Appropriate Action/Response?

[Dev]

So this is a bit of a strange one, just thought I'd put it out there to see what you think/would do under the circumstances...

Last night (approx 1am) my wife was closing the windows in the back bedroom - the back of our house (which is on a corner) can see the side and front garden of the house 'behind' us (on the side street) - and notices a man 'hanging around' just inside our neighbours driveway. He apparently clocks my wife seeing him there - or hears the windows closing, then walks away. He then walks towards the front of our house, and has a long hard look at the front of the property. It's pretty dark so I can't tell exactly where he's looking, but he does this from the other side of the street, I suppose to get a wider view. He then walks back to the neighbours place, does the same there. Then, he walks back to the front of our house, again looks at it, then walks off down the road away from both our places.

I went out and had a look at the houses and the garages, I couldn't see any obvious signs of disturbance/damage. I walked up the street and one of the cars had it's boot wide open. I notified the owner (nothing appeared to be missing), then went home and called the local police station - they sent a patrol car to take a look around for the bloke (gave them as good a description as I could).

So, after all that - the question is - what would you do/have you done under similar circumstances? Part of me wanted to go outside straight away and find out what the hell he was doing loitering outside my/my neighbour's house at 1am. Another part of me thinks I should have called the police sooner.

 

[Half Colin]

I would have stayed inside, called the police and filmed the guy.

 

[indizee]

I guess you did all you can. You cant confront strangers in the dark, you never know what might happen. Best to keep it covert. talk to your neighbours and tell them the incident as well, so that they know, and someone else knows as well as the police just in case something does happen.

 

[jimbo1958]

I'm surprised that the police came out to have a look for the guy.
Especially in London.

 

[Dev]

I would have stayed inside, called the police and filmed the guy.

I couldn't get a camera to hand. I had my phone, but I don't know how much use it is for video in the dark at a distance (that and I've not played around with the camera to know what it can do)

I guess you did all you can. You cant confront strangers in the dark, you never know what might happen. Best to keep it covert. talk to your neighbours and tell them the incident as well, so that they know, and someone else knows as well as the police just in case something does happen.

Agreed - had a chat with a couple of them already.

I'm surprised that the police came out to have a look for the guy.
Especially in London.

They were really good - I should update the location on my profile, I moved towards Epsom in Surrey a few months back, the area itself is pretty quiet and well kept - the police car was down our road 2 minutes after the call and made a couple of passes up our street and the adjoining roads.

 

[Sketchley]

They were really good - I should update the location on my profile, I moved towards Epsom in Surrey a few months back, the area itself is pretty quiet and well kept - the police car was down our road 2 minutes after the call and made a couple of passes up our street and the adjoining roads.

Hopefully if the person was up to no good they clocked the police car and the short time it took them to get there and have decided it's not worth the effort. You did the right thing calling them.

 

[teamemmenracing]

Police couldnt do much anyway, even if they were bothered .....

Could be that someone was clocking the area ..... so just make sure everything is locked down properly .....

other than that, stay alert.

 

[Sketchley]

If you think someone has clocked the area, then it's a good time to change security. A different lock type, or a new padlock, an extra security light, a dummy alarm box or CCTV camera, or even just some stickers. If the house looks different to the one they checked out they will think twice and move on. I they have decided to go after your house then they will come perpared to deal with the security you have, different security will put them off. The basic rule of thumb here is that all security is beatable with the correct tool, but a thief cannot carry the correct tool for every type of security so they bring what they need.....

 

[AndyBeech]

Remember that most burglaries happen during the day so the most important thing you can do is make arrangements to make it look like someone is in the house at all times. If you give that impression, the chances you'll get hassle are greatly reduced, most don't want confrontation so will move onto a house that looks empty during the day (ie. occupants at work).

 

[Z4MO]

In my experience an alarm box does deter a burglar but it just sends them on to a neighbour who hasn't got one, a good dummy box does the trick too.
And before someone says it my experience isn't from burgling

 

[andysat]

You did the right thing by not confronting the guy, he could of been carrying a knife!

 

[mmm-five]

I'd have gone out and killed the suspicious git until he was dead

 

[Dev]

Thanks for all the advice and feedback guys, I appreciate it!

 

[shawna]

I'd have confronted him.

 

[aquazi]

You did the right thing...

In my youth i would have bigged it up and said i would have confronted him etc, but if he had a weapon anything could happen, but not just to you.. he spotted your wife too... So puts her at risk.




Sent from my iPhone 5s using Tapatalk

 

[Dev]

Mornin' all,

Just as an update to this topic, wife saw the local constabulary put a card through the letterbox this morning to say one of the houses in our street was burgled yesterday evening, apparently sometime between 4 and 10pm so pretty much after dark.

Feel a bit gutted even though there's a chance its unrelated to the incident last week, its very rare around here though so it does make me wonder.

Stay vigilant people, with Christmas coming up and the increased theft-related crime at this time of year, do keep an eye out for anything suspicious, look out for any elderly neighbours and keep yourselves and your families safe.

 

[pvr]

It is a bit of a pain having to unlock all my garden tools now I have a steel ring and motorbike looks through each handle of every tool, but the thought of someone just cutting through the door and walk away of it is not very nice either.

 

[Taz]

I think it depends on the guy, if he was big and ugly then stay in doors, hide behind the settee, how ever if he was short and stumpy then possibly you could have took him