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What constitutes suspicious activity?
7/9/12 | self

Posted on 07/09/2012 8:53:16 AM PDT by LibWhacker

Hi... Sorry to post this here but something strange just happened and I need some Freeper advice.

I was sitting at the computer about 7:15AM this morning reading FreeRepublic when the doorbell rang. Really? At 7:15AM? Most likely, it could only be one of two things. My friends and relatives wouldn't show up unannounced at that hour. It had to be those skinny religious dudes in white shirts and black ties, or... Our house was being cased!

From our master bedroom, I hear my wife asking, "Who is it?" Don't know, I tell her, pausing, straining to hear. Then the doorbell rings again, this time four or five times, rapidly, impatiently.

Okay, gotta see who it is now. I get up and approach the front door. Through the little frosted pane on the inner door I see a large, very dark shadow, looming, shifting from side to side, with the head almost pressed up against the outer security gate, trying to peer inside. Dammit, I'm an idiot for not grabbing my gun!

I open the door and there standing before me is this skinny black guy with dreadlocks, in his late teens. He's got on a dark stretchy psychedelic t-shirt and both of his arms are inside the shirt, out of view. But you can see they are moving around a lot inside the shirt, wrapped around his thin frame. Like he's simultaneously hugging himself and scratching himself all over at the same time. Holy crap, that's weird right there. I can't see his hands. Does he have a gun?

"Is JAZZmeen home?"

Jasmine? Do I look like I have a daughter named Jasmine? Or Shemika? Or Qwanisha? NO! Maybe Amber or Victoria. JAZZmeen ain't happening. Ridiculous even to ask, and he'd know that if he wasn't on drugs and stupid.

"No, you've got the wrong address."

He turns and goes. I go to the side window and look out. He's with another tall skinny black guy now. They don't stop at my neighbor's house, but walk to the corner, turn right and disappear from view.

Okay, what should I have done? The police say you should report suspicious activity. But what did I see? Some guy rang my doorbell at seven o'clock in the morning. Okay, maybe he was an itchy crack addict in dreadlocks. But so what?

OTOH, I KNOW we were being cased and by not reporting it I may have contributed to one of my neighbors getting ripped off, or worse.

So here I sit, with my 1911 locked and loaded one foot from my right hand, wondering... should you report something like that as being "suspicious?"


TOPICS: Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: burglars; casing; myhouse; suspicousactivity; suspious; vanity
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To: mnehring

Piggyback ride?


41 posted on 07/09/2012 9:29:30 AM PDT by Irenic (The pencil sharpener and Elmer's glue is put away-- we've lost the red wheel barrow)
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To: LibWhacker

If someone knocks on my door and I don’t know who it is.....I don’t open it.


42 posted on 07/09/2012 9:29:30 AM PDT by MachIV
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To: LibWhacker

I have a sign by my door that says:
Our S-10 truck is not for sale
We mow our own yard
We do not buy anything from anyone who knocks on our door
We don’t wish to list our house with a realtor
We’re not converting to another Religious Denomination

Gues I need to add:
We don’t know anyone named Jasmine

Also, if someone I don’t know still knocks, I open the door with my left hand, while holding object with Hornady Critical Defense in my right. That object is obscured from sight by the partially open door.

I live in a mid size Texas Town, yet the other day, a teen, home alone, heard someone open the front door, and walk into the living room. When he went to investigate, he got shot in the leg by a stranger who must’ve been checking houses for unlocked doors to rob them.


43 posted on 07/09/2012 9:29:36 AM PDT by sockmonkey (She could never be a saint, but she thought she could be a martyr if they killed her quick)
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To: stuartcr

LOL, that was the first thing that occurred to me. I could’ve grabbed my gun, jumped in my pickup and followed them through the neighborhood while putting in a call to the cops. Then I remembered George Zimmerman. FreeRepublic could’ve had it’s own Trayvon Martin case!

If they’re giving Zimmerman a hard time, can you imagine what they’d do to a California Freeper? They’d roast me alive. Even if it was self-defense and I had a dozen witnesses.


44 posted on 07/09/2012 9:31:08 AM PDT by LibWhacker
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To: stuartcr

I didn’t get the idea he wanted to commit a murder, he wanted to say that there were people casing the neighborhood. What is your problem


45 posted on 07/09/2012 9:33:10 AM PDT by yldstrk ( My heroes have always been cowboys)
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To: stuartcr
You should have shot him and told police he attacked you.

Rule #1: Do not talk to the police without your lawyer present.

Rule #2: Never lie to the police. Because your lie WILL be exposed, sooner or later.

46 posted on 07/09/2012 9:34:30 AM PDT by Leaning Right (Why am I carrying this lantern? you ask. I am looking for the next Reagan.)
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To: sockmonkey
Also, if someone I don’t know still knocks, I open the door with my left hand, while holding object with Hornady Critical Defense in my right. That object is obscured from sight by the partially open door.

Last time I did that, it was a county Sheriff Deputy telling me someone had run over my mailbox. I "excused" myself by telling her that I needed to put pants on.

47 posted on 07/09/2012 9:34:45 AM PDT by IamConservative (Well done is better than well said. - Ben Franklin)
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To: yldstrk

relax


48 posted on 07/09/2012 9:36:16 AM PDT by stuartcr ("When silence speaks, it speaks only to those that have already decided what they want to hear.")
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To: stuartcr

“You should have shot him and told police he attacked you.”

Stuart
Understand these people are NOT looking to shoot anyone. they don’t want burglars casing their neighborhoods pretending to look for “Jazmine”.

You are a freak. What is your problem. How would you have handled it?


49 posted on 07/09/2012 9:37:05 AM PDT by yldstrk ( My heroes have always been cowboys)
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To: LibWhacker
I guess I should call in some professionals to do the job.
"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."
50 posted on 07/09/2012 9:38:26 AM PDT by oh8eleven (RVN '67-'68)
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To: silverleaf

My last two dogs were German Shepherds! I looooooove them! Now I’m sporting a Belgian Malinois. Looks like a GS but only about 60 pounds and crazy, crazy frantic. Very hard to control. Still, she’s starting to get long in the tooth. I need more dogs and bigger dogs. Don’t think I’ll get another BM, but will go back to GShepards.


51 posted on 07/09/2012 9:40:13 AM PDT by LibWhacker
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To: Leaning Right

Who would know it was a lie? Invite him in, get attacked, shoot him...simple as that.


52 posted on 07/09/2012 9:40:13 AM PDT by stuartcr ("When silence speaks, it speaks only to those that have already decided what they want to hear.")
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To: stuartcr

I will when people like you liberals are out of power


53 posted on 07/09/2012 9:41:18 AM PDT by yldstrk ( My heroes have always been cowboys)
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To: yldstrk

I’m sorry, but I still don’t see the reasoning for this. You don’t want to get the police all up in arms and uptight, so you yell “what”, then “wait”, and then go around to the front of the house by going out the back door?

I don’t think there is much you could do to set alarm bells off for cops.


54 posted on 07/09/2012 9:41:44 AM PDT by justice14 ("stand up defend or lay down and die")
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To: IamConservative
Last time I did that, it was a county Sheriff Deputy telling me someone had run over my mailbox.

Last time I did it, it was some lady from Church I hadn't seen in a long time.

People who come here regularly usually call me from their cell and announce their arrival.

55 posted on 07/09/2012 9:41:52 AM PDT by sockmonkey (She could never be a saint, but she thought she could be a martyr if they killed her quick)
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To: Gaffer
I always carry a loaded 1911 to the front door when answering the doorbell.
Don't we all?
56 posted on 07/09/2012 9:41:58 AM PDT by oh8eleven (RVN '67-'68)
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To: yldstrk

Tell wife to stay in bedroom, invite him in, make sure no one can see, shoot him while standing my ground and defending my castle.


57 posted on 07/09/2012 9:42:22 AM PDT by stuartcr ("When silence speaks, it speaks only to those that have already decided what they want to hear.")
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To: LibWhacker

All you have to do is find ‘Jazmeen’ and ask her if she knows them! :)


58 posted on 07/09/2012 9:43:31 AM PDT by SMARTY ("The man who has no inner-life is a slave to his surroundings. "Henri Frederic Amiel)
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To: mnehring

“...or he is just an innocent guy who was coming by to give his friend a ride to work and got the wrong house.”

You forgot your sarc tag....

The poster clearly stated that the guy WALKED down the street and turned the corner. I guess he thought his buddies needed some exercise before that ride to work...

OTOH, I’d think that is a bit early in the day for an attempted robbery, or “casing the joint.” I’d think any thief would know to hold off until the general work day in the area is in full swing....

To me, it sounds like a confused and lost crack head. The poster is probably lucky that the dude didn’t eat his face!


59 posted on 07/09/2012 9:44:52 AM PDT by CSM (Keeper of the Dave Ramsey Ping list. FReepmail me if you want your beeber stuned.)
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To: stuartcr
Who would know it was a lie?

The police would know, in about ten seconds. Most police detectives are stone-cold professionals. They know what to look for, what to ask, and how to ask it.

When an amateur goes up against a trained professional, the smart money is on the professional.

The only way an amateur has a chance is to say nothing, or tell the truth.

60 posted on 07/09/2012 9:47:30 AM PDT by Leaning Right (Why am I carrying this lantern? you ask. I am looking for the next Reagan.)
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