Suspicious person call

[A-J]

I figured I'd post here to see if I'm off base or not.

A few weeks ago, I see a guy wandering up and down my street. I live on a cul de sac and the guy is definitely not a resident - I'm on good terms with everyone on the street. My garage door is wide open so I can vent hte fumes from a gas tank I was working on, and it seems like the guy's taking an interest. Every time he completes his walk up and down, he stops at the cross street and stands on the corner looking around. After the 3rd time I see him do this, I go into the garage and watch from my window. When I see him start alking back up the street, I call 911 to report a suspicious person. (Who this time is also angling towards my house). The dispatcher asks if the person had done anything wrong and when I said no they said something to the effect of "the nthere's nothing to worry about" and ended the call. Granted this was at maybe 4 in the afternoon, but come on. At this point I have 3 options, grab my gun, grab the bat, or go bare handed. Gun was in the house and the dude was at the end of my driveway so I grabbed my bat (Easton 44 aluminum softball bat). Guy cuts around the far side of my heading up the driveway to come into the garage. When he was about at the front of the car I asked (I'll paraphrase since I used a much more profane and challenging term) "Can I help you?" Dude turned on his heel and booked it.

My question is, why did dispatch make what I feel is the arbitrary decision that there was nothing wrong? And yes, I'm aware that there are people who make BS 911 calls all the time, but the only way to know which are bogus and which aren't is to send a unit IMO. Granted there are probably any number of "regular" people who call into 911 for no reason, and I don't include them in my assertion.

[jeep7081]

I have an issue when dispatcher(s) like to be LEO's. They didn't go through the academy nor do they have the training to make those desicions if someone is about to commit a 459 or not. That's why they need to send an Officer out.

Next time, call dispatch not 911. Tell them you will just handle it your self, although they should send a few Officers and citizens arrests are usually ugly. If a neighbor calls 911, she/he should note the address and this way they are aware what is going on (fist fight). 100% an Officer will go out.

I call all the time. Had someone dealing drug in our neighborhood (I live in an upper class area and city). PD tried, and tried after every call I made to catch him. Finally they did a stop around the corner. But, he had already passed the drug to the buyer and they had nothing on him. They cited him for speeding and said they knew what he was up to. He denied it. They called me and told me what they did and told him then told me basically they were done unless I could tell them the house the buyers lived in. Which was hard, they always ran off after. Did that stop me from calling when he came out the next time? Nope. He showed up once more, I called and haven't seen him since. I guess he thought it wasn't worth $5 to go to jail over.

[Rico911]

You are correct that many ppl call 911 for nonsense like lost cats or homeless guys "stealing" recyclables from someone's trash cans on the curb. And some dispatchers get jaded. I sometimes fill in at the dispatch desk. I myself would have sent a patrol car to your call and ask you to call the regular business line and not 911 for non-life threatening emergencies. Since you explained in the call that this guy is not a regular in your neighborhood, and he is loitering and not just on a stroll, that would justify a patrol car doing a drive through the area and/or contact the guy IMO.

You have to remember Law Enforcement perssonel are humans too. We have good days, bad days, some are more helpful some are less, some get burnt out.

[barca101]

I was off duty one time with my kids, and I onviewed a strong arm robbery in the nice part of town. I stopped and started calling 911. It took several minutes to get the call routed to the local authority, by then the 2 subjects saw me and started taking off. I followed from a distance to make sure they didn't get away.

Anyways, I started entering the local PD numbers in my county to to my cell to make sure that I get an immediate response and not get routed to CHP dispatch.

[lazyworm]

Next time, grab the camera as well as your phone.

[Samuelx]

violent crime in progress definitely equals 911, suspicious person only does not
call on regular business line and if you get the "then there's nothing to worry about" comment, get the person's name and time you called. I worked dispatch/911 for about 18 months prior to becoming sworn - IMO, at minimum, they should have sent a car to investigate as soon as one was available (i.e. not handling calls more priority in nature)...

[tanksoldier]

I have a friend who is a dispatcher in a urban/rural interface area. Occasionally they get calls from little old ladies to help carry their groceries, or that somebody saw a snake in their yard and the dispatcher has to explain that firefighters don't have time to carry groceries or that snakes are common in the rural area the caller just moved to from the city... but actual problems, or potential problems, get handled. It's not her place to evaluate how serious a "suspicious person" call is.. that's the officer or deputy's job who responds.

That call may not get a high priority in the queue depending on what else is going on, but it won't be ignored.

[taloft]

... The dispatcher asks if the person had done anything wrong and when I said no they said something to the effect of "the nthere's nothing to worry about" and ended the call. ...

Next time tell them he appears to be casing houses.

[Petro6golf]

I dont doubt that you witnessed someone doing something shady that made the hairs stick up on the back of your neck, but.... if you view it from the point of view of a dispatcher, you called 911 for a man walking down the street.

Pretend your the dispatcher... dude calls you: "um yeah, theres a weird guy walking down my street. ive never seen him before"

Next time, call the non emergency dispatch number and tell them theres a suspicious person that you beleive might be casing the neighborhood for a burglary or is 5150. you might get better results

[A-J]

The only drawback to the "non-emergency" number is that the station in my area never answers the phone.

On the one hand, I realize that at the time I called, nothing "illegal" had taken place. For the moment, it is not illegal to walk down the street. And I have to admit, I was extremely annoyed at the dispatcher at the time. On the other hand, I realize that we don't have enough officers (in ANY jurisdiction) to handle every call that comes in, giving rise to the popular saying that when seconds count, etc.

I'm more than willing to defend my home and family, and it was tempting to grab my SIG. But I had a dilemma. Based on recent rulings, since my garage door was open, and my front yard/driveway are not fenced in (IE "closed" to the public) then technically I can't carry in those circumstances. So I grabbed my bat instead. But then you have the other side of the coin - although the guy did not appear to have any suspicious bulges around the waistband, there is always a chance he could have been armed. At which point I would have found myself bringing a bat to a gun fight.

[tanksoldier]

Pretend your the dispatcher...

...who, if they had a lick of sense or training, would know that criminals case houses in exactly that way, and that a citizen was concerned enough to take the trouble to call in about it.

A taxpayer didn't call about somebody walking down the street, they called about a stranger suspicious enough that it convinced them to call 911.

CPS & the cops show up because kids are playing with toy guns in the front yard... and the neighbor calling thinks that's "bad"... but not because of a suspicious person?