I'll try to be brief...My 5 yo started Kindergarten this year. I keep seeing this car around school that bothers me. It is dark, it's windows are very dark. I've seen it cruising by the school on several occasions. Morning and noon. I may be over-reacting, but I imagine the man being a sex offender or a drug dealer. (It's probably an undercover policeman) Is there anyone in law enforcement out there that can tell me if there is any way to have this car checked out? Maybe it is registered to someone who shouldn't be around a school or something. Maybe I should just relax. Thanks for any info.
C.
Before I wrote in I had already told the school about this car and given them the license plate number. There is no way I'm going to follow him. I am not going to put myself or my family at risk when there are police officers out there that can do that for us. I have since called the police and they tell me that the owner of that car lives two blocks from the school. They are going to put out extra patrol and try to casually make contact with the driver but he has no record and is most likely just driving to and from work/school.
Get the license plate number and CALL THE POLICE. It could be nothing (a nervous parent) or it could be a very bad person. Don't approach the car or follow it. Just call it in and ask them for a copy of the report, so you know it will be checked out. Let us know what happens!
Have you considered talking with the principal/administration about it? Might be a good first step to alert them so that they can keep an eye out. Then yes, call the police and tell them what you have seen, and that you've spoken with the school officials about it so they are aware.
It would be foolish in this day and age to follow the car yourself, however. If, indeed, the individual driving is a dangerous person, they're not likely to appreciate you following them, and it could go very badly for you.
Call the police. If you don't call, who will? If you talk to the school, they may not follow through with it (I'm a former teacher).
That's what the police are there for. If it turns out to be nothing, then great! In my old neighborhood in Houston, all the neighbors would call the police if they saw a suspicious car. We had a very low crime rate in that neighborhood.
YOu know what I'd do? Follow it. I'm not even kidding. After you drop your kiddos off, just see where it goes and what it does. Maybe it's a parent who is just a little sad and nervous about leaving her baby? I watch my daughter play at recess from the parking lot sometimes; perhaps this car's driver is doing the same?
I don't think it'd hurt at all to write down the license plate number and inform the school. Isn't it possible to find out who's registered to a particular car? If so, then you can try to match up the name with the sex offender registry. But then again, it could just be someone driving his mother's car, ya know?
We all have momma instincts...follow yours!
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To clarify, I don't think you should go all Green Beret on the person, or anything. But no, it wouldn't hurt to just see where it goes down the street. Don't break out your binoculars or follow it around town all day, making notes or walkie-talkie-ing info to your girlfriends but I think it'd be perfectly okay to just keep a safe distance and see what it does.
