Posted on 10/26/2004 5:38:03 PM PDT by libertylass
I HAD MY OWN LITTLE EXPERIENCE LAST SATURDAY THAT PROMPTED ME TO CONTACT THE LOCAL POLICE, AND WHEN THAT DIDN'T SATISFY ME, THE HOMELAND SECURITY OFFICE IN SACRAMENTO, CA. THEY IN TURN SENT ME BACK TO MY LOCAL FBI OFFICE, WHO CONSIDERS MY "EVENT" WORTH LOOKING INTO:
I was walking my dog at about 10:30 am when a man pulled up to the curb in front of my condominium units. We have 23 units that are place in a horseshoe shape with the "opening" of the horseshoe facing the street. The "opening" contains the building for our clubhouse and sauna room so you can't actually see into our common area from the street.
Anyway, I didn't pay any attention to him until about a 1/2 hour later when I left with my dog to take her to the vet. As I walked to my truck (on the street) this middle-Eastern looking guy was standing in the middle of the street taking pictures of our condos. Our condos are directly across from a school and less than 1/2 a block from an elementary school where voting takes place for our immediate area.
At first I wasn't going to say anything, thinking he works for a real estate company, but because there are no "For Sale" signs, or "For Rent" signs on our front lawn, I found it odd. I recently refinanced my condo and they never took pictures of the front of the condo units, but only of my interior and immediate outside walls.
So.....as I walked towards him I asked "do you mind me asking you what you're doing?" He replied "I don't know that it's any of your business" at which time I replied "well, I live here and you're taking pictures of my condos, and people are watching out for this kind of thing." (I was getting perturbed at his uncooperative and disrespectful attitude.) I figure if he was a legitimate real estate agent, or an appraiser, he would have offered an explanation or a business card.
He stated "this is a public place" and proceeded to go get in his car. Me, always being a bit bolder than I should be, got a bit mouthy and said "Oh, so now you're going to leave when someone questions what you're doing?" He replied "yeah."
As he got into car I read his license plate number out loud, got into my truck, wrote it down along with the type of automobile (Dodge Intrepid) and drove to my moms to contact the police.
It turns out that they didn't consider him committing any crime (which I knew), so I contacted the dept. of homeland security. They referred me to my local FBI office in L.A. where my story was welcomed, and that I would be getting a follow up call from an agent at some point.
After talking to a co-worker she reminded me that one school is directly across the street from our units and the other one is around the corner just a few houses down.
Perhaps I was overreacting, but taking pictures of PRIVATELY owned homes without offering an explanation from a resident makes me suspicious. He spoke good English, but has a middle Eastern accent.
I keep thinking I'm gonna wake up in the middle of the night with an orange jumpsuit on and my hands tied behind my back. Shiver........
I believe he also wrote down my license plate number, but can't be sure.
Was I over-reacting you think?
I really hope this was nothing, but you did the right thing.
My apt complex is right across from an elementary school which is also my election polling place. I'll have to keep an eye out ...
That's a very good idea about having a camera in the car. I've got those portable ones in my desk at work. Tomorrow I'll be putting one in the car.
In the winter of 2003, following an elevated homeland security alert, I was driving near Lancaster PA on a heavily traveled two lane route. I followed a small sedan with 4 young middle eastern men. No women. They were pointing to this and that building on the left and right as they drove slowly, following the truck traffic. They began driving somewhat erraticly, moving to a center turn lane, then weaving out in front of me at the last minute.
Then it occured to me. They are driving toward Three Mile Island, the infamous nuke plant near Harrisburg. I called 911 and reported to the police, gave them the license number and description. Never heard any resolution. But I would do it again in a heartbeat, with no remorse.
yeah I have considered getting one of those camera phones specifically for that purpose. I generally only use my mobile for emergencies, but I always have it with me.
If the guy was innocent, he SHOULD have said "I'm taking pictures for a real estate company." Instead he got beligerent and ran off.
There is phenonenon going on where ordinary arab Americans are recruited by al-qaeda to do "TOURIST DRY-RUNS."
They take pictures of vulnerable sites, ask directions to nuclear sites or dams, leave luggage at vulnerable sites, act more than extremely suspicious on airline flights etc. If they are asked questions or are taken in for questioning by the FBI, they have a viable alibi.
If no questions are asked, they pass their information on.
But they are really just testing our defences, doing dry-runs and gathering intelligence.
We need to stop this activity which is usually run out of your local "Islam is a religion of Peace" mosque.
This one had a bad attitude, and your intuition to ask him that simple question seems like the right thing to do in that situation.
I can't imagine why he would cop an attitude, and I would have taken the same actions you did.
God Bless and keep you safe!
There's good reasons and bad reasons why someone might be doing that -- the generaL rule is that ANYONE ANYTME should check out why their property (rented or owned) is being checked out to an unusual degree by stangers. Not to do so is a breach of social contract -- to one's duty towards ensuring the peacable continuance of current comfortable circumstance of one's family and neighbors.
You are a very brave man and you did the right thing by reporting him. What happened in Beslan could happen here so, good job.
Just to be safe, I'd buy a gun, security system and a dog, but then I'm paranoid anyway. :)
Does anyone know where I can find stats on how many polling places are AT schools? There was always voting going on at my school when I was a kid.
We're all thinking the same thing here. So we should just go ahead and say it. Beslan. There, I said it. Now that the denial is over, let's do something about it.
Please, bring your camera to the polling place. It doesn't even have to have film in it.
Good work! You did the right thing! Thank you!
Ignore the dog part, you obviously have one already... duuuhhhhhhh.
We are a nation of "first responders." Don't ever feel "silly" for noticing when creeps start doing their thing. But do keep your head.
I called the FBI shortly after 9/11, to let them know about the funky charges that showed up on my mom's telephone bill a few months before. The phone company called her to let her know someone was using her calling card--only she hadn't used her calling card. They called her on 2 or 3 occasions, telling her someone was using her card to call Africa. The problem arose when they billed her for these calls, and then kept billing her. (I guess the people in one department don't talk to the people in another department at the phone company.) Anyway, she got all that straightened out, and we all forgot about it, but after 9/11 the phone calls that showed up on her bill took on new significance. There were about 10 or 15 calls that originated from a number in southern Florida, right around that area or region where the National Enquirer office was that got anthraxed (hey, I made a new verb!), and there were a few to Ghana (I think that was it--it wasn't a terrorist "hot-spot" country like Kenya or Sudan, and it wasn't Nigeria), a few to London, and a few to someplace in Ontario (I can't for the life of me find the copies I made). I figured there was some fraudulent phone card scam thing going on, but hearing, as we all did, that the 9/11 terrorists were supposed to "use their own resources" to support themselves while in the U.S., the origin and destination of the phone calls might aid in any investigation.
So I called the FBI--at first they thought I was calling about the phone scam, but then they realized I was trying to tell them that the phone numbers might yield information. I faxed over the bill. I didn't hear anything for a few weeks, but then somebody called me back, and I had to explain the whole thing over again, and told them to call my mom. Somebody from a different FBI office eventually called her sometime after that, but we haven't heard anything about it since.
Maybe there was nothing to it...but maybe those phone numbers belonged to terrorists. I wasn't about to call the numbers myself to see who answered, and tip anybody off.
So it's no overreaction to call the FBI. That's how they get leads. Your tip might be a dead end....but maybe not.
***If it wasn't California, I'd have shot him.***
Glad I live in Texas!
You did a good thing. Being aware of your surroundings and odd behavior that doesn't make sense is exactly why you should be questioning it. This is what those computer discs or whatever with school blueprints discovered was about just a week or so . I seriously think there is going to be an attempt to disrupt the voting process in the USA just as is done in 3rd world countrys
I'm voting for the first time in my life this year for President Bush.
My polling place is at a school a few blocks away. Good question.
My dad said that at his old home, they had polling places at peoples homes also (as well as schools).
Would be interesting to know the nationwide layout...
Sound familiar?
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