On Wed, 15 Oct 2014 01:06:18 -0400, micky
wrote:

OT Should I tell the police?

I haven't read all the replies yet, but I want to give the remainder of
the story before the list of threads moves on

I decided to call the non-emergency number, like the preceing cop told
me to do, and to call from a pay phone, so I'd be anonymous and could
hang up whenever I wanted to.

I can't remember where any pay phones still are so I went to a suburban
hotel. I figured they'd have one but they didn't. She had me use the
house phone, labeled free for local calls. The woman who answered said
we don't run plates here, but if you give me the location I'll send a
police car out to check it out. I said no and thanked her and hung up.

Later, farther out of town, I drove right past a state police
"barracks". That hadn't even occurred to me, but I stopped. At 6PM
there was no lighting in the lobby, just a dim light coming from behind
the state policeman sitting in a plexiglass cave.

He too wanted to know where the car was. I said my girlfriend told me
not to say.

Finally I said, "I"m not asking you to tell me who owns the car, only if
it is reported stolen", and then he said okay, and he went to another
corner of the room and came back and said it wasn't reported stolen yet.

So that's good.

I wonder if I'd said that to the first cop, if he'd have done what I
wanted. I was clear, I just asked if the car were stolen, never who
owned it, but people hear the same question that is usually asked.

As far as a neighbor being dead in his home, if he's dead now, he was
dead 2 weeks into this, when I was sure he was on vacation. Now that
he's gone so long, he/she might be in the hospital himself, or he/she
might have gone to his parents to take care of his mother or father, who
is still sick.

Also the mailmen are supposed to keep track of who doesn't empty his
mailbox and do something if it appears the person inside is too sick to
do that. That won't work for me. I have a slot in the door and it
would take 10 years before he pile of mail in the hall reached that
high.

Thanks for all the advice. It was interesting to see your views on
this.

Micky

About three or four weeks ago, I saw a sticker on the rear window of a
car parked in my n'hood, the parking lot of a townhouse n'hood, saying
it would be towed away because it had a flat tire. No deadline was
given. The HOA does this, aiui, only if someone has complained. Of
course we have more than our share** of petty people who would complain.

**Unless there are so many petty people in the world that we have no
more than our share.

So I pumped his tire up.

Today I pumped it up again, which means the leak is slow.

The car is in excellent condition, has no dents or scratches, the paint
is perfect, it's not dirty, and looks very nice. Valid plates. I
assume someone went on vacation and will start driving it again when he
gets back.

OTOH, most people don't take three week vacations and conceivably, the
car was stolen and left here, parked properly with the door locked.
(well, I haven't tried the door. I just assume it's locked) If it's
stolen, the real owner should get it back before he buys another car.

So I called the police and just wanted them to run the plate, and if
they said it was stolen, I'd tell them where they or the owner can come
and get it.

But the cop wants me to tell him where it is, so they can "roll by and
look at it", and he says they won't do anything if there isn't a
problem.

What problem could there be except that the owner reported it stolen?**
If they tell me that I'll believe them and I'll tell them where it is.
But if it's not stolen, I DON'T WANT TO CAUSE TROUBLE FOR THE OWNER, and
the police, for all the good they do, are also very good at causing
trouble. After all, I'm the one pumping up the tire so it won't be
towed away.

**One idea, it could have the wrong plates on it, but we could probably
verify that on the phone too. The DMV records show the make. Do they
also show the model and color? I think so. If the plates don't match
the make or model or color, then too I would tell them where the car is.

Would you tell the police where it is before they told you it was stolen
or misplated?