A few years back in my corner of suburbia, friends pulled into our driveway and noticed someone rummaging through our car. One friend called 911 from her cell, and her husband gave chase through the wooded area past our backyard. We had several police cars come and the canine unit. They caught the guy…and returned the 46 cents in change he’d had time to steal from our change dish. I was inside cooking dinner, blissfully unaware of all these proceedings for several minutes, until I looked out to see if our friends had arrived and noticed the police cars in front of my house :eek: anyway, they were happy 911 was called because a) they got to run the canine unit for a real scenario and b) guy was a known thief who made a habit of breaking into cars.
Another vote for dumbass principal. He dropped the ball.
And tell your daughter to lock her damn car!!!
I re-read the OP to see if I missed something, because I didn’t clearly see that the doors of the car were unlocked. If they were, I think this notches down the freak-out level a bit. Petty thief walks through a parking lot looking for an easy mark… he found one.
Definitely a call for the non-emergency police line. Calling 911 is overkill, especially if you’re in anyplace but a very small town. I can’t see the police in my city treating this as an emergency.
Cop, after The Dude asks if there are any leads on his stolen car: Leads, yeah, sure. I’ll just check with the boys down at the crime lab. They’ve got four more detectives working on the case. They got us working in shifts! [laughs and laughs and laughs] Leads… [laughs some more]
A lot of these replies are true about nonviolent crimes in big cities in general, but K-12 school grounds are given pretty high priority by most police departments. Nobody would consider it a misuse of 911 to report an adult trespassing on the school grounds even without a car burglary. If they had reported it that moment the police response would probably have been very quick. And they might have spotted the guy walking along the street a few blocks away right as the call went out.
Whether he decided to call 911 or the non-emergency number (which would have gotten a quick response too being a stranger trespassing at a school), deciding to ‘wait till morning’ seems really stupid in either case.
I’m not saying it’s a slam dunk, but if 911 was called, the dispatcher can relay the information that PD are looking for a white/black/purple male who is tall/short wearing a red/white shirt & a baseball hat they may very well find someone fitting that description before they even arrive at the school.
I’ll echo the statement made above that schools (in this area) are high-priority calls.
The principal is a jerk, 911 should have been called. Does your daughter have a cell phone? She should have called 911 herself.
The principal should have taken it more serious. Chances are the perp was just looking for something to steal, but how much could he get from a HS parking lot?But otoh, he might’ve been a real sicko looking for a place to hide in her car to surprise her later when she’s all alone in the car. Or looking for her used gym shorts to er ah um, play with, in privacy…
Nobody knows what his intentions were so we can’t give the perp the benefit of the doubt now can we, nor should we!
Sorry about the response delay, but I lack decent internet outside of work.
This is long:
>First off, my reasoning here is not that her car was broken into. I’ve had shit stolen, and that’s life. I even told her if she had stuff stolen at a mall, she would be SOL. It was more that she was confronted with a 30ish guy in her car, on school property, while the school was still pretty active, and in broad daylight. Plus, he wasn’t just peeking, he was pulling clothes out of her gym bag and digging through stuff. It just seems off to me. Again, this isn’t because the car was broken in to, it’s because she came face to face with a criminal on school property.
>The car was not locked, so nothing was technically damaged. Yes, her bad.
>She did make a bad choice, but in her defense, she honestly thought it was a friend screwing around. She knew there was safety and school personnel just a short distance away, so she opted to go that route. This is a good lesson for her.
>"I think it’s past the point of you thinking that the school is supposed to be taking care of your precious little one" - This is unneccesary to the conversation. Criminals on school property is a concern to parents, believe it or not. You might not care with your kids, but I would guess you’d be in the minority.
This is Knoxville, and from my experience here, 911 would be used for such a case. The police even told us they should have been called. It honestly probably would have gotten a multi-car response. 911 use varies from city to city. I’ve lived places where you probably would not have used it (if he was still in the car, maybe). I called the non-emergency number in Lexington, KY for a bike that was just stolen and had 2 cars there in like a minute!
From the 911 page here:
*When should I call 9-1-1?
You should call 9-1-1 anytime you have an immediate need for the police, sheriff, an ambulance or the fire department. If you are not sure if an emergency exists, it is best to be on the safe side and call.
When should I not call 9-1-1?
Don’t call 9-1-1 for minor incidents like parking problems or barking dogs. The emergency number should also not be used to ask for information on weather, time, school closings, or for legal advice. You should also not call 9-1-1 to report power outages, unless the condition that caused the outage (like a car running into a telephone pole) is an emergency.*
>My daughter spoke with the safety officer yesterday afternoon. His first advice was that 911 should have been called. He is also taking this way serious, to the point where he is hitting local businesses to see if their security cameras picked up anything. School incidents are a high priority here.
>The area the guy headed was actually a good area for him to be spotted. It’s hard to explain, but it’s a main road that sort of parallels the highway. There are no neighborhoods close by, and no back alleys or roads or even sidewalks. Basically, he would have to resurface on this road at some point. I certainly wouldn’t expect a manhunt, but if the police were given a description, there would be a very good chance someone would have seen him. Unless he had a car stashed somewhere, he would not have been long gone.
For the record, I’m not sitting here fuming, calling for the death of the principal. He seems like a good person, runs a good school, and the students actually like him. He listened to my complaint (which I delivered in a civil manner), so the matter is pretty much dropped. I also don’t think a major crime or injustice has been commited. This is just SD fodder now, posted for discussion, and I appreciate the responses. And, because I live out of state, I got no one to whine to!
Side note - I was thinking about sending the principal a quick email, stating what I said in the above paragraph (that I appreciate him taking the time, and that we otherwise appreciate the job he does), just because, you know, my kids have to attend there. Send nice email, or drop it?
Drop it. The principal sounds like he’s more interested in PR than student safety. All that went through his mind was the thought of police cars attending his school. Don’t suck up to the jerk.
Not for nothing, but I think you should have a talk with your daughter about contributing to her own safety. All belongings in the trunk, locked car at all times, be fully aware of her surroundings, and approach her car ready to speed dial for help or snap a picture and run like hell while screaming fire.
Done. Kids can grow up thinking bad things happen to other people. While this was very, very, very minor, it did show her there are creepy people out there. We did a de-briefing of the situation. At first I told her to slowly walk away, but then remembered that was for bears…
I think you’re making too much of the age and gender of the perp and victim. If he wanted to harm your daughter in some way, he was stupid for entering her car when she wasn’t in it, and even stupider for running away when she actually showed up. I think his actions made it clear that he was only interested in things. I’m not surprised the cops are now making a big deal about it; cops get bored, and tracking down a sex pervert sounds way cooler than tracking down a petty thief, or issuing traffic tickets. But that doesn’t mean your daughter was in any danger (after the guy ran off).
I think the police should have been called, but I wouldn’t have been ticked that the principal didn’t call 911.
I’ll chime in with the others that your daughter should always lock her car doors, especially if she keeps a remote to your garage door in her car. (Armed with her address and the garage remote, he could make a visit to your home.) Granted, he was probably looking for money or other valuables (e.g. iPods or iPhones), but there are other more nefarious motives that are very unlikely, but possible. Keeping her doors locked will keep opportunity criminals at bay.
I understand hitting two sticks together will keep cougars at bay.
The principal should have acted immediately. I wouldn’t have faulted him for dialing a non-emergency number, although I would have dialed 911. I don’t get why it wouldn’t be an emergency just because the perp ran away. If we were talking about your house instead of your car, would you dial the non-emergency number because, darn, he got away? I doubt it.
Nice! I’ll have to try that the next time I’m camping with my bratty twin step daughters.
When she reported the incident, she was in a staffed office at an active school with security personnel nearby. Again, what danger was she in?
If you are a pervey wanna-be sex offender, disguising yourself as a petty thief who rummages through unlocked cars is probably the least effective cover ever. If he was pretending to be an authority or asking for help finding his lost puppy, sure, that deserves a freakout. But why would a rapist use the cover that automatically gets the cops called on him the moment he is spotted? Wild fantasies of a protective parent aside, this guy saw an unlocked car and hoped he might find an iPhone or a wallet in it.
If she had taken it upon herself to call 911 when the crime was in action, that would make sense. But at the point that she reported it, all she would accomplish would be making the principal late for dinner to do the exact same thing they would do in the morning. If he had called, I don’t think he’d be wrong. But I feel like you are upset about something that is mostly symbolic, and when it comes to women’s safety there are enough problems that require real action to worry too much about the symbolic action.
9-1-1 should have been called by the OP’s daughter. She is the one who has the description.
9-1-1 is for imminent threats to life or property, including incidents which have just occurred.
The amount of time lapse is relevant. Ask yourself whether having this information now will increase the chance police can catch the suspect. If so, call 9-1-1. If not, call the non-emergency number.
The OP’s daughter witnessed a carbreak in progress and the suspect fled the scene. Call 9-1-1. Police quickly arriving in the area may be able to find the suspect based upon the description.
Suppose you come home after being at work all day and find your house was burglarized. You check the premises and the suspect is not there. You did not see the suspect or any suspicious vehicles as you arrived. Call the non-emergency number for the police.
I work as a supervisor in a 9-1-1 center.
I had no idea when my little girl was raped by three pre-teen boys that I shouldn’t have called 911. The crime had ended, they were already gone from the yard, there was no longer a danger to her, the damage was done… so I was just supposed to report the incident to the local police precinct instead?