Looks like your being staked out.
Nobody proactive here? Nobody slips into the back seat and garrotes the guy from behind, then goes through his wallet? Hmmm.
I live on a cul de sac with exactly one other house, so I do think it’s my business if he’s parked in front of my house. I’d call my neighbors in the other house and ask them if they have any idea who the guy is. If they didn’t, I’d go out and ask him if he’s lost or needs help or anything. If he told me none of my business and to get lost, I’d call the police. If they investigated and they told me its none of my business, I’d talk to the cop I know on the town police force and ask him what’s going on. If it’s a nice day and my kids are outside, I’d call back and tell the police I think this guy is scoping out my daughters and I feel that he’s a threat.
At that point I would call the cops. Since he is at a minimum loitering and more then likely urinating and defecating in public. Since you’ve had the cops clear him of this for the others I’ll assume you’ll have them tell me the same thing.
In which case I’ll figure that he is some form of law enforcement type on stake out and simply modify my behavior figuring that I’m the one he’s watching. I’ll also keep an eye out for him using the bathroom around my neighborhood or littering.
I’m not doing anything. None of my business.
I go to the nearest bar and find three or four like-minded citizens. We arm ourselves using weapons we find in the area. We go back to the car.
OK, is this where I roll to see if our attack is a success? Do you need to know my XP beforehand?
I live on a narrow road in the country and can only see one other house from mine. If you park in the road, you’re blocking it and going to get hit by another car. If someone parks there, I’ll ask what they are doing. If they don’t have a good reason for being there, I’ll ask them to leave. If they don’t, I’ll call the cops. I doubt the cops would let someone stay parked on a busy road that’s barely wide enough for two cars. After that, I might set some targets up in the yard and do some shooting. I do that once in awhile and that jerk is going to know I’ve got a handful of various shotguns, pistols, and rifles.
I’d have room service send down a late supper, and while he’s distracted/eating I’d stick a banana in his tailpipe.
We live on a pretty quiet street, and there are several families with kids. After an hour or so I would become suspicious and would call the police. If they told me the guy was doing nothing illegal, that would be good enough for me. I, too, would presume it was a stakeout. The fact that “another man arrives in another non-descript sedan [and t]he first man leaves in his vehicle” only strengthens that impression.
Since, in your hypothetical, the cops said there was no problem (calling the cops is the first thing I’d do if he were there for several hours) and someone relieved him after eight hours, I’d assume it was a stake out and ignore it. My husband and I aren’t into anything worth watching, so it’s got nothing to do with me.
Glare out the blinds while softly growling and, occasionally, barking.
He’s either (1) LEO, (2) private investigator, or (3) a criminal. No criminals I know work 8 hour shifts in tandem, so probably one of the first two. Write down a description of him and his vehicle, maybe snap a picture. He’s not breaking any laws, so that’s pretty much it at this point.
I do apologize. The OP emphasized the answers be short, and mine was sort of not. :smack:
If he was there a long time and I had already talked to him and he said “nun-ya-bizzness get lost” and I had already called the cops and the cops said they checked him out then I’d spend the evening by getting a big pitcher of lemonade and a radio and sit out on my porch cleaning my guns while playing some redneck hillbilly music on the radio.
I’m not sure I know any LEOs or PIs that would stay on their stake-out after patrol officers have contacted them. The surveillance is completely blown.
Related but not quite the same - the case of a “bait car” rigged with cameras to catch would-be car thieves/robbers. A couple reported a suspicious unlocked car, keys in the ignition, with scary elements in it (bikini top, broken glass, rope), cops said “no big deal, it’s legally parked.” Claiming to be thinking about a possibility of a crime and after waiting for days, the couple investigated and are being charged with crimes related to “breaking into” the car, by the cops who’d left the bait car near their house.
So no, I would not at all assume that the cops would reveal if the man in the car was associated with them, or necessarily even change the situation.
I agree with you that the cops probably would not disclose if one of their own was doing some sort of operation. BUT… the whole point of surveillance is to watch what someone is doing when they don’t think anyone is watching. Comings, goings, activities, words… all these things change when the observee knows that he is being watched. It would be a pretty rinky-dink operation that just sat there watching after being exposed by a patrol officer stopping, maybe hitting the overhead lights, and then getting out to investigate.
Interesting article by the way…
Ignore it at first. After a sufficiently long enough time I would call the cops. If they didn’t do anything, I wouldn’t be too worried. If he remained there much longer I would go outside with my camera and walk around his car taking many photographs, and make notes in a notebook, license plate, description, etc. in plain view of him. Wave and head back inside.
No it isn’t. If the subject being watched is 4-5 blocks away they didn’t even see the police check this guy out.
Let me give the dope here:
My brother lives on a residential street in a city of about 35K people. On Monday morning a man parked his car on the street and sat in it. My brother didn’t pay any more attention to him. But the neighbor did. First he went over and asked the guy what he was doing. The guy told him he was waiting for someone. The neighbor demanded to know who he was waiting for. The guy says it’s none on your business, go away. The neighbor starts yelling and screaming and pushing up and down on the hood of the car **“this is my block asshole! Everything is my business! Now tell me what you’re doing or I’ll pull you out of that car by your neck and kick you fucking ass!” **The man tells the neighbor that if he doesn’t stop touching his car he’s going to call the police. The neighbor tells him he doesn’t have to as he is going to call them. The neighbor stormed into his house and must have called the police as they arrived about 10 minutes later.
The police FI the man in the car and then walked over to the neighbors house.
My brother went over to hear what the cops had to say. All they would say was the guy wasn’t doing anything to be concerned about, they know who he is, and that’s that. The cops did tell the neighbor that his own behavior was unacceptable and that he’s getting a break by not getting disorderly conduct citation.
Cops left. My brother went to work, the neighbor (now really pissed) went to work, the guy in the sedan remained.
At noon my sister-in-law stopped home for lunch. The guy was still in the car. The neighbor man stopped home in his work vehicle. He takes his garden hose and starts spraying the sedan, screaming and cursing at the guy :**I don’t care what the cops say! Get the fuck out of here! There are kids in this neighborhood! **Then he starts throwing sand on the wet car. Which is when the guy moves his car to the other side of the block. The neighbor left in his work truck, my sister left and went back to work.
When they returned home the man in the sedan was gone. There was another vehicle parked but there was nobody in it. They never did figure out whose that was.
The next morning the man returned, but in a different vehicle. The neighbor didn’t do anything. When my sis-in-law went home for lunch the guy was gone, and never returned.
My brother gave me the vehicle plate which I checked. I then ran the owner of the car in the Department of Regulations and Licensing web site and found he was in fact a private investigator.
As a police officer I’ve been dispatched many times on complaints of suspicious vehicle. And there have been many times that it did turn out to be a PI. Now, in my opinion this investigator could have done things much better. He should had a pretext cover story (I’m waiting for a Realtor to show me a house that’s in foreclosure. Or have some flyers of a missing kid and say he’s working on the case. Something like that. Telling folks to buzz off never works). But the actions of that neighbor were ridiculous. I’m wondering if the police didn’t issue him a cite after the hose/sand thing and that’s why he didn’t do anything the next morning.
I was just wondering how somebody else would react.
Pull my car up so it’s facing his and sit and watch him watching me.
No, not really. I would probably do nothing. If he were there for days I might phone the cops but if they gave me the all clear I would probably forget about it.