Last Night

[Tanzer]

Just tell the cops you think he's soliciting male prostitution.

[Creature]

Just tell the cops you think he's soliciting male prostitution.

That is a great suggestion!

[Musketeer]

I love giving teenagers the bird though. I do it all the time, especially in the car.

Great idea. Purposefully inciting teenage males who are renowned for bad judgement, emotional instability, and a tendancy to respond when challenged, especially in groups, is a brilliant way to de-escalate a situation.

There is nothing wrong with observing a person who is out of place in your neighborhood. Taking a photo of them, calling the police to investigate suspicious persons and even asking them what they are doing there are all good things to do.

Criminals love neighborhoods where everybody keeps their heads down and never shows any interest in what is going on. If they know they are being watched on a particular block it only encourages them to practice their trade elsewhere. The person who poo-poo'd this in his normal matter typically has nothing better to do on these boards than refer to the posters here as paranoid and trigger happy. There are certainly some here who could use some education, but the original poster does not appear to be one of them.

[rampage841512]

If he was actually on your property, you might have yelled for him to get lost, and then called the police if he didn't. If he wasn't, I would have maybe let the neighbors know about him and kept an eye on him but not really worried too much unless he actually crossed onto my property.

[SundownRider]

As I had stated in the original post, there had been burglaries in the neighborhood, which is why I called the police becasue this individual had no clear purpose as to why he was there. The lamp he was standing next to actually rests on my neighbor's parkway, and the kid was standing just on a slight corner of my property. Six inches north would have put him off. I didn't feel I had enough to go on to force an issue, and would rather not have him then focus his and possibly his friend's ire on my home at Oh-Dark-Hundred when we're sleeping.
I topped off the XD just as a precaution in case something did go bump in the night, and I needed a backup, but my Winchester 97 is always handy.

[stephen426]

And that is why this country is going in the toilet. Because no one teaches respect anymore and the hooligans just go on thinking that it is their God-given right to do what ever they want without consequences.

So, whatever...I will continue to flippin' the bird right back at those punks.

Wow... thats really going to teach them respect. Most of these punk kids won't even listen to their parents or teachers. You think you are going to teach them anything? Whatever. Maybe you should just shoot him. That will teach him a lesson!

Now what you might incite is some kind of escalation, most probably vandalism, and most likely when you are not home. You will have no proof that it was him who did it (unless you happen to have a CCTV system installed). Unless you plan to waste your time sitting around watching your house, it is better not to escalate.

Even if this was someone looking to case a house for a break in, there is little the police can do if he is on public property. He can claim to be looking for an address or waiting for a ride. I like the idea of taking his picture since it might come in handy if he has priors.

If you live in a higher crime area, you really might want to look into installing a CCTV system. Prices really have come down a lot. Even if you install a dummy system, it might be enough of a deterrent.

My aunt (70+ years old and handicap) was almost broken into when she went to answer the door to some supposed sales people. It is pathetic but preying on the elderly is not all that uncommon. Fortunately, she has a live in care taker who was able to keep them from pushing the door in. We installed several cameras (highly visible outdoor vandal proof type) right afterwards as a deterrent. Nothing has happened since and hope it stays that way.

One other thing to think about is installing slap bars on the doors for elderly relatives. They are much stronger than chains if installed properly and easier to manipulate, especially if arthritis is an issue (as it is with my aunt). Install a large, wide angle peep hole at a height level they can easily see, and teach them never to open the door to strangers. It sounds silly and even a little insulting, but older people sometimes forget that there are real predators out there.

Sorry to go off topic, but hope this info is of use for some people.

[Wuchak]

Given the burglaries in your area I would say calling in for a police drive-by when you spotted a suspicious character in the neighborhood was exactly the right thing to do. That the stranger disappeared after the police came by supports your suspicion that he was up to no good.

[Musketeer]

There have been burglaries in the area. The police can certainly talk to this person and find out who he is. If he keeps showing up in areas for no good reason where robberies are taking place he warrants investigation.

Ask the police and they will certainly agree. If you are having problems in your area and see suspicious person then call.

[Spade Cooley]

As our neighborhoods deteriorate sooner or later we are going to have to force the issue. Be it fisticuffs, mace or even a weapon, the thugs of the world can't be allowed to rule. Get neighbors to help you if need be. Build a fence. Make it more difficult for them to cross the yard. Call the police whenever they are on the property and inflate the incident if necessary.

[Creature]

Wow... thats really going to teach them respect. Most of these punk kids won't even listen to their parents or teachers. You think you are going to teach them anything? Whatever. Maybe you should just shoot him. That will teach him a lesson!

Now what you might incite is some kind of escalation, most probably vandalism, and most likely when you are not home. You will have no proof that it was him who did it (unless you happen to have a CCTV system installed). Unless you plan to waste your time sitting around watching your house, it is better not to escalate.

So what do you suggest be done? It seems to me that you would have us do nothing.

I agree with spade cooley...eventually our neighborhoods will deteriorate sooner or later by doing nothing now that we will eventually have to force the issue later. I would add that later will more than likely be at a far higher cost to EVERYONE.

I personally will no do the expected. I for one will do my best not to let my neighborhood turn into a cesspool full of malcontent punks who, for the lack of parents who give a damn, will have to get their only parenting from the village.

[Tanzer]

Hook up some outside speakers and play some Glenn Miller music. Not quite loud enough to make the neighbors complain - they'll probably thank you. You may think I'm kidding, but I'm not. Punks hate that stuff. It works like bug repellent on mosquitos. I also meant what I said about telling the cops you THINK he's acting like a male prostitute. Embarassment tends to quell the revenge reflex.

[RoscoeC]

That night, the XD40 was topped off and cell phone fully charged and both were within easy reach.

And the reason you don't do this every night would be....?

I certainly do, except I also have a Surefire flashlight beside the Glock 19 and cell phone.

[03Shadowbob]

I would have pepper sprayed the kid, hit him with the Tazer and then shot him with the pepper ball gun...but that's just me. I figure he shouldn't have been on a public street and then flipped me off

[rellascout]

As I had stated in the original post, there had been burglaries in the neighborhood, which is why I called the police becasue this individual had no clear purpose as to why he was there. The lamp he was standing next to actually rests on my neighbor's parkway, and the kid was standing just on a slight corner of my property. Six inches north would have put him off. I didn't feel I had enough to go on to force an issue, and would rather not have him then focus his and possibly his friend's ire on my home at Oh-Dark-Hundred when we're sleeping.
I topped off the XD just as a precaution in case something did go bump in the night, and I needed a backup, but my Winchester 97 is always handy.

You are overly paranoid and seem to understand nothing about the crime of burglary. 99% of people who commit burglary do it when you are not home. It is much easier that way. Him seeing you home was the biggest deterant not the topped off XD.

I cannot believe you really felt threatened by this kid. It makes no sense to me. Are you looking to shot someone? It sounds like you are looking for an excuse to shoot this kid. I mean 6 inches onto your property and the bird constitutes a threat?

I really don't understand someone, anyone please explain this to me. Stories like this make gun owners sound like a bunch of want to be chuck norris mall ninjas.

Sorry rant is over.

[gvf]

I agree. Your chances of death/injury from car accidents far exceed any street crime threat, unless you exist in constant exposure to very high rates of violence. SD and CCW etc, are a tool for one of many dangers in life, and since this one rarely happens, the actual and continuing benefit we all can have is increased ease of mind. If they instead create constant preoccupation with danger, they lose one of their two main benefits (the other - on rare occasion, unlikely even once in a lifetime - an effective means for defense).

[SundownRider]

rellascout,
I don't really understand the purpose of your post. At no point did I say I felt threatened, I reacted to an individual who had no clear purpose for being where he was who and who acted in an inappropriate manner relative to the situation.
I upped my usual preparations because the possibility of something happening seemed more likely than usual.

Had I acted like a "mall ninja" I would likely have done something stupid that might have put me or mine in harms way or at least left me with a lot of explaining to do to the local authorities.

Again, what was your purpose? Without meaningful contribution, discourse is impossible.

[Wildalaska]

Call the police whenever they are on the property and inflate the incident if necessary.

Great....so some twerp STEPS on your property and you call the cops and screech "man with a gun"?

What planet are we living on here? Its a punkass kid that feeds off of your angst. I was a punkass kid and so was everybody on this Board at some point in their lives.

So what do you suggest be done? It seems to me that you would have us do nothing.

Exactly. The brat is on the street. You watch him if you are so inclined. Learn to recognize hinkiness. A teenager standing on the corner playing pocket pool and flippin off an adult who stares him down isnt hinky.

I live in an area crawling with hinkies. I dont even look at the pimple punkies with their skateboards and black clothes, all they want is attention anyway. Save condtion yellow for the real threats, not some kid trying to pull your chain to vindicate his own teenage self worth.

Wildandplus1torellascoutAlaska ™

[wayneinFL]

You know, I was going to say it was paranoid for the OP to load a gun in this case, but I keep a 38 loaded all the time, so that would make me a bit of a hypocrite.

Wild, I was a punkass kid too, but a lot of my punkass friends would vandalize, shoplift, or break windows and steal out of cars because they thought it was cool.

It doesn't hurt to call the police if things seem suspicious. If this is something out of place in the neighborhood, that kid might be a lookout for someone burglarizing your neighbor or setting his house on fire.

Maybe he's "just a teenager", but maybe he's one of the many teenagers who commits property crimes because it's a thrill that doesn't result in a lot of jail time.

[Musketeer]

I really don't understand someone, anyone please explain this to me. Stories like this make gun owners sound like a bunch of want to be chuck norris mall ninjas.

He saw a strange kid hanging out where he never saw him before. He was also in a neighborhood that has been burglarized multiple times.

Was he going to go into the house of the person who he interacted with that night? Probably not.

Was he looking to see what other houses he could target that evening? Possibly.

Some here make the assumption that the OP lives where there are tons of people just wanderring the street. In most of rural and suburbia that is not the case. If someone is hanging out on a residential block (just houses, no stores or such) where they do not live they deserve observation. It only makes sense. It also makes good sense to let the kid know he is being watched.

Recently we had the mailboxes on our block all vandalized one night. The police specifically stated to call and let them know of any suspicious groups we see in the area and that they would increase patrols based on the mailboxes and other vandalism to see "who was out and about." Just a couple weeks earlier they had caught some kids doing "fence diving" (going through PVC fences) by patroling areas where it had happenned and responding to reports of suspicious activity.

Now would the OP mentioning he topped of his gun that night make a difference, most likely not. The situation though set off a warning of some sort in him and if being a little more prepared was the result then it was good. Many people who get a "bad feeling" about an individual and can't immediately identify why are often proven to be right. Our mind works at many levels and one should not ignore "intuition" when it comes to personal safety. That does not make one paranoid, simply responsible. I don't need to top off my gun, it already is. Hopefully the OP's gun is also now.

I was a punkass kid and so was everybody on this Board at some point in their lives.

I was a young kid but was never a punkass. Perhaps you were but please don't speak for anyone else.

Exactly. The brat is on the street. You watch him if you are so inclined. Learn to recognize hinkiness. A teenager standing on the corner playing pocket pool and flippin off an adult who stares him down isnt hinky.

You do not know the exact details. You assume random youths normally stand around on this street. What set off the OP's alarms I am not certain. Again, there have been multiple robberies in the area and a strange youth hanging out for no apparent reason where he has not been seen before IS hinky.

If you think you should only go to condition yellow when trouble presents itself you are by default walking around in condition white. That is NOT the smart thing to do. The good news is by walking around in white all the time you will rarely have to be concerned with yellow... you will just stumble straight into red if it happens.

[Wildalaska]

If you think you should only go to condition yellow when trouble presents itself you are by default walking around in condition white.

You know what, I'm going to vent here

I'm 52 years old. I lived in the east Village of NYC when the crime rate there made Houston, TX or washington DC look like a nursery school. I drove taxi in NYC on the graveyard shift. I lived in Cabbagetown in Toronto with a Frenchie Canadian stripper while it was still a slum, not the yuppified area it is today and I couldnt even HAVE a gun. I lived on the far West Side of Buffalo NY and dealt with Hispanic gangbangers everyday. I live now in what is notoriously the wierdest neighborhood in Alaska where, a few years ago, crack whores outnumbered cops and even now, there are more drunks then moose. I've walked from the US border through Tijuana at night, I've been in neighborhoods in Moscow where even Russians feared to tread, I've stepped over freshly shot bodies on the East Side of NY, I got drunk in some club in Pattaya, Thailand that was off limits to 98% of white folks, I had a girlfriend who lived in downtown Detroit and I was the only white guy around for 20 miles, I've rode loads of weed from Florida to NJ in the early 70s (aha, stat of lims expired), I've been robbed in a subway, beaten by the NYC and Philadelphia Police, spent the night in a mexican jail, been berated by some German cop, wandered through poor villages and neigborhoods in Venezuela and my first adult (age 21) job entailed me working in the Buffalo, NY, City Lockup watching the drunks and crazies toss poop at each other. I have forgotten about more hookers, pimps, dope dealers, hitmen, touts, gamblers, hustlers, strippers, thieves, dope dealers and assorted skells than a random sample of 50 of you ever met in total. I'm just a simple and kind nice jewish boy from NY and I have a habit of watching EVERYBODY I see, but ya know what, life is WAY TOO SHORT to live life in a constant state of alert readiness UNLESS there is something to make one alert...and I carry a little gun (when I can find it), take a shower unarmed, and think a tactical roll is an exotic sushi treat.

Im still alive (I think)

And absent more, some pimply angst ridden teenager who resents authority, like we all did, isnt even going to blip my radar unless I sense hinkiness, which concept I have expounded previously and which trained LE or observant folks easily recognize..

And in all those travails, I havent even seen the elephant, lucky for me.

My humble opinion is that some folks watch too much TV, and not enough life.

Rant finished

WildlunchoverbacktoworkAlaska ™

[springmom]

Wild, we need an applause smiley. Well said.

I cannot BELIEVE the people on this thread who would intentionally escalate into a confrontation with a kid standing on the street. Myself, I do always carry, even at home (although not in the shower....RUST.... ) but the idea of seeing some kid outside and STARTING a confrontation to "teach him respect" when I am armed is a quick recipe for some time in state jail and loss of my RKBA. In Texas, at least (and I'm betting in other jurisdictions too) if you "started it" by engaging in a verbal confrontation, you have ZERO rights for SD. At that point you are the aggressor. Want to go to jail? Go beat up the punk for flipping you off.

Springsomepeopleseriouslyneedtogrowupmom

[Creature]

Yet another vote to stick our collective heads in the sand. Hooray!

And "I have seen the elephant"...wow. Wanna compare scars too? Just like old faithful you never let us down with your with boorish condescension. After all that you claim to have seen, you continue to prescribe the fetal position.

Obviously I came away from my crappy past with a completely different point of view, but so be it.

My rant is over too.

[Justme]

Well, I still love flipping teenagers off. Try it sometime! No surer way in the world to make a 17 year old laugh. Flipping off a teenager is not escalating the situation, in fact the exact opposite is true. It's communicating on their terms, surprisingly effective.

[Wildalaska]

Just like old faithful you never let us down with your with boorish condescension.

Hurts doesnt it...that I can ENJOY life.... Thats why you feel compelled to ad hominem....jealousy...just because I'm happy and don't jump when someone says boo

The glass isn't half empty...it's half full

And "I have seen the elephant"...wow. Wanna compare scars too? J

You're the one whippin out the ruler, not me

WildoneloveoneheartletsgettogetherandfeelallrightAlaska ™

[Justme]

I haven't "seen the elephant" but,
I thing I rode one once.

Hey, would someone get up here and help me control this wild horse I am trying to ride? "Dude, what the hell are you doing trying to ride a tiger?"

We used to have a saying that defined a "good weekend". "Hey, you look like you been shot at and missed but [color=#FF0000]█[/color][color=#FF0000]█[/color][color=#FF0000]█[/color][color=#FF0000]█[/color][color=#FF0000]█[/color] at and hit." Been there and done that and do not begrudge the next generation the dubious pleasures to be had in such situations.