Trust your instincts! - a comment on situational awareness

Creature said:
The police get reports of "suspicious characters" all the time. If there isnt anything hot going and they arent otherwise preoccupied, most agencies will roll up to investigate...and many of these reports are quite valid. Even if no one is questioned, just the presence of a cruiser rolling by can have significant impact.

One must wonder how many potential crimes were prevented by these suspicious character calls...

I have to totally disagree with your reasoning. I bet if i followed you around all day i could find all kinds of stuff that you do that looks "suspicious". If no crime is broken the police should not be called. Anything else is a waste of time.
 
"If no crime is broken the police should not be called. Anything else is a waste of time."

I have to disagree with the last post. Although I am not going to call the police as much as others might I do not think waiting for a crime to be committed is only the good time to call the police. Sometimes certain activity warrants it even if it is only perceived to be suspicious at the time.
There are times when the police are best suited to decide if something is not right.
But calling the police every time you get butterflies is not a good policy.
 
I have to totally disagree with your reasoning. I bet if i followed you around all day i could find all kinds of stuff that you do that looks "suspicious". If no crime is broken the police should not be called. Anything else is a waste of time.


I could not disagree more. YOU know what is normal in your AO. Your are adding apples to oranges. You aren't normally in Jon's area so how do you judge what is normal or suspicious.

Walking on a public sidewalk is legal. However, two hobos walking in front of my house is suspicious and worth a Terry stop. If they are good enough for a T-stop they are definatly worth a call to 911.
 
cloud8a said:
I have to disagree with the last post. Although I am not going to call the police as much as others might I do not think waiting for a crime to be committed is only the good time to call the police. Sometimes certain activity warrants it even if it is only perceived to be suspicious at the time.
There are times when the police are best suited to decide if something is not right.
But calling the police every time you get butterflies is not a good policy.

If you have never had someone call the police on you for something you were doing legally then you will not understand my point. It is one the most awkward/embarrassing wastes of time i have ever experienced and i loath people that go out of their way to be a "do gooder" and try to fix every problem they encounter by getting the police involved.

Wagonman said:
Walking on a public sidewalk is legal. However, two hobos walking in front of my house is suspicious and worth a Terry stop. If they are good enough for a T-stop they are definatly worth a call to 911.

Lets say you just got done working in your garden so you looked dirty and you decided to walk down your street for whatever reason. Would it not annoy you if your 15 min. walk down the street turned into an hour long questioning session with police because someone called the cops on you?
 
OntheJon55 said:
Quote:
Originally Posted by cloud8a
I have to disagree with the last post. Although I am not going to call the police as much as others might I do not think waiting for a crime to be committed is only the good time to call the police. Sometimes certain activity warrants it even if it is only perceived to be suspicious at the time.
There are times when the police are best suited to decide if something is not right.
But calling the police every time you get butterflies is not a good policy.
If you have never had someone call the police on you for something you were doing legally then you will not understand my point. It is one the most awkward/embarrassing wastes of time i have ever experienced and i loath people that go out of their way to be a "do gooder" and try to fix every problem they encounter by getting the police involved.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Wagonman
Walking on a public sidewalk is legal. However, two hobos walking in front of my house is suspicious and worth a Terry stop. If they are good enough for a T-stop they are definatly worth a call to 911.
Lets say you just got done working in your garden so you looked dirty and you decided to walk down your street for whatever reason. Would it not annoy you if your 15 min. walk down the street turned into an hour long questioning session with police because someone called the cops on you?

I'd still rather someone called the police if they thought the circumstances warranted it. Better than them not call and a robbery/assult/break in etc happen.

I also however would like the person making the call to have good judgment and observational skills. :o

You see I've been there and done that too. It's NOT a fun experience to have used a KEY to get in a padlocked gate, then a KEY again to get in a locked door then walk out of your shop to find a rookie cop pointing a gun at your face. He was more nervous than me. Having a rookie with shaky hands holding a gun on me when I was minding my own business taking care of business was a bit frustrating, angering almost. The anger I think came mostly from not feeling safe. His fingers were trembling, seriously. :eek: Partially too from having a gun pointed at me, if you point a gun at me my temper starts this sort of exponential climb. Imagine that. :rolleyes:

It all worked out though. This blond bombshell came hoofing it from around back and saved me. I would have kissed her if I hadn't thought the rookie would have shot her by mistake then shot me and put a throwdown gun on me. :D

I learned my lesson though. LOCK THE GATE BEHIND ME. That way I'll hear their pants ripping as they climb over the wall. :p

Actually that could have turned out very badly. I'm always very jumpy when I'm at the shop as it doesn't have a good field of view and I'm often working alone. It could have been someone with a gun other than a cop, or had the cop come nosing on in looking for a bugler and came up behind me working in a building where I was supposed to be by myself... He'd better yell some clear commands damn loud and damn quick or hope I register his uniform before I register and respond to "intruder" and "gun". In a somewhat dim and cluttered shop though, if I have one of my cars up on the lift and I'm wrenching away I might not see much more than a flash of gun and person. Heck, a glimpse of a person would be enough for me to unlimber my own weapon if I'm working by myself. :o That was a particularly bad situation, if either one of us had shot the other it would have been a very tragic situation.
 
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Lets say you just got done working in your garden so you looked dirty and you decided to walk down your street for whatever reason. Would it not annoy you if your 15 min. walk down the street turned into an hour long questioning session with police because someone called the cops on you?

I am sorry, I don't see that happening. I see a two minute----if that interaction with the Police.

Cop----Hey buddy, what's going on.

Citizen---Nada ---you?

Cop---you live around here?

Citizen---yes---right around corner, Why?

Cop--- we got a suspicious person call---do u have id with u?

Citizen-sure --Proffers same.

Cop----thanks ----want a ride home?

Citizen--no thanks, have a good one

Cop---you too
 
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