This. Unless he was actually in your driveway, and then I’m not sure.
There’s no reason to bother a already overburdened Police dept with someone who is doing ntohing illegal.
That was my thought. I’d still call it in. The only way for police to investigate suspicious activity is to call it in. I’ve stopped a number of break-ins in my neighborhood with a phone call.
With that said, it’s hard to do at night. The police districts don’t answer their phones at night. It all has to go through 911 and they really only want calls involving multiple gun-shot victims (not really but that’s their attitude).
I’d never go out and speak to the person. Never. In the same situation I’d call the local police and ask them to check it out. I also live in a spot that is off the beaten path, near a woods, and I would be concerned about a number of things.
I’d call the non-emergency police number and ask them to drive by and see what was up when they had a free minute.
suspicious activity is not restricted to private property. I’ve had people call the police on me and I’m more than happy to answer to my activities. I’m thrilled my neighbors are watching the neighborhood.
[bolding mine]
I would have called the police, especially on the chance he might be sleeping off a drunk (well, he might be crazy or armed, too). It is illegal to be in control of a motor vehicle while in an impaired condition. You might have done the public a favor if he were actually impaired and the police arrested him for DUI before he had a chance to get back on the road. If he wasn’t DUI, no harm, no foul.
I try to take a picture of the vehicle and the people when it’s not the people that belong around here at minimum. A month ago I didn’t for the first time in years and they stole something worth a few hundred thousand dollars. The cops do have a description of the vehicle used to steal the equipment and the name on it. I wish it hadn’t been to cold to go out and snap a few photos at the time.
I’ve taken pictures of people that were stopping in the area before and just sitting there watching people. Once they saw I had taken pictures of them and their vehicle they never parked and watched the houses again.
Yeah, this is another reason I was thought of (after the fact) that I should have called the police. After he drove off, i thought, great, he’s probably drunk, and I just got him to start driving.
For the record it was not in my driveway, it was out on the street. I didn’t see him do anything illegal. It just aroused my suspicion, because I don’t normally see people do this in my neighborhood. It was a man by himself. Since I went and talked to him, I saw that he was about 35-45 years old. He seemed very nervous or excited, but to be fair I might have startled him by coming out of the house.
Next time I find myself in a similar situation I think i will just call the police. I don’t think the police here would have minded to come check out a suspicious vehicle, even if it turned out to be nothing.
Good responses, everyone. Thanks!
I think I would have called the non-emergency number for the cops, especially since it had been so long that he’d been sitting there. I wouldn’t feel safe approaching the person on my own, but I think it’s a situation where someone needs to go up to them and ask what’s up, and that’s part of what the cops do.
I’ve done something similar before; I saw a man walking along the outside edge of an overpass that goes over a canal in the city I used to live in. There isn’t a path/pedestrian bridge there, but I guess some people walk along it rather than go the long route around to get from one side of the canal to the other. I didn’t know that, and it looked odd and rather dangerous, so when I got home a couple of minutes later I called the police and asked them to just check on the guy - I was actually worried he’d fall/jump! I had the annoying experience of being passed back and forth between the municipal police and the OPP because no one could quite figure out whose jurisdiction “the side of the overpass on the highway” was, until I finally pointed out that if they guy did fall, he’d probably done it by now and asked whose jurisdiction a body in the canal was? Whichever force I was talking to at the time told me they’d take care of it and hung up. I never heard anything more.
So in the end, I’d probably call the cops, but not expect much to come of it!
Too much paranoia here!
For 45 minutes?
I’d have called the cops.
Hmm, a guy spends at least 45 minutes in a car parked late at night in front of somebody else’s house, seems “very nervous or excited” when the homeowner approaches him, gives a nonsensical explanation about how he needs to be “down there”, and then takes off.
Does seem just a mite suspicious.
From a site dealing with wireless Internet security: “…a hacker searching for insecure wireless connections can get into your systems from a car parked on the street.”
It wouldn’t have had to be the OP’s place being hacked either.
If a suspicious car was parked in front of your house, I’d most assuredly do nothing.
However, if it were my house, the most I would do is get the license number and go back in the house. I’m secure in my house. I don’t need to call the police or go outside. My perimeter is tight. If somebody did attempt to break in, I could respond with “force multipliers” as general Kelly called them during Desert Storm.
I would probably call the cops. However, the last time I called the police to come check out suspicious characters loitering around the property, they called me three hours later to tell me that they still hadn’t gotten around to coming by and it would be another couple of hours before they could. I wanted to answer, “Never mind, I’m dead by now!”
My SOP in this situation is a little different to most of the other posters’ due to the fact I live in a fairly rural area that is not known for the diligence of its Sheriff’s department.
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Observe suspicious vehicle in road. Wait a reasonable amount of time to ensure that it’s not just some doofus who didn’t realize that the dirt road I live on dead-ends in my yard. This is not at all uncommon at my house.
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After a reasonable amount of time has passed, it’s time to start flipping on lights in the house to make them aware someone is watching. I also make sure there’s a gun where I can get to it, but that’s strictly a personal preference.
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If they still haven’t left after all that (which I admit has never happened here, so the rest is pure conjecture) I would probably call one of my burly redneck guy friends to come up and check things out. At that point, I’m absolutely sure they would leave!
Putting aside the ability of a person to hijack your computer from a car, do you want people casing your neighborhood for people who are not home? Is your “perimeter” safe from having the phone lines cut when you’re not home? Does vandalism not affect you?
We all have the ability to sense when something is amiss. Whether we act on it affects not just our own little patch of land but that of our neighbors. We can react to crime before or after it happens. I would hope that my neighbors watch suspicious activity and parking in front of someone’s house for 45 minutes playing with a computer gadget is suspicious.
The subject of this post is misleading. I would say a car “in front” of a house is parked on the public street. But the OP says the car was parked in his driveway. That to me would be disturbing.
what the H does that mean?
I live out in the sticks on a road that if they wanted to pull off and hang out would be in my driveway … but at least I am firewalled and have a pretty secure nonsense phrase as the password [I asked my 6 year old goddaughter for a really silly sentence.] Oh, and I have a cell phone, have for years. What I don’t have is a landline…only thing they could cut would be electricity, and that would alert me to a home invasion so I could call 911 on headset and get extra magazines for my gun ready.
That being said, even if I was in town, I would call the cops. Sitting for an hour? That would be one hell of a texting/sexting session.
I am a firm believer in neighborhood watch type functions. You keep an eye on my house when I am gone, and Ill do the same for you.