Strange encounter in my neighborhood today

[skribs]

I had a strange encounter today. Wanted to get it out. Figured this is as good a place as any. Anonymous enough, especially from the folks in my neighborhood (where this occurred).

Today I had someone spamming my doorbell. I have a speakeasy door, so I'm comfortable answering strange calls. It's usually door-to-door salesmen that I can shoo away. This time it was a neighbor. "You need to call the police. Three strangers are in my house and they won't leave." I immediately got out my phone, dialed 911, and put it on speaker. I figured whatever this was (legitimate home invasion, trespass, domestic dispute, or whatever) the police can sort it out. But if it was truly a home invasion, I didn't want to be the guy that didn't call.

During the call, some things seemed off. 911 asked if we needed police, fire, medical, or mental health. He said, "Hang up and call the police, that's not the police." I wasn't sure if he had some sort of disability, was just confused, or just if it was a mistranslation. I decided I was going to take over the 911 call and tell them what he's telling me. During the conversation, he said that there were three people in his house, strangers, and they won't leave. Said they were suspicious, maybe gangsters. Then he said "the man in the truck is suspicious too". It was a work truck parked in another neighbor's driveway. At this point, I started to think nothing was going on, and the guy was paranoid.

I made up an excuse to go inside for a minute. Said my stove was on and I needed to turn it off. Told the 911 operator I think he's just paranoid, but in case I'm wrong they should still send someone. I walk back out. He's dinging on other doors, then he goes up to the truck (that two minutes ago was "suspicious") and was asking him for help.

Cops came, talked with him for a while. They already knew him. I don't think this was the first time he's done this. I feel bad for the guy, he clearly needs help. I feel bad for his family, it's gotta be tough. I feel bad for the cops that had to deal with this. I hope he's okay. Thanks for reading, if you did.

 

[skribs]

Apparently different neighbors got different stories. He told one neighbor his parents were trying to kill him. He told me and 911 that his parents were in danger from the strangers. Told another neighbor they were going to freeze to death.

 

[Buka]

You deal with a lot of this as a police officer.
Had a lot of them at the airport. They deal with it in a poor way…

Just get them off property, not our problem.

 

[Holmejr]

In the past, we’ve had schizophrenic neighbors do similar things. Gotta feel sorry for these folks. It’s their reality.

 

[Xue Sheng]

I had a strange encounter today. Wanted to get it out. Figured this is as good a place as any. Anonymous enough, especially from the folks in my neighborhood (where this occurred).

Today I had someone spamming my doorbell. I have a speakeasy door, so I'm comfortable answering strange calls. It's usually door-to-door salesmen that I can shoo away. This time it was a neighbor. "You need to call the police. Three strangers are in my house and they won't leave." I immediately got out my phone, dialed 911, and put it on speaker. I figured whatever this was (legitimate home invasion, trespass, domestic dispute, or whatever) the police can sort it out. But if it was truly a home invasion, I didn't want to be the guy that didn't call.

During the call, some things seemed off. 911 asked if we needed police, fire, medical, or mental health. He said, "Hang up and call the police, that's not the police." I wasn't sure if he had some sort of disability, was just confused, or just if it was a mistranslation. I decided I was going to take over the 911 call and tell them what he's telling me. During the conversation, he said that there were three people in his house, strangers, and they won't leave. Said they were suspicious, maybe gangsters. Then he said "the man in the truck is suspicious too". It was a work truck parked in another neighbor's driveway. At this point, I started to think nothing was going on, and the guy was paranoid.

I made up an excuse to go inside for a minute. Said my stove was on and I needed to turn it off. Told the 911 operator I think he's just paranoid, but in case I'm wrong they should still send someone. I walk back out. He's dinging on other doors, then he goes up to the truck (that two minutes ago was "suspicious") and was asking him for help.

Cops came, talked with him for a while. They already knew him. I don't think this was the first time he's done this. I feel bad for the guy, he clearly needs help. I feel bad for his family, it's gotta be tough. I feel bad for the cops that had to deal with this. I hope he's okay. Thanks for reading, if you did.

next door neighbor to my mother came to her house with a similar story. However my mother knew this woman had Alzheimer's disease. She had done this at many houses around the neighborhood, a couple of times, the police were called and there were no intruders on any of the calls.

 

[HighKick]

I had a strange encounter today. Wanted to get it out. Figured this is as good a place as any. Anonymous enough, especially from the folks in my neighborhood (where this occurred).

Today I had someone spamming my doorbell. I have a speakeasy door, so I'm comfortable answering strange calls. It's usually door-to-door salesmen that I can shoo away. This time it was a neighbor. "You need to call the police. Three strangers are in my house and they won't leave." I immediately got out my phone, dialed 911, and put it on speaker. I figured whatever this was (legitimate home invasion, trespass, domestic dispute, or whatever) the police can sort it out. But if it was truly a home invasion, I didn't want to be the guy that didn't call.

During the call, some things seemed off. 911 asked if we needed police, fire, medical, or mental health. He said, "Hang up and call the police, that's not the police." I wasn't sure if he had some sort of disability, was just confused, or just if it was a mistranslation. I decided I was going to take over the 911 call and tell them what he's telling me. During the conversation, he said that there were three people in his house, strangers, and they won't leave. Said they were suspicious, maybe gangsters. Then he said "the man in the truck is suspicious too". It was a work truck parked in another neighbor's driveway. At this point, I started to think nothing was going on, and the guy was paranoid.

I made up an excuse to go inside for a minute. Said my stove was on and I needed to turn it off. Told the 911 operator I think he's just paranoid, but in case I'm wrong they should still send someone. I walk back out. He's dinging on other doors, then he goes up to the truck (that two minutes ago was "suspicious") and was asking him for help.

Cops came, talked with him for a while. They already knew him. I don't think this was the first time he's done this. I feel bad for the guy, he clearly needs help. I feel bad for his family, it's gotta be tough. I feel bad for the cops that had to deal with this. I hope he's okay. Thanks for reading, if you did.

Back when I was a LEO, we had a few people/places like that. There were certain calls where you knew it was a good change to be a 'frequent flyer'. That can be very dangerous for the officer if they take a call too laxed and discover something else is going on.

One of our regulars was a Vietnam vet who was shot in the head and was a little 'off', especially when he got off his meds. You never knew when we would get a call about a 'streaker' in a neighborhood and find him walking buck naked, no matter what time of year it was. Good times.