Interaction with IMPD tonight +1

[PriestEG]

So this evening approximately 1250 I was sitting in my front living room and saw flashlight in the front yard, heard heavy footsteps thru open windows, and my motion lights going off. First kill the tv and laptop to avoid being seen, and grab my glock out of my holster. I stir up my dog who is a semi trained personal protection dog. I peer out the windows and see a tactically dressed individual in the distant shadows, so i watch for a few minutes as they "survey my property". A few minutes go by and i am finally able to determine its IMPD once he reenters my flood light path...

I announce that im coming out, and not to be alarmed as i am the homeowner. At this point i have holstered my pistol and have the dog on his working lead right inside the door. After proving that i am indeed the homeowner and that he is indeed a LEO, and a few minutes of talking go by I am able to determine the origins of the call. Around midnight i had been out back checking on my chickens, as yotes have been visiting the last few nights, and a neighbor called 911.

as i sit here thinking about this i have been a few comments/thoughts..
1. Parked his patrol car several houses away , and lurked in the shadows, it was impossible to identify him as a police officer off the bat which could have been bad. Is this a standard protocol for this situation?

2. He didnt seem the least bit concerned that i was carrying on my property and didnt say anything. maybe he didnt notice but im sure he did as i stood to make it completely obvious to him. This never happens with IMPD from my experience and it was nice to not get the run around for a change. +1

3. Think i could have done anything better, worse, different??

 

[Somemedic]

Its your property, carry away!

Sounds like he was doing his damnedest to catch a would be prowler. +1 for the effort but I certainly see where you're coming from. Confronting said officer with yoiur weapon could have ended tragicly.

 

[Trigger Time]

Talk about a jumpy neighbor. That's why I call my neighbors first. Maybe you should talk to your neighbor? Your call. Not trying to preach, just suggest.

Sounds like the officer was looking out for the citizens and your property. I'm sure he noticed you were armed before you uttered your first word. Sounds like as good of an interaction as it could be.

 

[j706]

#1 Absolutely good sound tactics by parking away from the scene and lurking in the shadows. Novices and lazy officers drive up in the driveway or pull up directly in front of the target homes/businesses.

 

[VUPDblue]

I would say that if you didnt get curb stomped then it was a good day.


my purple is broke

 

[You'll shoot your eye out]

I have a neighbor who is so jumpy that he called the police because he saw flashlights shining around inside my house. We had bought new L.E.D. flashlights for the kids and had turned all the lights out so they could play with them.

The next thing we knew two cops were low-crawling and slinking like ninjas all around outside the house. Too bad for them but there are street lights outside and we did have the house blacked out, so we saw them right away. after watching until we couldn't contain ourselves, I went outside to ask what the heck was wrong. They informed that they were checking on a suspicious activity call involving flashlights. After the kids proudly showed them their new flashlights, everybody laughed untill we had tears in our eyes.

They went to tell the neighbor what they had found and I thought he was going to cry, he was so embarrassed. It's just too bad that he wasn't so observant when the neighborhood kids stole my lawnmower out of the yard.........

 

[Bushido Devil Dog]

never pull up to home, will say it is a shady feeling lurking through yards at night always id threat

Never write complete thought, will make post understandable, ruin mystery...always write in Mongo-speak

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28khv-BydeY

 

[ScouT6a]

Talk about a jumpy neighbor. That's why I call my neighbors first. Maybe you should talk to your neighbor? Your call. Not trying to preach, just suggest.

Sounds like the officer was looking out for the citizens and your property. I'm sure he noticed you were armed before you uttered your first word. Sounds like as good of an interaction as it could be.

I would never say, "I'm sure he noticed" LEOs, like any other human, can get complacent.
Several years ago my buddy was heading through Indy on I-65 in a clearly marked, company work truck. (standard cab Chevy) in civilian clothes. He got pulled over for speeding by the Indianapolis Police Department (at that time).
The officer approached the truck and questioned him on the speeding. Not having a good excuse as to why he was speeding, the officer requested the appropriate information. He went back to car and wrote the ticket. He came back up to the truck and handed my buddy the ticket and proceeded to give him the speech about needing to slow down. The officer then went on his merry way.

My buddy went to court over the ticket and the officer showed up to court. The judge found him guilty and ordered him to pay the fine. My buddy asked the judge if he could ask the officer a question. He asked the officer if he had noticed ANYTHING suspicious on that day. The officer recalled the stop very clearly but said no, he didn't recall anything unusual.

My buddy then went on to tell him that the day he had stopped him he had not one, but two, complete, fully functional M60 machineguns laying on the front seat of the pickup a foot from his right leg. The officer had been oblivious and the judge proceeded to rip him a new one. Told him if he was getting that complacent that maybe it was time to get out of police work.
Don't ever say, "I am sure he noticed"

 

[CathyInBlue]

It's generally better to have neighbors that are too jumpy than not jumpy enough. The true problems only arise when they are jumping at your behaviours that are obviously legal, like, "How dare that man mow his own yard while OCing an Evil Black Handgun!!!??!?"

Calling on flashlights in blacked out house at night, good. Calling on shadowy figure lurking in the dark in the back yard at night, good. Calling on mere possession during the day, bad.

 

[hoosierdoc]

I'm with Cathy on this one. Perhaps a phone call to the neighbor when you see flashlights though.

OP, did any part of you want to call 911 to report a prowler after you saw it was the police? ;

 

[Denny347]

We catch WAY more burglars because neighbors call 911 with suspicious activity. A good neighbor is much better than an alarm. I know all my neighbors and they know me and we all know who belongs on the street. My neighbor across the street is retired and when its nice like to sit in his garage and enjoy the weather. Sees everyone who walks/drives by.

 

[Indy_Guy_77]

We catch WAY more burglars because neighbors call 911 with suspicious activity. A good neighbor is much better than an alarm. I know all my neighbors and they know me and we all know who belongs on the street. My neighbor across the street is retired and when its nice like to sit in his garage and enjoy the weather. Sees everyone who walks/drives by.

Neighbors like that are both a blessing and a curse...

If you can live with the curses, the blessings are better!

-J-

 

[PriestEG]

I would say that if you didnt get curb stomped then it was a good day.


my purple is broke

always a good day when i can interact with impd and not have to bite
a curb

I'm with Cathy on this one. Perhaps a phone call to the neighbor when you see flashlights though.

OP, did any part of you want to call 911 to report a prowler after you saw it was the police? ;

that was my thought too. if i saw something suspicious i would initially call the neighbor, and maybe 911 depending on what i was witnessing. Im not upset about it but I am out back late at night with a flashlight and my dogs on a daily basis

Neighbors like that are both a blessing and a curse...

If you can live with the curses, the blessings are better!

-J-

I totally agree. I have good neighbors but thing this was on the paranoid side. Im pretty sure it was the single middle-aged lady catercorner from me who just had her house broken into about a month ago..

 

[xdmdude]

I agree that's it might be nice to have neighbors that watch your house. Butt I have a old guy across the court. That guy will call the police if he hears a noise after 10. Last month I was sitting out in my driveway bsing with my wife and here come the police. I wasn't being loud had no music playing. So the police were like what r u doing? Do u live here. I'm like yep sure do. Want Id? Nope have a good night. But it's annoying for getting the police called on you for nothing. The weirdest part is the old guy like me talks to me.

 

[Trigger Time]

I would never say, "I'm sure he noticed" LEOs, like any other human, can get complacent.
Several years ago my buddy was heading through Indy on I-65 in a clearly marked, company work truck. (standard cab Chevy) in civilian clothes. He got pulled over for speeding by the Indianapolis Police Department (at that time).
The officer approached the truck and questioned him on the speeding. Not having a good excuse as to why he was speeding, the officer requested the appropriate information. He went back to car and wrote the ticket. He came back up to the truck and handed my buddy the ticket and proceeded to give him the speech about needing to slow down. The officer then went on his merry way.

My buddy went to court over the ticket and the officer showed up to court. The judge found him guilty and ordered him to pay the fine. My buddy asked the judge if he could ask the officer a question. He asked the officer if he had noticed ANYTHING suspicious on that day. The officer recalled the stop very clearly but said no, he didn't recall anything unusual.

My buddy then went on to tell him that the day he had stopped him he had not one, but two, complete, fully functional M60 machineguns laying on the front seat of the pickup a foot from his right leg. The officer had been oblivious and the judge proceeded to rip him a new one. Told him if he was getting that complacent that maybe it was time to get out of police work.
Don't ever say, "I am sure he noticed"

I think it's awesome that your buddy has 2 m60's! I'd die to have one an if I ever won the lottery (which would be never because I don't play) It would be one of my first splurge purchases.

I think I'd laugh at any judge who I heard telling a police officer what to look or not look for on a traffic stop. It's not like he is the cops boss.
Some judges think they are god.

 

[Trigger Time]

I agree that's it might be nice to have neighbors that watch your house. Butt I have a old guy across the court. That guy will call the police if he hears a noise after 10. Last month I was sitting out in my driveway bsing with my wife and here come the police. I wasn't being loud had no music playing. So the police were like what r u doing? Do u live here. I'm like yep sure do. Want Id? Nope have a good night. But it's annoying for getting the police called on you for nothing. The weirdest part is the old guy like me talks to me.

Tell him to turn down his bell tones after 10. I wouldn't be happy with that kind of a neighbor and I think eventually the cops would get tired of it to.

 

[Burnsy]

never pull up to home, will say it is a shady feeling lurking through yards at night always id threat

urrrg, booga......grunt, snort......booga booga

 

[Denny347]

Neighbors like that are both a blessing and a curse...

If you can live with the curses, the blessings are better!

-J-

No curse here. In fact, we take care of each other's yards when we are gone on vacation.

 

[ScouT6a]

The M60s didn't belong to my buddy, they belonged to our Uncle Sam. That was always one of my favorite weapons. Awesome piece of hardware.

I think that was the same week that my buddy and I let most of the Ft Wayne SWAT team shoot those two M60s. Any Ft. Wayne PD officers here on INGO that remember that, by chance?