I know my slow cruising, binocular peering, and picture snapping is going to look suspicious to someone, and I'm prepared to show the cops the LCD on my digital camera showing pics I've taken of properties, and my wife's notes in case they're wondering. But it probably won't go that far. I had a cop car follow me two blocks a couple of weeks ago, and after they pulled up alongside me and saw my car sign they took off, apparently satisfied that I wasn't up to no good.

I'm polite, white and clean-cut, and I've been farming predominantly black neighborhoods, and it seems that some of the folks I talk to assume that my wife and I are undercover cops. (A plumbing contractor I approached this week asked me, "You're not one of the FEDS, are you?!", "No, I just buy houses!")

Ideally, the real-estate appraiser ladies coulda shoulda woulda had a sign on their car. It's better for business and removing suspicion. [edited to add]: So yes, in your position, not knowing who they were and why they were taking pics of my house, I'd probably call the cops, too.
 
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Man...this week is not going that well.

Today I'm in the grocery store when I hear "Will the owner of a blue Nissan Xterra license number ###-### please come to the customer service desk." Oh boy...that's me.

So I go to the desk and there's a young woman there who witnessed three jackholes in a black mazda do something really stupid. As they were backing out of a parking spot next to mine one of them reached out an open window and grabbed onto a shopping cart from the moving car. The cart apparently then got stuck between my car and their's and they kept going and then drove off...leaving scratches and marring on my car. She got the license plate number but I don't know if anything is going to happen. Rather than being in the Waco PD jurisdiction the store is just over in the Woodway jurisdiction. Woodway has about two cops on the beat at any given time and they aren't equipped for detective work...so despite the fact that we have a witness and a license plate number (that's registered in a different city) these idiots will probably get off scot-free I'm guessing.

This was also the first time that I've been asked for ID by a cop while carrying concealed. Texas law says I have to disclose that I'm carrying when asked for ID by an LEO. That went fine though. I said "I'm obligated to tell you that I'm carrying today" as I held up my CHL. He said fine. Later he asked me what I was carrying and if I've ever had to pull it out.

Anyway...body shop here I come. :rolleyes:

brad cook
 
I wouldn't have called the police, since people have a legal right to photograph or video anything in plain sight. (First Amendment.) However, I wouldn've exercised MY first amendment rights to go out there and ask some questions, under the guise of being helpful, and I would've written down the make, model and license plate, along with the time of day and date and description of the women, for future reference.

Something like this happened on my street two weeks ago. I was lifting weights in my garage gym and saw two young teen-aged boys walk up to a house across the street, grab two bikes that were leaning against the side of the house, and ride them off.

Were they stealing the bikes? Or had they stashed them there? I knew they didn't live there, since I know the people. I didn't want to put the fear of God into two boys by calling the cops, so I wrote down the time, date, and a description.

Tried to go ask the family if something was amiss, but they were out of town. Caught up with them a few days later, and it was OK--they knew the boys, and no bikes had been stolen.

I do sympathize with you, though--it's really hard to detect 'casing.'
 
suspicious drivers

Very bad business practices from the driver.Should have stopped got out handed out business cards and promoted their business. Now I would suspect they are on your never use black list because of their stupidity and carelesssness.Also a modicum of paranoia is these days justified unfortunately.
 
Just keep in mind that there are legitimate reasons for people taking pics of houses. I have been looking for a new house lately, and I take pics of houses for sale to show to my wife to get her initial impression. If people are in the yard, I tell them what I am doing so they do not get alarmed, and I have not had any trouble.
 
Ham hock,

My house is not for sale. I was running through all the possible legitimate reasons in my head and couldn't think of many. I considered the idea that maybe they just like my landscaping or something but decided to call anyway.

brad cook
 
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