Failing to mind my own business...

[Artemus Gordon]

The other day I posted about my truck being vandalized. That was upsetting and perhaps makes me look more sensitive of where I park the dually. Today, I watched two young caucasian men, exit their pickup, and preceded to enter an Ace Hardware. The circa 1990 Ford truck was in bad shape. *Yet in the bed were "3" shiny bed boxes. I thought that a little odd? *Rusted out, smoke belching, bald tired truck, with 3 new "truck bed style" tool boxes. *Then, I witnessed one fella, tell the other, *to "get the tool"! *Yes, the exact words he used. *The second fellow reached into truck bed, and pulled out the largest "bolt cutters" I ever seen! *They were almost too big for one guy to use! *He then locked them inside the truck cab ( would not want it stolen)!* Oh did I mention, with parking lot nearly empty, they parked right next to me!

Well I witnessed this from the cab of my truck. I went inside and asked the manager, if they were regulars. *She said they came in the store couple times, and she said they appeared to be nervous. I said nervous or perhaps high. *She agreed it might be the case. *I went out to my truck and called the Sheriffs substation. *Told the Sgt. what I witnessed. *Within a couple minutes two patrol cars arrived. *

I have since received a call that they were in fact, taken into custody. The bolt cutters gave officers probable cause, along with one being on parole. *The boxes were full of tools etc. some brand new!

Now I believe in minding my own business, however I also believe in "situational awareness". *In addition, *a friend of mine, *had tools stolen from his truck just a week ago, in front of his house. *The thief used bolt cutters! * Like the Sgt. told me, bolt cutters alone are highly suspicious, and the 3 tool boxes in that truck, *were out of place. *He thanked me for calling and assured me, my actions were proper and warranted.*

If they were innocent young working men, then they would have been able to explain. *But in this case, it appears they were in another line of work. *While my suspicions were correct, I still have mixed feeling about calling the police. *I will do it again, but I can't help but feel, I should mind my own business. Just venting....

[nosticks]

Good for you and too bad for them. I hate thieves.

[HOOK]

Good for you! Thanks for being aware!

[1retired06]

That one of them was on parole, together with your other observations tells me you made the right choice.

[JandC]

Being a retired LEO I will give you my opinion. You did what every citizen should do in that situation. Most of the bigger cases I worked were solved because of a citizen tip. I know the crime shows on TV make you think the CSI folks can solve about anything but that is bull^*#%. If everyone would step up like you and make those kinds of calls to the police there would be a lot less crime! Thanks for doing your part.

[maximo]

Being a 30 year retired law dog and having seen thousands of those type I say you done good. Keep reporting that type, just remember, do not confront them.

Frank

[richfaa]

Would have done the same thing and have.

[steelpony5555]

Yep that was good heads up. If more folks got involved this would be a better place. My Ex used to get mad because I would get involved in different things up to and including intervening in some situations. Like parent just beating the hell out of a little guy at Walmart once to guys smacking their wife/girlfriends around. Leave a dog in a hot car, yep I called the cops, so would I have called the cops knowing the type of guys you were seeing, heck yeah. You done good........

[DQDick]

Great job! As a former LEO I can tell you that your actions are appreciated. Officers can't be everywhere, but if we all reported situations that don't look right there would be far fewer of those situations to report.

[Ramblin Roadrunners]

Ain't profiling great!!!!!

[DarMar]

Good on you, thanks for doing the right thing.

[Artemus Gordon]

Thanks everyone!

[Overlord]

Indeed!

Well done!

The way I look at it is, if they were a couple of regular, innocent guys, there would have been a very short and courteous chat between the responding officer and those two fellows, after which everyone would have gone about their merry way.

The troublesome part about this whole thing is, most likely, the two thugs were back on the street the very next day and out "shopping" for a new set of bolt cutters.

But, we can only do our duty to keep our eyes peeled, be aware of what is going on around us, and alert the authorities when warranted.

Good job!

[Bigboomer]

Nice work! Hopefully will do the same thing if confronted with the situation. The more times we citizens make the call you did the less scum will be on the streets to perpetrate more crime!

You will never know if you prevented one of these thugs from actually harming someone who caught them in the act and they decided to silence them but rest assured they will not get that chance now.

[Jay Bird]

Good for you. This may keep someone else from falling victim to these two.

[Art-n-Marge]

What timing, but a more positive outcome just occurred in my neighborhood. An unfortunate couple who lived across the street lost their house and were just evicted right after Thanksgiving and their home has been vacant since early December. Today, one month later, there was a gentleman who backed his truck to the house and started to remove things left over from the home and he was not one of the prior owners. So I walked over and was able to talk to the gentleman and found he worked for a subcontractor who works for the bank who now owns the home and was pleasantly willing to show me documentation to support what he was doing. It turns out he was clearing out debris to take to the local landfill. All turned out good. The gentleman did appreciate I confirmed the landfill address and how to get there, since he was from the next county over and not familiar with the area and in his 5 years of doing this work did understand my concern since he had been approached by others in other locations he does his work. Therefore he attested there are others in this world who care what happens in their neighborhoods.

So in "failing to mind my own business", I did what I should in protecting my neighborhood just as much as you did in drawing attention to those suspects. You should feel no remorse or discomfort. Think how much better the world is as we get involved and in your case, get the proper authorities involved. I recommend it to everybody. It's much sadder when apathy persists and is allowed to affect those around us. I hope you never have mixed feelings about this ever again.

[h2ojocky]

I agree with all, that you did the right thing. Many folks these days don't want to get involved. I think that we are only being good citizens if we report this stuff. Just today I saw a pool guy across the street. He is not the regular guy that usually services this house. I immediately sent a text to the owner asking if this guy was supposed to be there and I also took a photo of his truck and license plate. I later heard the neighbor talking to him and she sent me a reply and said he was indeed supposed to be there.

[MDL]

I realize I'm new to this forum, but are you kidding?? You ABSOLUTELY did the right thing and should do it again 1000x. I applaud you for your actions and only hope more people step up to make the very same choices when confronted with such a situation.

I live in a nice neighborhood built behind an older one. We have 40 acres of woods at the end of the street, blocked by a county rail fence. Just last weekend two suspicious cars were parked at the end of the street (also old model and out of place). Possibly a bit naive, I walked over and asked them if they needed help. They said they had motor problems, but I had also witnessed one of the 4 (2 per car) go into the woods and not come out. Just then a hunter came out, made small talk, motioned me over, then told me there was a guy in the woods apparently stripping a jeep (in broad daylight). I called 911 and reported it, they got nervous and 2 cars left, but the guy was still in the woods. He came out a short time later and said hi, commented about the hunting, then walked out of the neighborhood. Unfortunately the police arrived 75 minutes later, so they were long gone. Upon further inspection, the jeep was there, wheels off, and it had just been reported stolen 2 hours earlier. I have a video surveillance system, so I made copies of the imagery and provided a statement to the police. If I hadn't at least spoken to them, they would have made off with the times they had staged 20' in the woods, and the radio was already missing. In Washington State, you need about 7 car thefts before they can really do anything apparently, but maybe they'll think twice before they come back here again!

Mind your own business...I think someone on this thread has a tag line that says "CHARACTER is doing the right thing when no one is looking"! Sir, you have Character! Thank you for doing the right thing and keeping another poor sole from having to deal with a toolbox loss! If I ever meet you, I'll buy you a beer or three!!! God Bless you!

[Artemus Gordon]

Thanks everyone for nice comments. I truly believe in minding my business, but I will do it again. I tell my wife to be more attentive and know her surroundings. Driving nice cars/trucks etc. makes us targets. In the event shared on this thread, yesterday, the math did not add up! It's also why I added my dash-cam. It might catch the next vandal! BTW I learned something about bolt cutters. They make, really, really big ones !

[scott-pati]

Great job!
Over last new years day and over the summer we had a sudden rash of property theft on the street and my security cameras and another neighbors cammeras caught all the action. two of them lived at the end of the street. They were all caught and went to jail. One of my neighbors said, aren't you afraid of retaliation? I said no, someone has to put their foot down and help stop crime. I said let them come get me, they will see what happens when they open my bedroom door at night!