I would tell the school. They may know who he is, maybe a parent, and let them decide if they call police or not.
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Guy sits outside an elementary school in his car watching with his binoculars, what would you do?
- Thread starter Tigress
- Start date
There's very little justifying if any at all of this scenario, calling the cops is fine in this case
You're just supposing. You don't know jack.
What if the guy has a physical condition where he can't stand outside for long enough and checks with binoculars just so he can get out at the right moment? Heck, any other reason why that they can't just wait outside.
What I mean is, you don't know what the binoculars are for. Sure, it looks sus AF. I never said otherwise. So unless you know for absolutely sure, that's why I would mind my own fucking business.
I'm just used to not bothering into other people's business unless it's fucking blatant and/or happening right in front of my face (which had never happened to me).
Yep, in all of the combined science of life, we've all known the old, park a street away and use the old binoculars to see when my kid is coming out to be a tried and true method employed by parents worldwide. Definitely checks out.
"Mind my own business" sure gets a lot of run on Era.
Call the cops, call the school, and watch him until the cops got there. When I was at school a pedo molested a few kids and a girl I knew got taken in a van and only got away because some parents chased the guy down. I wouldn't want that happening to anyone else's kids.
Calling the cops is the right decision. He either is some sort of cop doing surveillance or maybe someone investigating as part of CPS.
If he is not an official doing either of those things then what he is doing is probably not well intentioned.
If he is not an official doing either of those things then what he is doing is probably not well intentioned.
Other people have pointed it out but calling this an "internal Karen" moment is just ridiculous.
Calling the police for situations like this is exactly what the police is for. Op doesn't feel comfortable directly approaching the person doing something suspicious, which being America is a perfectly valid reason. The police should be called to access the situation.
The vast majority of police interactions, even in America, don't result in someone being murdered.
I really hope you are never in the position where someone's life or well-being is in your hands.
This was exactly my thought. The school can make the decision whether to involve the police or not.
It's extremely unlikely that there's a good reason to be gawking at children through binoculars, even if he isn't a pedo and it's "just" some sort of parent custody thing. Calling the cops is 100% fair here, and is arguably the correct decision even moreso than calling the school to let them handle it.
This is a ridiculous position to have because I'm not comfortable wielding the violence of police against a person, especially a minority.
I even said you could talk to the school or watch him. Grow up.
The odds of a person watching kids at an elementary school through binoculars being a pedophile or kidnapper (stranger or noncustodial parent) is a lot higher than the person being innocent and then physically assaulted by the responding officer. The latter outcome is possible, but probability would suggest inaction is more likely going to result in a significantly more negative consequence. There's a moral imperative to do something.
I'll likely just report him
Maybe approach and ask how his day is if I'm not hundred percent sure but then report him if i don't like his responses
Either way it's not someone just jogging or walking nearby that's super suspicious i would likely consider reporting him
Maybe approach and ask how his day is if I'm not hundred percent sure but then report him if i don't like his responses
Either way it's not someone just jogging or walking nearby that's super suspicious i would likely consider reporting him
If you think someone being suspicious of a person doing something incredibly bizarre and suspicious is being a "karen" then would judge and change your actions based on the colour of a person's skin. Yeah I wouldn't trust you to do the right thing.
And as an individual you'd have to raise those odds against wielding the violence of the police on someone… I personally don't feel comfortable with that, which is why I said I would take other options…
This was my thought. Better the school and their security than the police. I don't trust someone to not be hurt by the police.
Well hold on now... Like. We don't know what the guy is there for. Thats a really dark road to just start assuming the worst of randoms like that. I don't like that vibe personally. Guy could be someone with a disability or something waiting on his kid, or a number of completely innocent things. At best let the school know so they are aware and watching the kids. But you really don't need to just randomly assume the absolute worst like that.
School's don't have security. They have resource officers, but principals and teachers aren't security. With this type of behavior, an officer should run the plates to make sure the person isn't a registered sex offender, previously arrested for attempted kidnapping, having a restraining order, ect.
I'm going to assume you're not a parent or educator. People don't pick up their kids by looking for them with binoculars. Schools, especially elementary schools, are strict when it comes to parent pick up because kidnapping is a very real concern. In most cases, parents line up in cars and the school staff calls the kids name as the recognized parent approaches.
There could be an innocent explanation but i do remind myself that sometimes criminals are fucking stupid
I'm a white guy from Kentucky.
It's because I can call the police on a white guy in a car and be reasonably sure that whether they have committed a crime or not that there will be a reasonable response.
The police have proven time and time again that they can't be trusted to do the same If you call about anyone else. So yes, unless a person of color is actively threatening or attacking someone I mind my business. I don't need murdered by cop on my conscience
The people I know who most use binoculars are birders, and of all innocent explanations, I could see that being among the most likely. Some of the birders I know would absolutely pull their car to the side of the road (in heavy traffic, even!) in order to identify something they've spotted.
That doesn't mean I think that's the case in this scenario, and I think OP did the right thing by alerting the authorities, I'm just trying to think of what might be a way to explain these actions.
That doesn't mean I think that's the case in this scenario, and I think OP did the right thing by alerting the authorities, I'm just trying to think of what might be a way to explain these actions.
People are burning calories doing so much mental gymnastics to create explanations for what is almost certainly a creep. Maybe it's just me though, maybe my view is too narrow to consider the bird watcher with poor vision waiting in a car for their kid several hours before dismissal.
I wouldn't call the cops over that(that would be an asshole move). Just let the school know. They can act on that in the best legal manner they see fit. I've had a similar situation when I was a teen where I had to wait outside of my old public school(probably around 100 ft) to wait for my mom to finish her lunch duty shift. A teacher just came out to check out why we were there and recognized us as past students and knew my mom was working there, so it was all fine. If someone had called the cops on us me and friend would have been pissed. We had just had a horrible encounter with the police a few minutes ago and would have lost our shit if we had deal with them again.
Edit: just noticed the binoculars. Still, just call the school first. There could be a real reason why he is there.
Edit: just noticed the binoculars. Still, just call the school first. There could be a real reason why he is there.
