Saw a man exposing himself--call police?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should call to create a record of the incident, but know that the police won't ever show up. Creating a report, even if the police never respond, improves the accuracy of our police stats. And the improved picture isn't pretty. If we all ignore criminal behavior because we're not the victim, or because the cops won't show, that gives the cops a free pass on controlling crime, and improves their stats, which should, by rights, be dismal.

Agreed.

Same PP- you could also contact the neighborhood listserv, etc. If this is a known... wanker (I've never used that literally before), they can put some pressure on the police to (ideally) do something about him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These people are dangerous - I mean, clearly this is not normal, healthy behavior - absolutely call the police next time. I would have called 911 even if they are slow to come.

Actually, most exhibitionists are not dangerous. I'm not saying this is pleasant behavior that I want in my neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These people are dangerous - I mean, clearly this is not normal, healthy behavior - absolutely call the police next time. I would have called 911 even if they are slow to come.

Actually, most exhibitionists are not dangerous. I'm not saying this is pleasant behavior that I want in my neighborhood.

If my young daughter were to see this, I can say this situation would turn dangerous because I would go ballistic on the guy. So in some situations, dangerous.

[Anonymous]

"Actually, most exhibitionists are not dangerous. I'm not saying this is pleasant behavior that I want in my neighborhood."

Aren't these usually starter petty crimes that escalate to much more years later?

[Anonymous]

When I feel like the police SHOULD show up but I know that they will not, I say I think I see a gun. They manage to get there. Dishonest, but sometimes necessary, a la when my neighbors kids were having a party that spilled out of the house and onto the street and they were smashing glass, etc. Cops would not come until I lied and said I saw a gun. They were there tout suite.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When I feel like the police SHOULD show up but I know that they will not, I say I think I see a gun. They manage to get there. Dishonest, but sometimes necessary, a la when my neighbors kids were having a party that spilled out of the house and onto the street and they were smashing glass, etc. Cops would not come until I lied and said I saw a gun. They were there tout suite.

pp, you had a great idea...!

[Anonymous]

I think if they get enough calls about it in a specific area, then they could have cops patrol or have undercover decoys walking the 'hood. Why not report it?

It doesn't look good for the police department to ignore repeated calls and then something more violent happens on the same street corner that they never responded to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I feel like the police SHOULD show up but I know that they will not, I say I think I see a gun. They manage to get there. Dishonest, but sometimes necessary, a la when my neighbors kids were having a party that spilled out of the house and onto the street and they were smashing glass, etc. Cops would not come until I lied and said I saw a gun. They were there tout suite.

pp, you had a great idea...!

Not convinced this is a great idea. When cops think a gun is on the scene, I'm guessing they are more likely to show up ready to fire -- not great if the perpetrators aren't armed. (Speaking of which, did anyone see the story in the post about the unarmed guy who was shot and killed in Fairfax after he stole some flowers?)

To OP: I once was on a bus where a guy was jerking off. I should have told the driver, but I was so whigged out by the whole thing (Is he really doing what I think he's doing???? Am I really seeing that???) that instead I just got off a stop early and yelled into the window (after I was off the bus) to stop jerking off. Not the most mature reaction, but for me there was definitely a moment of disbelief that prevented me from calling the driver or the cops.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think if they get enough calls about it in a specific area, then they could have cops patrol or have undercover decoys walking the 'hood. Why not report it?

It doesn't look good for the police department to ignore repeated calls and then something more violent happens on the same street corner that they never responded to.

You would think, but I would expect them to handle it like public urination or littering-- they won't get involved in "quality of life" crimes. That's a shame, because I think it is a reasonable expectation on the citizens' part that our police would deal with these things, too.

[Anonymous]

What's so laughable to me is the excuse "we're busy solving murders". As if we were stupid enough to believe that, but also, haven't they ever heard of the broken windows approach? Since they find it so onerous to solve these murders, how about preventing them by focusing on the quality of life stuff??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Actually, most exhibitionists are not dangerous. I'm not saying this is pleasant behavior that I want in my neighborhood."

Aren't these usually starter petty crimes that escalate to much more years later?

YES. They tend to escalate this sort of risky behavior.

I called the police a few years ago on a guy who was dressed like a woman (I have NO problem with that) but was wearing a mini-skirt and trying on boots at a shoe store in G'town - and purposefully kicking his legs in the air to give everyone a great view of his private parts. The skirt was hiked up around his waist. Totally naked underneath.

Anyhow the police were there in about two minutes and the very young salesperson broke out into tears the second they arrived. She said she had been terrified since she was the only person in the store before I entered.

I didn't stick around to see what the police did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I feel like the police SHOULD show up but I know that they will not, I say I think I see a gun. They manage to get there. Dishonest, but sometimes necessary, a la when my neighbors kids were having a party that spilled out of the house and onto the street and they were smashing glass, etc. Cops would not come until I lied and said I saw a gun. They were there tout suite.

pp, you had a great idea...!

Not convinced this is a great idea. When cops think a gun is on the scene, I'm guessing they are more likely to show up ready to fire -- not great if the perpetrators aren't armed. (Speaking of which, did anyone see the story in the post about the unarmed guy who was shot and killed in Fairfax after he stole some flowers?)

To OP: I once was on a bus where a guy was jerking off. I should have told the driver, but I was so whigged out by the whole thing (Is he really doing what I think he's doing???? Am I really seeing that???) that instead I just got off a stop early and yelled into the window (after I was off the bus) to stop jerking off. Not the most mature reaction, but for me there was definitely a moment of disbelief that prevented me from calling the driver or the cops.

Instead of a gun, which I agree is a bad idea, is to say there is a threatening person. If the person is on someone else's property, the magic word to use is "intruder" - the police will come immediately.

[Anonymous]

I haven't lied about seeing a gun, but I have used the strongest language I could to convey my fear: "intruder", "trespassing", "dangerous" and STILL never seen a cop respond.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These people are dangerous - I mean, clearly this is not normal, healthy behavior - absolutely call the police next time. I would have called 911 even if they are slow to come.

Actually, most exhibitionists are not dangerous. I'm not saying this is pleasant behavior that I want in my neighborhood.

If my young daughter were to see this, I can say this situation would turn dangerous because I would go ballistic on the guy. So in some situations, dangerous.

LOL.

[Anonymous]

Please call the police (even if you're not sure they will come). There was a similar incident at my child's school in the district last week and (because it was a school) the police responded very quickly and they, and the school, handled the situation well. In fact, MPD made it clear to parents and staff that they took this VERY seriously and wanted more neighborhood involvement to stop this sort of behavior.