I'll try to be as brief as well as descriptive here.

Yesterday around noon I'm working from home and spot a vehicle in front of my house.  It's occupied and the dude is just sitting there smoking.  At this location he can't see any open doors so I close the garage which can be seen from street yet not where he is parked.  I contact my neighbor to ask if he had seen it.  He had been out mowing around 10-15 minutes prior and did not see so we pretty well nailed his arrival time.  He's around for about 20 mins, gets out to access the bed of his truck ( Honda Ridgeline) then gets back in.  I'm thinking he may have been a contractor employee/laborer but his appearance didn't quite seem to fit.  Afterwards he leaves.

Earlier this morning same neighbors texts me saying he saw the same vehicle drive down the street real slow.  Our speed limit is 25 and well under that.  My PU was in the driveway so I put it in the garage and get the wife's car which was not easily visible and go for a ride.  I spot the vehicle at the park down the street so I pull in and do a drive around to get the plate number.  Lights on but no driver spotted. Rear slider was open and saw a lot of clothes so you could say the vehicle looked lived in or trashed.  I called the PD to report and was told they would send someone to check out.  Tell the neighbor so he goes for a ride a little later and sees the car coming our way back from the park and spots 2 PD cruisers at the park so it seems contact was made.  He spots the guy turn into dead end cul de sac area and not come out for at least 20 minutes.  Then the neighbor goes for a drive and spots him on another street in the area just sitting in a driveway smoking.  

I'm not that guy that is anally suspicious of everything/everyone I see but this is very much out of place.  I understand PD is limited in what they can do without a crime being committed or his story not checking out.  Our neighborhood has a very low crime rate as far as I can tell, nearly nothing ever mentioned in the police blotter in the local paper.  

What y'all think?  The neighbor and I could put him in a major cross fire but I don't think this warrants a that level of action yet.  This is sarcasm for those that are sarcasm challenged.  If I spot again do I call the PD again or encourage neighbors to BOTLO and call themselves?  I keep my area pretty secure but I sure don't want it being put to the test.  

Jester

If this guy parks in front of your place, or your neighbor's, why don't you and your neighbor go have a talk with this guy and see what's up?

sundowner?

I've had better luck with small town PD than big city, but then again, it depends on who shows up.

If PD made contact, they've run the plates. No warrants connected to the vehicle. Maybe he had a legitimate reason for being there or maybe not. Most people leave when ID'd and told to GTFO.

Unless he's a stalker and wants to use your skin to make a coat.

I've got a couple of cameras on the house.

If you do some searching, you can get a single camera up with a basic 4 channel recorder for $200, then add on to it as money allows. Or if you have a game cam, mount it on the house up high.

Did the police dept. tell you they made contact?

Not a bad idea.



I wouldn't recommend that...

Didn't hear back from them. Based on timing that the neighbor saw him and the cruisers I have to assume there was contact made. OTOH he was spotted in another suspicious location after the assumed contact was made.

Gotta establish dominance.

Not doing this. I'm not exactly young anymore and can't pee that far. Not whipping that within striking distance.

Keep calling PD. Better them check for suspicious activity than to make a robbery, home invasion or murder report. Good idea on the game cam.

I agree with the other poster above.  You can go out to him and just be friendly.........."Hey I noticed you sitting out here for awhile, are you lost?  Can I help you with any directions or anything?"  If he's up to no good and he knows people have talked to him and can identify him and his car, then he'll be more likely to move on.

My mothers next door neighbor used to go out and confront anyone he saw in the neighborhood that looked suspicious. A friend of mine who got the treatment once told me that he would ask what they were doing there and who they were going to see and if he didn't like their answer, which seemed to be pretty much every time, he would tell them to get out of there before he got his gun. The fact that he was 6 foot 6, 275lbs, and black didn't hurt either. He passed away from pancreatic cancer a couple of years ago. Now my mother just calls the cops. The last time she called them it was a auto theft detective on a stakeout.

My suggestion is that the OP find a small forward or perhaps a physically dominant shooting guard and have him confront the stranger

Got a camera phone?   Take pics.  If anything happens you have at least some lead.

Could be something nefarious, could also be a PI.

Or not wanting his wife to know he smokes.   Call PD back and simply request the responding officer call you. Ask what happened.

Yeah, like she isn't going to notice he reeks like a butt tray.

Arfcom said this was wrong when Zimmerman did it.  However, I agree with letting the person know he has been seen.  You don't have to even talk to him.  Simply go out and check your mailbox, move the sprinkler, mow the yard, pick up some piece of litter in your yard, or even sit down in porch swing or a lawn chair in the shade and read a book.  Anything to send the signal that he has been seen.

Walk nekkid in front of his car wearing this:

http://www.amazon.com/Accoutrements-FFP-12283-Magical-Unicorn/dp/B00E1AEEPC

He won't be back again, I promise you.

Did that work on the Mexican polka crowd in your neighborhood.

I ain't tried it yet.

Let me know when you are going to try it. I want to be there to video it.

I live in a very tight-knit community in a semi-rural area outside of Austin. One neighbor is Austin PD and have a Texas Ranger on the other. When-ever someone comes in that I don't know I walk out and take a picture of their vehicle and make it very obvious that I am doing it. When-ever someone is at a neighbor's house that I don't know (and I know the neighbor is not around) I walk over and make my presence known (and they do the same when I am not home). Comment from one guy was "Damn, I want to live in this neighborhood. I am just here to clean the pool and you are the third person to come check on me".

That is the way it SHOULD be. I would NEVER move back into town. Here, we all know each other and look out for each other. Never saw that when I lived in Denton, Euless, or Lewisville.

We had a guy cruising through the neighborhood a few months ago.
I called Fort Bend Sheriffs Department and they sent a car.
Turns out the guy driving slow and taking pictures was from the HOA management company.
He was none too pleased when they stopped him at the end of the block.

I vote for calling the PD.

Call the cops, if still there after they "checked" him out, go introduce yourself.

Check his plate using public data.

Three possibilities.  He's hiding the car from a repo company,  hiding from the wife, or homeless and living in his car.

Had one of these guys years ago,  he lost his job  but left for "work" every day and just  sat in some cul-de-sac.  Did not want to tell the wife.