Knowing the full dope, I stand by my earlier statement: “pretty rinky-dink operation.”
Looking through your link, Educational Requirements for becoming a Private Detective in your state: “No educational requirements.” I’m just sayin… (i keed, i keed)
I would have called the police. The stock answer if it’s a PI is “He’s on official business.” (A smart PI would have contacted the local police before starting his stakout to let them know what he’s up to.)
If they can’t ID him or move him out, then I call work and talk to security. They probably advise me to either stay there, or take all hard drives and/or documents with me if I leave.
Then I go out with a camera and try to snap a good photo of his face and license plate. If Celtling is with me, I do this surreptitiously; otherwise, it is an agressive and overt act.
Under no circumstances do I approach the car, or let him get within arms reach of me.
Assuming
[ul][li]The police have already determined he is not doing anything illegal[/li][li]He doesn’t want to talk to me[/li][li]I have already noted his license plate and that of the replacement vehicle[/li][li]I took a picture of both cars with my cell phone[/li][/ul]At that point I assume it is a police stake out of some sort and watch to see if someone is going to get arrested.
It may also depend on whose house they are watching, and what they have to say about it. I know many though not all my neighbors. Two of them at least are carrying on a rather flamboyant feud - maybe this has something to do with that.
Regards,
Shodan
Shoot the hostage.
I wonder if the neighbor has a reason for having a guilty conscious? He probably knew (or suspected) that it was a PI, and that he was the one being monitored.
There’s nowhere to park like that where I live. The main road is busy and has practically no shoulder. If he parks out there the cops are going to ask him to move - that’s if one of these soccer moms in their behemoth vehicles doesn’t smack him out of the way first.
If he parks on my property then I’m going to ask him to move. If he refuses then I call the law.
Good grief, I didn’t notice there was a second page!
Actually I ran into this last week. The kicker is the road my house is on is one narrow lane in either direction, sidewalks right at the curb and no space to park without blocking traffic.
He stayed out there, occasionally rolling down his window to wave someone around him for about 3 hours. I snapped a shot of his licence plate and called the police. Despite the narrowness of the road it’s a very high traffic shortcut during rush hour and after 2 hours it was getting close to being a safety issue. I have no idea why he was there but he left right after the police spoke to him.
He was stopped in front of grumpy neighbors house so I suppose there’s a possibility that he yelled at the wrong person. Hmmm, maybe I should have kept a closer watch, that could have been entertaining.
Give him a polite wave, park my car in front of his. Then put my trash can behind his car and walk away. Basically acknowledge his strange actions with equally strange actions. Possible tie some streamers and balloons to the objects around his car. Maybe even a banner with happy birthday.
As I said before, this PI should have done things differently. I’ve done some private investigations (though, admittedly, not a lot of surveillance work) so I know a few tricks he could have used to make his time out there a bit easier.
With that said, lets talk ethics:
sitting in a parked car isn’t all that strange, and if you and I aren’t the ones paying his fee what he’s doing isn’t really our business, especially since the police ID him and said there is nothing wrong.
For sake of argument lets say he’s working on a child abduction case. Doesn’t screwing with him like you suggest make you an…?
for the win!
Paint a big sign on some chipboard saying “undercover surveillance” with a big arrow on it, take it down the street and stake it in the ground, at the car’s blind spot, with the arrow pointing at the car.
I do absolutely nothing (absent more facts).
Just for the sake of argument lets say the person is investigating a child molester.
Justify your actions.
An alleged child molester? Well, I hope he’s better at investigating than he is at staking out a place (like you’ve also said). I still don’t think I’ve done anything morally wrong - merely told the truth.
Or a convicted child molester? How come I don’t know there’s a convicted child molester living in my street? What is he being investigated for? Why aren’t the police handling it?
All in all, someone acting suspiciously in my area will not be ignored by me. I will at the very least try to make them as uncomfortable about being there as they are making me, until the time that they explain to me exactly what the hell they are doing.
First of all, I wouldn’t notice his or her presence for at least a week. After a week, I’d walk by slowly and peer in. If he’s still there in 10 days, I’d call the cops. Upon being told there’s no issue, I’d wait another week. After that week, I’d perhaps attempt some form of contact. If he or she rebuffs me, I’d call the cops again and say I’m being disturbed. If they tell me to back off, then I guess that’s tough nuggies. At that point, I’d take matters into my own hands and resort to practical jokes. Water balloons, air horns, cream pies, peanut butter, honey bees… He or she would either move, talk to me, or suffer the consequences!
I’m honestly intrigued what the point of this question is. I hope it’s not Hitler parked in my complex!
pkbites gave the real-life situation in post 59, in which one of the neighbors flipped the hell out, even after being told by the cops to stand down. (It was a private investigator, who should have come up with a cover story.)
Oh, nevermind. Meds not working.
Well, I’ll admit my idea to garrote the guy would have been improper. In hindsight.
Make a sign with an arrow pointing to him saying “Suspicious car!” and plant it right next to him on the sidewalk. Replace sign if removed.
Changes nothing for me.
I don’t believe in the authority of private investigators. That is my justification.