Cops Called on Handiman

[wagegoth]

One time i was sitting on my front porch like a boss, and notice about 18 squad cars come squealing up to the house and the police officers rushing out guns drawn. Minutes later they were leading out a black man in handcuffs.

Turns out the man was there doing some work on the house (he was chopping wood with an axe) and the babysitter was not informed of this. She had called the police because there was a black man in the back yard with an axe.

I have to say that if someone, no matter gender or race, showed up in the backyard without my knowledge carrying an axe, I would call the cops, too.

[Aethian]

I've called the police before when there was a strange moving van outside a house I had known to be on holiday. Turns out they were on holiday doing house hunting and had managed a fabulous catch of a house only hours old on the market. It was going to be a short sell but they paid enough to pay the realtors and the mortgage off.

[Gizmo]

I've called the cops on a strange car in my neighborhood before. The driver would park in front of my house and sit there for hours, several times a week. I thought the neighborhood was being cased by this person. I didn't know anything about the race of the person; couldn't see into the car.

I've done it before too. Got home about 11pm and noticed an unusual car outside, two guys in the car and they were watching our house and next doors with extreme interest.

Called the 101 number (non urgent police) and told them that there was an unknown car in the neighbourhood, the guys inside seemed interested in our house and next doors and I wasn't sure why but it was making me uncomfortable. Gave them the registration and just as I was doing another guy exited next door carrying a large bag. It turned out that next doors boyfriend had been chucked out (after assaulting her actually - found that out a few days later!) and his friends had come with him to get some stuff whilst she was out as arranged with her.

My conversation with the police was "I don't know if this is something you need to know or not but I'd prefer to have it on record in case it links into something later discovered" (burglary etc). They were fine about it and thanked me.

[Slave to the Phone]

I like to sit in my car and read (and smoke) at lunch. I found a nice spot to park a couple of blocks away from work. It is in front of an empty lot and I can park in shade. After parking there for a couple of weeks, someone came over to ask me about it. I explained, he understood and we started waving when we saw each other.

A couple of months later, someone else came to talk to me and commented that she had figured it was a lunch thing because I was so regular.

TWO years later, someone called the police on me. I'd been parking there at least 3 times a week for 2 years before whoever called the police noticed me and thought I might be a threat.

I still park there.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

Those neighbors need to join the FBI if they can detect child-molesters on sight. Think of the possibilities!

Sounds like the two sisters I've been writing about for years.

Just like 'em . . .

Lynda: We could take over UNCLE! Just think of the possibilities!

Brenda: No thanks. I'll settle for a blond Russian.

So you get an idea of what we'd be in for.

[Golden Phoenix]

I recall an incident while working at Tiny Cook* in my youth. This was my first "proper" job, i'd be about 16-ish.

Tiny Cook is a chain of UK "motorway services" eateries. This particular location was on a main road that connected the surrounding area of Wales with the rest of the world. We were located half a mile outside of the village, connected with a petrol station and flanked by a small river and a forest. Creepy as hell.

Me, another staff member, the cook and the late shift manager were closing up at 11pm. Vaguely relevant: we are all female, the oldest of us was 25.

About 11:10 a dark coloured car pulls into the car park and parks at the end furthest from the building, under the only burnt out lamp in the whole place. We expect someone to get out and come to try the door then realize we were closed. No-one appears.

We run the vacuum cleaner, finish the dishes and start on the prep-area deep clean. Still nothing.

Now we're getting worried, it just didn't seem normal somehow and at 11:40 we call the police with visions of robberies and lord only knows what else running through our heads.

When the police turn up they ask the occupant to get out of the car and have a chat to them. After a discussion one officer comes in and asks if any of us know a Brian Booth* and our manager goes scarlet. Her father had come to pick her and the cook up because of the cold weather. Thanks to not being able to see the plate or occupant she didn't recognize him.

the cops said we did the right thing though and one, who knew my next door neighbour gave me a ride home, nearly scared my mom half to death when i got out of a police car in front of the house. Heh

*Name vaguely modified.

[Mer-Mer]

I was at home on break one time, and because my brothers had school and one had my room, I was sleeping downstairs on sofa cushions. (Even though my brother had a bunk bed, he refused to sleep on the top bunk and I couldn't climb up there because my joints are bad). Well, I woke up after everyone had gone to work/school and went upstairs to let the dog out. There were men with axes in my front yard. They weren't wearing uniforms or anything, so I looked out front to see if they had a car. It was an unmarked truck. Then I picked up the phone to call mom to see if they were supposed to be there and she forgot to tell me...but there was no dial tone. I freaked, got a really large knife, the dog on her leash and my keys and high-tailed it out the door to my truck. It turns out it was Comcast, who does our tv and phone and internet, and they had forgotten to tell anyone they were coming. I can see calling the cops, but only after you've exhausted every other option. And the cops definitely overreacted.

[Little Retail Rabbit]

Blimey Mer-Mer thats scary! I would have freaked out too!

[eltf177]

Happened to my mom many moons ago. She was (unusual for her) home for the day when some guy parks in front of our house. Doesn't get out but just sits there, looking across the street. She finally calls the cops and two come out. All of a sudden they have their guns drawn, the guy has a shoulder holster. Turns out he's a private investigator keeping an eye on one of our neighbors for a client of his. The client suspected his wife of having an affair with the neighbor, and he was right. The investigator let the cops know this guy _wasn't_ happy but _was_ unstable. The husband later showed up with a shotgun at the neighbor's house and was promptly arrested (I was at school so unfortunately I missed it, I heard it was quite a scene!).

[PepperElf]

someone called the cops on my nephew once for streaking outside his house.

He was maybe 13 or 14 at the time, in that puberty stage where anything remotely naughty embarrassed him completely. So having the cops ask him about running around naked... he was MORTIFIED.


What really happened: he'd run outside to get something while wearing normal shorts. But the shorts were light and he's got a lot of Irish in him so ... the neighbor who saw him only got a glimpse and thought he was *completely* naked.

Poor kid. ( yes the family got a kick out of it!).

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Ugh, that's disgusting. I mean, what exactly is a child snatcher supposed to look like, anyway?

Let us see...child snatcher....handy man....I'm picturing Schneider from One Day At A Time.