Reporting suspicious activity

If you saw someone stealing or breaking a public law, would you report them?

  • Yes.

    Votes: 3 33.3%

  • No.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Depends on the circumstances.

    Votes: 6 66.7%
  • Total voters
    9
Don M. said:
A couple of years ago, while driving to Kansas City, we came upon a car that was being driven erratically....weaving all over the road. I stayed behind him waiting for an opportunity to pass. A couple of cars that passed him almost had an accident. After a couple of miles of this, I had the wife dial 911 on the cell phone, and gave the dispatcher a description and location of this car, and stayed on the phone for several minutes until I saw the red lights of a highway patrol car coming up behind us. The patrol car, with lights and siren blasting, took a fair amount of time and distance before this goofy driver finally pulled over.
I never found any info on this incident, but I suspect the driver was either quite drunk, or high on drugs. It's a wonder that he didn't cause a bad accident. Had he spun off the road, and crashed himself, with no other vehicles involved, I would have probably cheered.
Click to expand...
I've done the same thing, Don. In my case, the 911 dispatcher asked me to remain behind the erratic driver and follow at a safe distance until the police arrived. The officer came up, no lights or siren, and observed for a couple of minutes. The other driver took my exit, the officer swerved over and followed him, I followed the officer. I saw them both pulled off the side of the road about a half mile later.
 

I once saw a dangerous traffic situation and called the police. They said that unless they see it, there's nothing they can do.

A long time ago, there was a couple living in the upstairs apartment next door (not know if they were actually married, but there was a teenage girl and a little girl about 5 living with them, too). We used to joke when the guy came home, he always brought 2 six-packs, and we'd say "He just brought home dinner." One day my mom saw the little girl with two kittens and she was throwing them over and over into her wading pool. She was also eating blackberries off the bushes that abutted the property line. My mom asked her why she was eating the berries the the girl said "I'm hungry".

Mom took the cats away from the girl and had to take them to the vet because they were almost drowned. Later the guy came over and asked for the kittens back. My mom said he could have them if he paid for the vet bill. He said he wanted the cats and would pay her back when he got the money, but she refused to surrender the cats. She called the sheriff (no use calling the locals) and reported what happened. The deputy was less concerned about the cats that why a 5 year old girl was unfed and out playing with no supervision when the guy was at work (supposedly) and the woman and teenage girl were upstairs sleeping in the middle of the afternoon. I don't know what happened after that, but that "family" soon moved out and my mom had acquired two cats.
 

Last edited:
no.....nothing to do with me....let them get on with it .....as soon as you see something, your the first suspect....
 
Just the other day I called the Sheriff Dept and reported a suspicious car pulling into driveways around here...
Just the ones where the houses sit back off the road. Turns our he was doing tax reevaluations.
 
Depends on what they were stealing, and if I would be putting myself or others in danger by reporting it.

If it was a poor-looking person stealing food, no, I wouldn't report that.
 
If I saw someone hurting another person or an animal, yes. When I see someone driving drunk, yes. If I saw someone shoplifting, probably not. Store personnel have to witness it themselves and they rarely prosecute anyway.

Generally speaking, I don't want to be the catalyst behind anyone's downfall. I hope that people will smarten up before suffering dire consequences.

In my youth I broke plenty of laws. Standard stuff - a couple of stupid shoplifting incidents as a teen, underage drinking, driving while under the influence (hate to admit that but it's true), drug use/possession for personal use, that kind of stuff. Nothing "serious" but incidents that could nevertheless have gone very badly if I'd been caught by an eager cop, prosecuted by an eager DA, and gone before a hanging judge.

I'm deeply grateful that none of my actions destroyed my life or anyone else's, and wouldn't want to deny someone else the opportunity to develop better character.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top