Inside the house? Pick up a Nanny-Cam. You can find them used at garage sales too. ( My kid’s GF got one from someone in her family. He won’t use it & brought it home, so I stuck it in some nic-nac.)
Nobody on the tape? You’re imagining things.
Somebody on the tape? Police Report & change the locks.
You’re always imagining things until you pull out proof and say, “Did I Imagine That, Fucker?”
Meanwhile, four years later . . .
Maybe it was me. Sometimes when I can’t sleep, I drive around and park on public streets and play Yahtzee on my phone. As far as I know, it is not illgeal, immoral nor unethical. And it wasn’t way back then, either.
There’s no law in my state that prevents me from placing a lawn chair on my front lawn near the car and sitting in it with a shotgun across my lap, staring at the car the whole time. As long as I don’t brandish it or threaten the driver of the car, I’m fine.
Would I do this? Nope.
My biggest concern would actually be my neighbor from across the street. She is 70 years old and she will come trotting over to my place if she sees a strange car or person anywhere near it. I have to let her know if a friend is going to feed my dogs because otherwise she’ll be up in their face before they can open their car door.
I actually had a situation like this recently but it was during the day. I live in a small development in a small town. One day, a few weeks ago, I noticed a car parked and running near the corner. It was there for hours. It finally left, but then came back, same scenario. I finally called the local police. A short time later they called me back and assured me it legit. The officer also told me, never feel bad about reporting something if it makes me feel uncomfortable or makes me suspicious, it’s their job, better safe.
I planned on calling the local zombie patrol but ----------- 
All of these people saying it’s none of your business are weird, deluded, or probably do the same thing. You are missing the fact that it’s just not normal to drive into a residential neighborhood, and park in front of some random person’s house and just sit there for an hour. It’s abnormal behavior. Most people would go to a gas station, a McDonald’s, or some other business and not park at your house. People park in front of my house all the time and it drives me nuts.
I used to live in a beautiful neighborhood. Now we have drug dealers, hookers, loitering teenagers, and Johns waiting for their “date”, parking on my street. Oh, and I live across the street from an elementary school playground too, which makes it even crazier when people are just loitering in front of my house. I worry about the kids. I don’t live where the parents pick up, but around the back on the playground side. It’s innerving when people park there. Today, a lady in a sketchy looking van with duct tape on the window parked at my house for about 20 min. while I was gardening. Then she rolls down her window and says, I kid you not, “Excuse me. Can you quit staring at me. I’m trying to drink my coffee.” At my house? Not at the place where you bought it? We’ve had a lot of theft and drug activity in the neighborhood lately. Go drink your coffee at your own house. I’ll do whatever I want in my own yard. I am tired of the drugs, hookers, loose dogs, vagrants, thieves, and crazies, and so are most of my neighbors. Being aware of unusual activities going on in your neighborhood is called neighborhood watch. It’s how you protect each other. Don’t park in front of some random person’s house unless it’s an emergency. That’s rude. Go to a public place.
Besides, you never know when some crazy homeowner who got broken into one too many times might come out packing. You never know what that homeowner has had to endure. Just don’t do it. I have every right to protect myself from suspicious activity, especially when my neighbors tells me a teenager almost got shot across the street at midnight a while ago. All of you boneheads saying you wouldn’t call the cops unless they are actually breaking in to the house! SMH! And an hour later when the cops finally arrive, someone will be shot. You call the cops when someone or something is suspicious. Don’t wait until the crime is in progress. That’s how we prevent crime.
And to the guy making this a race thing. It’s not. Half my neighbors are black and half are white and we’re all sick of the riff raff. We all watch our street together and we all have each others phone numbers. Stop assuming everything is about race. Sometimes white people are suspicious too. Nobody said it was a minority in that man’s driveway.
Good luck, sir. Hope your situation is better than mine. I am looking into moving out of the city. Please get your neighbors phone numbers so you can text them or call to check if you see something weird. That’s what we do here.
I skimmed through this old thread to see if I already responded… seems like one I might have. I didn’t see anything from me, so I’ll skip the half-hour it takes to review everything already said and give my thoughts on the first and last posts.
First, it’s common for police to get calls about suspicious vehicles from the public to go investigate. I’ve placed them myself, and had them placed on me. I’m not a cop nor will I speak for one, but from the hundreds of videos I’ve seen of law enforcement encounters with people most of them involve some form of the cops saying “we’ve received a report of someone/something suspicious… your vehicle/behavior is suspicious… I’m investigating based on suspicion”. Routine for them, and a lot of the time you don’t need to wait up for hours or be part of some big investigation. You tell the operator what you see, they send the cop out to check, 90-some% of the time they go check, nothing wrong, the person leaves or is allowed to stay, you never here back from them.
On the the hand, please don’t go around with the attitude of “this is my street”… you don’t have any business parking in front of my house". The street in front of your house is public property, and yes anyone has a right to pull over there and conduct private business like argue with their spouse on the phone. You have no right to demand they go drink their coffee where they bought it, any more than they have the right to demand you go back inside your house and stop staring at them. If you think you do then try going out and telling the cops to go park back at the sandwich shop the next time they pull over for a quick lunch on “your street”.
Phone the cops on someone who’s not doing anything “wrong” and you could be in trouble yourself.
Yep.
Unless he is doing something illegal he has every right to be there.
Agree to disagree. You weren’t there. I highly doubt that woman actually drove to my house to just drink coffee. I get that you didn’t see the exchange take place and so probably think that was actually why she was there. It was extremely sketchy at best. You had to be there. You also have to understand my neighborhood. This isn’t paranoia. People are breaking into houses in the daytime in my neighborhood now. There’s drug activity and prostitution. You don’t go here to drink a coffee. Not anymore, anyway.
Summer 2020 a random car pulled into the turnaround on my dead end street and backed up severely into the shrubs on the neighbors side right up against his trailer with two water bikes . There were 2 couples in the car, the driver jumps out and starts messing around in the trunk area, his piece of ass slides sorry girlfriend scoots over to the the drivers side of the car. at this point i walk out of house directly to the car ask what’s up? I get evasive sneers from within and the piece of ass starts the car, scrawny dude slams the trunk and jumps in and they tear off in a sramble. My guess they wanted to tow the jet skis away and I disturbed their plan. off the cuff random act of larceny it’s why I alwasys keep my doors locked in flyover country.
Yep. We noticed one particular vehicle coming around, parking for a short time, then driving off. One day, we reported this to the police – who also are the de facto security force for our complex.
They already knew about the vehicle; it belongs to a drug dealer. That very recognizable vehicle hasn’t been around for a long time so either the driver got busted or he finally figured out that he should switch rides.
You don’t own the space(s) in front of your house on a public street.
I don’t like thievery, but somebody who gratuitously and repeatedly refers to a random female stranger as a “piece of ass” is usually not a reliable observer.
If that’s your take away, you are missing the whole point.
ISTM D_Anconia got the point just fine where you said
The side of the street “in front of some random person’s house” IS a public place. Since you don’t own it, it’s not rude for somebody else to temporarily park in it.
That’s a separate issue from whether the loiterers around your house are actually engaging in or planning to engage in criminal activity.
What concern of it is yours what she’s doing on a public street, absent illegal activity? Drinking coffee doesn’t qualify.
Not even if it is decaf?
How so? There is nothing illegal or “wrong” about reporting something you feel is suspicious to the police. Nor, is there anything wrong with the police knocking on the window of the car and asking the driver, “What’s up?” The driver is always free to decline to talk to the cops. Minimally, the police will now have the plate number of the car and have the driver on their body cam. If they were up to no good, they will certainly change their plans. If not, no harm, no foul. The police want to know about unusual/suspicious activity. Unless you are calling every day about every person you see in the neighborhood, there is no way you could be “in trouble” yourself. Even then, you would be nothing more than a nuisance and treated as such.
Considering the information given, this is an absurd response. He had every right to be concerned